Workshop set on doing business with Cuba

MANATEE -- The Manatee Chamber of Commerce is hosting a special half-day workshop on "Doing Business with Cuba Today."

The workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Holiday Inn Sarasota Bradenton Airport, 8009 15th St. E.

Executives from Manatee County Port Authority, Big Red Cattle Company, the Cuba Standard - Cuban Business and Economic News, Gray Robinson Law and Havana Ferry Partners will discuss ways to do business with Cuba. They will offer an up-to-date report on the status of relations between the United Stated and Cuba. The educational workshop, which includes breakfast and lunch, is offered at $35 for Manatee Chamber and Manatee Young Professional members; and $45 for non-members.

Sale of City National Bank to Chilean group closes

MIAMI -- After more than two years of waiting, the sale of City National Bank of Florida to a major Chilean financial institution finally closed Friday morning for $946.9 million.

That's a 7 percent bump from the original price of $882.8 million agreed upon in 2013 when Banco de Credito e Inversiones, Chile's fourth-largest bank, first said it would purchase City National. The Miami-based bank's net worth has grown by 30 percent since then. Its previous owner was Spanish giant Bankia, which was forced to take a government bailout during the financial crisis.

The deal marks the first time a Chilean bank has purchased a domestic U.S. financial institution. Federal regulators held up the deal as they insisted that Bci's holding company be restructured so that it would be more transparent to government officials. The sale was approved last month.

Modest rise gives stocks third week of gains

U.S. stocks closed modestly higher Friday, giving the market its third straight week of gains.

Consumer staples and health care stocks were among the biggest risers as investors assessed the latest company earnings and economic news.

After several weeks speculating about the implications of a slowdown in China and the timing of an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve, traders are squarely tuned into company earnings as they hunt for insight into how the global economy is doing.

General Electric rose 3 percent, the most in the Dow Jones industrial average, after the industrial conglomerate reported earnings that beat analysts' forecasts.

The Dow rose 74.22 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,215.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 9.25 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,033.11. The Nasdaq composite added 16.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,886.69.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 3.2 percent this year. The Dow and S&P 500 are still negative. The Dow is down 3.4 percent, while the S&P 500 is off 1.3 percent.

-- Herald staff and wire reports