Posted: 6:07 p.m.Friday, Jan. 15, 2016

Stock plunge sends AK Steel shares to new low

By Chelsey Levingston

StaffWriter

WEST CHESTER TWP. — 

Thestock price of Butler County steelmaker AKSteel Holding Corp. reached a new year-long low during trading Friday of $1.81a share, before closing the day at $1.88.

It’sthe first time so far in 2016 the locally-based manufacturer ended the daybelow $2 per share of common stock, during which time the last two weeks havebeen the worst start to a new year for the stock market ever.

West Chester Twp.-based AK Steel’sstock price dropped over 8 percent Friday from Thursday’s close.

Even though AK Steel facesmajor headwinds from foreign competitors and what company officials call aflood of unfairly traded steel imports, low oil prices were a major factor inthe overall stock market’s decline Friday.

The three major stock indexesall lost value Friday, according to The Associated Press: The Dow Jones industrial average slid390.90 points, or 2.4 percent; Standard & Poor’s 500 index endeddown 44.84 points, or 2.3 percent; and Nasdaq dropped 126.59 points, or 2.7percent.

TheDow and S&P 500 have now fallen about 8 percent this year, while the Nasdaqis off about 10 percent.

“Oilis the root cause of today,” said Dan Farley, regional investment strategist atthe Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank, told Associated Press. “People areuncertain, and when they’re uncertain they’re scared.”

Inaddition to the West Chester headquarters, AK Steel operates a steel plant in Middletown and is one of the regions largest employers ofover 2,000 people in Butler County.

Here’swhere share prices ended up for other locally-traded stocks after Friday’sclosing bell, when compared to the previous closing price:

·                      AK Steel Holding Corp., West ChesterTwp.: -8.29% to $1.88

·                      AtriCure Inc., Mason: -2.67% to $18.25

·                      Cincinnati Financial Corp., Fairfield: -1.90% to$55.12

·                      Cintas Corp., Mason: -1.77% to $84.03

·                      First Financial Bancorp, Cincinnati:-less than 1% to $16.97

·                      Fifth Third Bancorp, Cincinnati:-3% to $17.12

·                      Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., Sandusky: -2.49% to $50.82

·                      General Electric Co., Connecticut(major regional operations): -1.96% to $28.49

·                      The Kroger Co., Cincinnati:-1.38% to $38.49

·                      LCNB Corp., Lebanon:-1.85% to $15.88

·                      The Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati: -1.54% to $74.98

·                      Park National Corp., Newark:-1.25% to $83.62

·                      Rex American Resources Corp., Dayton: -less than 1% to $47.52

·                      Teradata Corp., MiamiTwp.: -less than 1% to $22.96