DuPont will cut 1,700 jobs in its home state of Delaware and thousands more globally as it prepares for its merger with Dow Chemical.

Dow and DuPont announced earlier this month that they would join to create a giant chemical producer that eventually will be split into three independent companies.

At that time, DuPont announced a $700 million cost savings and restructuring program but did not specify how many jobs would be impacted or where. DuPont CEO Ed Breen sent a letter to employees Tuesday informing them that approximately 1,700 Delaware positions would be eliminated in the beginning of the year.

DuPont, which has been based in Delaware for 213 years, said it would have preferred to let affected employees know of the news first. But it made the announcement now, amid the holidays, because it is legally required to inform the state by the end of the year of the local job cuts. The restructuring program will ultimately affect about 10 percent of the company’s 54,000 employees.

Robust job market lifts buyers’ confidence

WASHINGTON >> A stronger job market lifted consumer confidence in December, a business group said Tuesday. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 96.5 this month from November’s revised 92.6.

Americans were more optimistic about current conditions and about the future.

Another gauge of Americans’ mood — the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index — rose this month to the highest level since July.

Coal mine deaths closing in on record low

LOUISVILLE, Ky. >> Amid layoffs and idled operations, the U.S. coal industry is close to setting a record low for on-the-job deaths in coal mines. In late December, there were 11 deaths in coal mines nationwide for the year, putting the industry on track to best the record low of 16 set in 2014.

Bruce Watzman, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said the industry has had a heightened focus on safety with a goal of zero fatalities. He said the reduction in mine employment in recent years also may be a factor in the record low deaths.

Icahn prevails in bidding war for Pep Boys

Bridgestone Corp. backed down from a bidding war with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, declining to match his takeover offer of more than $1 billion for the Pep Boys auto-parts retail chain.

Bridgestone’s decision, announced in a statement after the close of U.S. trading on Tuesday, follows an $18.50-a-share bid announced by Icahn’s investment firm on Monday. At the time, Icahn Enterprises said it would be willing to boost the proposal even further if Pep Boys didn’t increase the termination fee in its deal with Bridgestone.

Shares of the company, whose full name is Pep Boys: Manny, Moe & Jack, fell as much as 3.1 percent from its Tuesday close to $18.36 in after-hours trading. The stock had gained 93 percent this year, largely driven by the bidding war.

The takeover battle underscores the confidence that Icahn and Bridgestone have in the U.S. auto-parts retailing industry, which stands to benefit from an aging vehicle fleet on American roads. Both bidders were seeking to expand their presence in the tire and automotive-repair sector by adding Pep Boys’ 800 locations across more than 30 states.

Las Vegas sees uptick in October visits

LAS VEGAS >> The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says nearly 3.8 million people visited the destination in October, an increase of 5.6 percent compared to a year ago. The agency that markets Las Vegas to travelers reports that 93 percent of the more than 149,000 hotel rooms in the gambling hub were occupied in October representing a 3.7 point increase. The average room rate rose nearly 12 percent to $135.62.

The agency says the number of conventions and meetings held in October were down 14 percent to 2,652. Attendance was up more than 12 percent, though, with 533,505 people in Las Vegas for meetings and conventions.

Airport traffic was also up by 6.4 percent in October.

In 10 months, Vegas visitor traffic is up 2.7 percent compared to a year ago.

On the Move

Bank of Hawaii has announced the following:

>> Jae Choi has been promoted to vice president and commercial banking officer from assistant vice president and international banking officer. He joined the bank’s Trust Operations Department in 2008 and has been serving in the International Banking Division since 2009.

>> Yvonne L.Y. Lim Warren has been appointed as the vice president and senior portfolio manager of the Investment Management Services Department. She has more than 25 years of banking and investment industry experience.

Kaiser Permanente has announced the following:

>> Dr. Christina Bell has joined the geriatric medicine department at Kaiser Permanente’s Honolulu Medical Office. She is an instructor and professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

>> Dr. Alisa Ching is practicing hospital medicine at Kaiser Permanente’s Moanalua Medical Center. She completed her residency at UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.