Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SAN FRANCISCO - Three major U.S. banking companies - BankAmerica Corp. of San Francisco; Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio; and KeyCorp. of Cleveland - said Thursday they will cut their prime lending rates to 8.75 percent from 9 percent today. No Virginia banks announced a change.
The moves followed the Federal Reserve's reduction of a key interest rate Thursday. The cut in the overnight bank loan rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 5.75 percent, is the first in three years.
``I think we should see a number of banks cut their rate for the competitive advantage. Once the competitive process is set in motion, most of the banks tend to follow,'' said Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. analyst Raphael Soifer. ``It shows customers you're responsive to the market.''
-Bloomberg Business News
Blue mold spreads in Va. burley crop
ABINGDON - Blue mold continues its destructive sweep across Virginia's burley tobacco fields, raising fears that farmers may post heavy losses this year if the weather does not cooperate.
``It's spreading fairly rapidly,'' said Phil Blevins, a Washington County extension agent. ``I'd say it's all over the county. In some places, it's pretty serious.''
Airborne spores from the fungus can spread 50 miles a day on a good wind. The torrential rains that pounded the region throughout June created an ideal climate for blue mold growth. Extension agents in Virginia and Tennessee say the fungus probably was imported on burley seedlings from Georgia.
Blue mold clings to the underside of tobacco leaves and can destroy a plant in a few days.
- Associated Press
NationsBank to buy Miami-based S&L
NationsBank Corp. is buying the Florida-based parent company of Citizens Federal Bank, but the savings and loan's four Richmond-area offices are not part of the sale.
CSF Holdings of Miami said it has agreed to sell its assets to Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank for $516 million in cash. Citizens Federal's Virginia offices already are being sold to First Virginia Bank-Colonial, a Richmond bank.
The purchase by First Virginia is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, pending regulatory approval.
NationsBank and CSF hope to complete their transaction by December or January, said Charles B. Stutzin, chairman and president of CSF Holdings. The sale is subject to approval by CSF shareholders and regulators.
- Associated Press
Newport News loses USAir jet service
USAir is suspending jet service to the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport as a cost-cutting measure, starting Sept. 6.
The move comes after the airport offered ValuJet Airlines $1.9 million in subsidies to lure the Atlanta-based carrier.
``We have been carefully analyzing all the routes in our system. If you're in a situation where another carrier's operations are being underwritten, it can only make your own operations less profitable,'' USAir spokesman Rick Weintraub said Wednesday.
Three daily USAir jet flights to Pittsburgh will be replaced by 37-seat USAir Express Dash-8 turboprop planes. Another 15 daily flights from Newport News are already aboard USAir Express, which flies prop planes.
ValuJet is offering three daily jet flights between Newport News and Atlanta.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
Kollmorgen Corp.'s Inland Motor Division in Radford has won a $288,750 contract from the Navy Aviation Supply Office in Philadelphia for electrical and electronic equipment components.
Sir Speedy Roanoke, a franchised printing, copying and digital network center, has opened in the First Federal Building, 30 W. Church Ave. Anna Karbassiyoon owns the business. Tom Turner of Hall Associates Inc. was the leasing agent.
The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board will move its office to 210 First St., Suite 460 in downtown Roanoke on July 10. The office was in the Poff Federal Building.
by CNB