Less wasted: New figures show the failed 15-day special session of the Louisiana Legislature cost $642,968, much less than initial estimates of $50,000 to $60,000 per day, reports NOLA.com, which obtained the new figures from the state House and Senate. Legislators failed to close the state’s budget gap during a special session that cost $42,865 per day to hold. The lower figures are likely due to the House’s inability to reach a consensus on tax bills, leaving the Senate little to do and very few reasons to meet. Read more.
Completed: Mississippi-based First Bancshares Inc. has completed its purchase of Florida-based Sunshine Financial, acquiring the company for $32 million in stock and cash. Stockholders are getting 75% stock and 25% cash. It’s the second acquisition since November for First Bancshares, now operating as The First, and the eighth since 2011. On March 1, The First completed a $60 million takeover of First Community Bank in Alabama. After both deals, The First has $2.4 billion in assets, with 63 offices in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
Tumbling: U.S. stocks are tumbling today after China officially raised import duties on U.S. pork, apples and other products. Though it’s too soon to declare the beginning of a trade war, investors aren’t taking any chances. China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of U.S. goods in response to the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump ordered last month. The Dow Jones industrial average fell as much as 750 points. The tariff hit meat producer Tyson Foods hard and companies like Microsoft and Alphabet fell. Intel took a steep drop following a report in Bloomberg News that Apple plans to start using its own chips in Mac computers as early as 2020, replacing Intel. Read more.
