South Carolina paper to cut standalone business section, stock listings

The Hilton Head Island Packet in South Carolina will cut its standalone business section and the stock and mutual fund listings in its business section, beginning next Tuesday, according to a story Saturday.

The story stated, “Most notably, there will be fewer stocks and mutual fund listings — we’ll have one page of listings instead of three. That page and a second one, which will carry business stories from the Lowcountry and elsewhere, will be in the A section, the first section of the newspaper, rather than in a separate section as before.

“The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ stocks listed will be the most actively traded for the previous day; the mutual funds the largest ones ranked by asset size.

“At the same time, we’re offering you a much better way to get significantly more information about your investments — from our Web site: islandpacket.com.

“We’re making these changes for a number of reasons. Like most other newspapers, the Packet is trying to reduce expenses at a time when regional and national economies are languishing. Newsprint is one of the biggest expenses for a newspaper. We want to use it wisely –particularly in times of economic malaise.”

Read more here.