BANKING
Two small banks in southeastern Mass. to merge
Two small southeastern Massachusetts banks announced on Thursday that they plan to merge in an effort to reduce costs. Abington Bank, with assets of $135 million, and Holbrook Cooperative Bank, a $105 milllion-asset institution, expect their merger to be complete in 2017, pending approval from regulators. The banks, which are in neighboring towns, said they expect to save money and resources on compliance, technology, and security with the merger. Smaller banks in Massachusetts have merged or been sold in recent years as they face shrinking profits in a low-interest rate environment and growing expenses for technology and regulation. Both banks have one branch location. Bank officials said they remain committed to their communities and the Holbrook branch will operate as Holbrook Cooperative Bank, an affiliate of Abington Bank. — DEIRDRE FERNANDES
ENERGY
Biggest manufacturer of solar panels to cut 1,600 jobs
The biggest US manufacturer of solar panels is cutting a quarter of its jobs worldwide and will halt production at its only North American plant, in Ohio. First Solar Inc. says it’s facing challenging market conditions and needs to retool operations to begin making a more efficient solar panel. The company is based in Tempe, Ariz., and will cut 1,600 jobs worldwide. Details about the restructuring plan haven’t been released. But the company says it will stop production at its plant near Toledo, where it employs about 1,400 people. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENERGY
Shareholders approve acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla
Electric car maker Tesla Motors won the backing of shareholders to acquire SolarCity Corp., the nation’s largest solar panel installer. Shareholders of both companies approved the merger by a wide margin Thursday. Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed the merger in June, saying he wanted to create a one-stop shop for solar panels and electric cars. Musk is also chairman of SolarCity, which is run by his cousins. The all-stock deal was worth $2.6 billion when the companies approved it in August, but declining share prices will likely cut the value of the deal. The final terms will be determined by the value of Tesla shares on the day the merger goes into effect. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
RETAIL
Walmart profit falls as spending increases on e-commerce, better stores
Walmart Stores Inc. saw its third-quarter profit fall more than 8 percent, dragged down as it continues to plow money into e-commerce and improving its stores. While online sales improved, overall revenue fell short of expectations as the company said it was hurt in part by falling food prices. Profit at the world’s largest retailer still beat Wall Street expectations, and it lifted the bottom end of its full-year profit forecast. Investors focused on the sales, though, sending shares in the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer down nearly 4 percent. Walmart, like other traditional retailers, has been trying to improve its online operations and be more nimble to compete with Amazon.com and others. It spent more than $3 billion for Jet.com, a deal that closed in September and is aimed at helping it attract younger and more affluent customers. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
COMMUNICATIONS
AOL to cut about 500 jobs
AOL is cutting about 500 jobs, or 8 percent of its workforce, as it trims back following some deals and focuses on mobile, video and data. In a memo to employees, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong says the Verizon-owned company has added 1,500 employees over the past year because of acquisitions and partnerships, and it needs to consolidate to improve operations. Armstrong says AOL will add jobs in the areas that are driving growth. Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015 as part of its effort to build a digital ad business. AOL owns Huffington Post and the tech site TechCrunch. Verizon has also proposed buying Yahoo for $4.8 billion. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MORTGAGES
Rates rise to a 10-month high following election
US mortgage rates skyrocketed to a 10-month high as investors reacted to Donald Trump’s presidential election win by pulling money out of the bond market, driving up yields that guide home loans. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.94 percent, up from 3.57 percent last week and the highest since January, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday. The average 15-year rate rose to 3.14 percent from 2.88 percent, the McLean, Va.-based mortgage-finance company said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook buys facial analysis software company
Facebook has bought a facial analysis software firm linked to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, a move that will help the social media giant boost its artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology. Details of the deal weren’t revealed by Menlo Park, California-based Facebook or FacioMetrics, the Carnegie Mellon spinoff. Facebook says FacioMetrics’s software can be used to monitor the emotions of medical patients, assess audience reaction to a public speaker, or even detect drowsy drivers. It also will enable Facebook users to express themselves through special effects that can manipulate photos and videos with facial images. This is something rival Snapchat already does to some extent — it has special filters users can add on to selfie ‘‘snaps’’ they take of themselves. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANKING
Wells Fargo sees drop in new accounts following scandal
Wells Fargo & Co. said retail customers opened 44 percent fewer new accounts in October from a year earlier in the wake of the bank’s record-setting settlement with regulators over its cross-selling scandal. The drop was 27 percent from September and is showing signs of stabilizing this month, Mary Mack, the lender’s head of community banking, said in a conference call Thursday. New credit-card applications dropped by half to 200,000 in October, the first full month since the settlement was disclosed on Sept. 8, the San Francisco-based company said in a statement. Wells Fargo agreed to pay $185 million in fines after employees opened as many as 2 million unauthorized customer accounts. Since then, the bank has eliminated product sales goals for its consumer bankers and shook up its executive team to win back customers’ allegiance. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
New York Times’ subscriptions jump, despite Trump’s claim
The New York Times is pushing back against President-elect Donald Trump, saying that its paid subscriptions have jumped since the election despite what Trump has said on Twitter. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the Times ‘‘is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena.’’’ He has tweeted about the newspaper six times since being elected. The Times says it added 41,000 paid subscriptions to both its newspaper and digital products in the week since Election Day. The New York Times Co. says the increase is its largest one-week rise since 2011, when it launched its digital subscription model. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
