LOCAL BUSINESS
FirstEnergy receives honor
For the 15th consecutive year, FirstEnergy Corp. has been recognized as a Tree Line USA utility by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
The Akron energy company was honored on behalf of its 10 utility companies in Ohio and five other states.
Award-winning companies demonstrate excellence in tree care, training and public education.
The program also involved the National Association of State Foresters.
Sustainability group to meet
Biomimicry, the study and imitation of what’s found in nature, will be the subject when the Greater Akron Innovations Network in Sustainability meets on Wednesday.
Speakers include Peter Niewiaroski, a professor of biology and integrated bioscience at the University of Akron, and Carol Thaler, director of outreach and administration at the Great Lakes Biomimicry Network.
Biomimicry is seen by some as an economic development tool for Northeast Ohio.
The salon-style meetings are free, interactive and open to the public at Musica, 51 E. Market St., Akron.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the program begins at 6:15 p.m.
For more information, go online to www.glbiomimicry.org.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones rises 130 points
Stocks rose Thursday after unemployment claims fell to a five-year low. A day earlier, it was just the opposite; the market slumped after companies added just 119,000 jobs in April, the fewest in seven months, according to payroll processor ADP. Stocks could swing again today when the government’s closely watched monthly employment report is released.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 130.63 points to 14,831.58 on Thursday, an increase of 0.9 percent. The index lost 138 points a day earlier. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 14.89 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,597.59, also recovering almost all of its losses from a day earlier.
Gains for technology companies helped push the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite higher. The index advanced 41.49 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,340.62.
Facebook gained $1.54, or 5.6 percent, to $28.98 after its first-quarter revenue rose 38 percent, surpassing Wall Street expectations. Nearly a third of the company’s advertising revenue came from mobile devices, a greater share than analysts had expected.
Broadcaster CBS reported a 22 percent jump in first-quarter earnings as the Super Bowl pushed advertising revenue higher. Its stock rose 95 cents, or 2 percent, to $47.35.
auto industry
Honda to expand in Mexico
Honda Motor Co., the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the United States, plans to build a $470 million transmission factory in Mexico at the same site as an auto plant opening in 2014. The parts facility opens in 2015’s second half in Celaya, near the central Mexican city of Guanajuato, and will be able to make 700,000 continuously variable transmissions a year, Honda said.
It will employ 1,500 and be adjacent to a factory scheduled to start making Fit subcompact cars next year.
Mexico has drawn billions of dollars in auto investment in recent years. Along with the country’s lower production costs, Mexico’s favorable trade agreements with the U.S., Latin America and the European Union make it appealing as an export base.
Honda announced its $800 million Celaya auto-assembly plant in 2011. Mazda is building a $650 million factory in the same state, where it will make Mazda2 and Mazda3 cars and also small cars for Toyota. Nissan expects to complete a $2 billion plant alongside an existing facility in the state of Aguascalientes by the end of this year.
Honda said transmissions will also be exported to its other plants in North America and overseas. The company’s American depositary receipts rose 1.1 percent to $39.63.
Compiled from staff and wire reports