Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 5, 1991 TAG: 9102050036
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At the end of last month, the index of 20 area stocks stood at 135.29 points, down 2.4 percent from December's 138.68 and off 19.3 percent from a year ago.
At the start of 1991, Dibrell Brothers of Danville was removed from the list because securities analysts said it is not a representative company for Southwest Virginia.
It was replaced by Cooper Industries, parent of Gardner-Denver Mining & Construction Co., which operates a plant on Blue Hills Drive in Northeast Roanoke.
Also, Charter Federal Savings Bank of Bristol was replaced because its stock is deeply depressed for reasons unrelated to the economy of Western Virginia.
Its place was filled by another financial institution, C&S/Sovran of Norfolk and Atlanta, which operates Sovran Bank and other banks in the southeast United States.
The index still is largely driven by banks because three other statewide financial institutions - Dominion, Crestar and Signet - also are on the list. Together, they represent one-fifth of the stocks, and all of their prices are depressed.
Among other indicators on the weekly roundup:
Home sales were not reported for January. The figures, usually available on the first business day of the following month, will be reported along with the February figures at the beginning of March.
A spokesman for the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors said the delay is caused by a switch to a new computer system at the first of the year.
The number of new business licenses issued in the region fell sharply in January, down 22.5 percent from January 1990's 222 to last month's 172. The figure for December, when few businesses opt to take out a license, was 66.
The decline was greatest in Roanoke, down 26 percent from 125 licenses to 92. Roanoke County issued licenses to 80 new businesses, 17 percent fewer than last year's 97.
The number of telephone lines was up 2 percent from 124,772 last year to 127,375.
Roanoke Gas Co. reported consumption of 1,198,700 thousand cubic feet, up 9.8 percent from 1,091,338 in January 1990. December's consumption was 1,001,281 thousand cubic feet.
Valley Metro saw a 10 percent boost in average weekday ridership. The bus system carried 4,801 passengers on an average weekday last month compared to 4,354 in January 1990 and 5,079 with Christmas traffic in December.
The value of checks cleared by Roanoke banks against each other through the local clearinghouse was off 29.5 percent last week, to $187,140,353 from $265,486,328 in the corresponding period a year earlier. The figure for the prior week was $158,455,248.
Weekly coal loadings at Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Pocahontas coal fields rose 1.8 percent, to 21,360 railroad cars last week from 20,974 cars in the comparable week last year. NS said the figure for the prior week was 20,672.
The metro area's unemployment rate in December was 3.5 percent compared to 3.6 percent in November and 3.1 percent in December. The number of people working also rose, from 126,300 in December 1989 to 129,000 last December.
Both active and initial claims for unemployment benefits improved in December compared to a year ago. The Virginia Employment Commission said 448 people filed new claims for benefits during the study week in December, a decline from 466 in November and 499 a year earlier.
The number of people receiving benefits in December was 1,572, up from November's 1,552 but off from 1,690 in December 1989.
by CNB