S&P; balks at SEC rule it report 'significant' credit rating errors

Standard & Poor's, whose unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt triggered a worldwide stock sell-off, is pushing back against a U.S. government...

Fed consensus missing from call for 2 more years of low interest rates

So much for the vaunted Federal Reserve consensus.

VIX records second-biggest percent drop ever

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index recorded its second-largest percent drop ever, reversing yesterday's biggest surge in four years,...

Integrys to move to Aon Center in 2014

Integrys Energy Group said in a statement Tuesday that it plans to move into Chicago's Aon Center in 2014 and that it has signed a lease with Piedmont...

Candy show receives incentives to move expo dates

The National Confectioners Association has agreed to move its Sweets & Snack Expo to earlier dates next May at McCormick Place to avoid overlap...

Dow ends day up over 400 points

Stocks rallied on Tuesday in a volatile session as investors struggled to decipher the Fed's signals on the economy after a dizzying two-week slide.

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  Debt-rating deluge could trickle down to cities and states

Surprise 2Q loss hammers AOL shares

Early Tuesday, AOL reported a surprise loss of 11 cents a share for the second quarter. Revenue fell compared to last year and came in below Wall...

Yield on 10-year T-notes falls to 2.19% after Fed speaks

Treasury yields resumed their slide Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates "exceptionally low" until at least 2013.

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  Fed to keep rates low 2 more years, offers no new stimulus

Riot gear surges to Amazon's best-seller list in troubled U.K.

Aluminum bats, police nightsticks and other weapons dominated the "movers and shakers" list of hot-selling items in Amazon.uk's Sports shop Tuesday as...

State Farm to monitor some drivers, adjust rates

State Farm Insurance plans to give its Illinois customers a chance to lower -- or raise -- their rates depending on their driving habits.

Economic turmoil ends hopes housing will recover soon

Any glimmer of hope that the housing market will stage a recovery soon has vanished, thanks to the recent spate of bad economic news that has been...

U.S. gasoline demand posts 20th straight decline

U.S. retail gasoline demand fell last week as high prices and economic uncertainty kept drivers off the road, MasterCard said in its SpendingPulse...

Apple briefly passes Exxon as largest U.S. company

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc briefly edged past Exxon Mobil Corp to become the most valuable U.S. company on Tuesday, displacing an...

Fifth Third Bank taps Leo Burnett for advertising

Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett has been hired by Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank to handle advertising, digital marketing and other communications. Leo...

Nielsen Holdings buys Evanston firm Marketing Analytics

Nielsen Holdings, the provider of information about what consumers watch and buy, has acquired Evanston-based Marketing Analytics Inc.

Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines down 9%

A new report says sales of U.S. magazines at newsstands and other retail outlets fell 9 percent in the first six months of the year in a sign of...

Walgreen Co. plans to sell health insurance

Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain, is planning to start selling health insurance to customers this fall.

Tribune Co. developing tablet device

Tribune Co. is working on a touchscreen tablet that it plans to offer to newspaper subscribers, according to people briefed on the plans.

Gold hits $1,782.50 biggest 3-day rally since 2008

Gold extended its gains on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates low for at least another two years to help a U.S....

S&P; 'more concerned' about threats to bank profits

Standard & Poor's is "more concerned" that a slower economy, sovereign debt issues and mortgage risks will depress U.S. bank industry profits...

Fed under pressure to act as world markets swoon

Federal Reserve policymakers began meeting on Tuesday under growing pressure to take some type of action to stem a financial market meltdown linked to...

Lightbank investing in 'social haggling site' oBaz

Chicago-based technology investment firm Lightbank is investing in oBaz, a local "social haggling" startup that negotiates custom discounts for groups...

U.S. productivity falls in second quarter

U.S. nonfarm productivity fell in the second quarter as economic activity slackened, while a moderation in the pace of unit labor costs growth...

Orbitz quarterly profit slips, bookings decline

Chicago-based online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide Inc. posted Tuesday a smaller quarterly net profit on a 3 percent dip in bookings.

Sara Lee selling dough unit to Ralcorp for $545M

Sara Lee will sell its North American refrigerated dough business to Ralcorp for $545 million, the company said Tuesday, as it moves closer to...

Despite debt downgrade, mortgage rates may fall

At least one fear was not realized amid Monday's meltdown: the concern that mortgage rates would immediately shoot higher in response to Standard...

The day ahead in business

Reports: Productivity for second quarter, 7:30 a.m.; FOMC interest rate decision,  1:15 p.m.

Asian stocks tank, then recover

Asian stocks gained ground Tuesday afternoon after steep drops earlier in the day following Wall Street's biggest plunge since 2008, with Australia'...

State moves to seize forgotten bank accounts quicker

Forgotten bank accounts could be put to work for taxpayers much more quickly under a new Illinois law.

Atlanta-based Bounce TV coming to Chicago

A new African-American television network will hit the airwaves in Chicago when it launches next month. Atlanta-based Bounce TV announced an...

Savored, OpenTable expand deal partnership to Chicago

Restaurant reservation website OpenTable is teaming up with Savored, a restaurant reservations and deals platform, to launch a partnership that...

Citadel to give E*Trade more time on review

Chicago hedge fund Citadel LLC on Monday told E*Trade Financial Corp. hat it will not press for a special shareholder meeting now and give the...

Idex CEO to join Pall Corp.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer Pall Corp. named Larry Kingsley as its chief executive, effective Oct. 3.

VIX soars most in 4 years on S&P; downgrade

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index rose the most in more than four years, while Europe's volatility index increased for a record...

CME Group's Duffy says U.S. 'should be rated triple-A plus'

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, the head of Chicago exchange CME Group, Terry Duffy, commented on the recent downgrade of the U.S. credit...

Lucien Lagrange joining VOA Associates

Lucien Lagrange, who last year shut down his firm in the wake of the building bust, is joining the Chicago architectural firm VOA Associates as its...

Dow tumbles 634 points on recession fears

Accelerating fears of a new global recession sent the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting more than 600 points — wiping out $1 trillion in...

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  Credit downgrade effects felt in Chicago area

10-year Treasury yield falls to 2-year low

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields fell to their lowest levels since February 2009 on Monday, after a U.S. credit dowgrade sparked broad risk...

Waterview Tower owner to rehab South Side apartments

Related Cos., which last month bought control of Chicago's half-built Waterview Tower, is adding a subsidized apartment complex on the city's South...

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  New developer plans to restart construction at Waterview Tower

Riddell deal closes litigation in death of Vikings' Stringer

 A settlement has been reached in the last remaining litigation stemming from the heatstroke death of Minnesota Vikings lineman Korey Stringer 10...

Angry Birds branch out into baby gear

Can an Angry Bird keep your baby safe and warm?

IRS: Nearly 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax in 2009

Millionaires and billionaires -- or at least the ones who file tax returns -- are a relative rarity, according to a recent report from the Internal...

Obama says downgrade a wake-up call on deficits

President Barack Obama Monday blamed a downgrade in the United States' credit rating on political gridlock in Washington and said he would offer...

Swiss franc, yen soar on U.S. downgrade, Euro uncertainty

The safe-haven Swiss franc and the yen soared Monday after Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating and on fears euro zone debt troubles could...

AIG sues BofA for $10B over 'massive fraud'

Bank of America shares took a drubbing Monday as investors learned that insurer American International Group was suing the company for billions of...

Large wind-turbine maker opens North American headquarters in Chicago

The fourth-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world has chosen Chicago for its North American headquarters.

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  Quinn signs bills to study offshore wind energy, allow creation of county wind farm districts

Congressman subpoenas NLRB documents in Boeing case

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa Monday issued a subpoena to the National Labor Relations Board for documents pertaining to the board's...

OfficeMax shares fall after Goldman Sachs downgrade

Naperville-based office supply chain OfficeMax saw its stock fall more than 12 percent Monday after Goldman Sachs cut its stock-investment rating on...

Airlines begin rolling back fare hikes

Southwest and Delta say they have rolled back last month's fare increases so that passengers will pay the same price even though federal ticket...

Walgreen Co. begins seasonal flu vaccine push

The drugstore chain said Monday it is now offering seasonal flu vaccinations at all of its stores during pharmacy and clinic hours.

European stocks slip, Asia tumbles after downgrade

European stocks closed sharply lower Monday, as action to bolster faltering eurozone nations couldn't overcome concerns about Standard & Poor's...

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  Illinois braces for fallout from U.S. credit rating downgrade

TDS profit doubles on U.S. Cellular results

Telephone & Data Systems Inc.'s second-quarter earnings more than doubled amid an 81 percent leap in profit at its U.S. Cellular Corp., though the...

Oil falls $4, futures at $83 a barrel

Oil fell more than $4 a barrel on Monday as worries over economic growth spread after Standard & Poor's cut the United States' top-tier credit...

European Central Bank backs Italy, Spain to halt euro crisis

The European Central Bank intervened dramatically in bond markets on Monday, backing up a verbal pledge to support Spain and Italy with action in an...

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  Britain, other eurozone countries face ratings cut: Jim Rogers

ICE to shutter Chicago Climate Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. will close its U.S. emissions derivatives platform, the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, after the first quarter,...

McDonald's July comparable sales up 5.1%

McDonald's Corp. posted a 5.1 percent increase in July sales at established restaurants Monday, helped by smoothies and other drinks in the United...

Sears begins online pre-sale for new Kardashian line

Beginning at 6 a.m. Monday, shoppers can grab the first 23 pieces of the Kardashian clothing and accessories line during a 72-hour presale event at...

Northern Trust: S&P;'s downgrade won't affect view on bonds

 U.S. custody bank Northern Trust Corp. said rating agency Standard & Poor's downgrading of U.S. debt would not affect the firm's view of the...

The day ahead in business

Local earnings: Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc., Fuel-Tech Inc., Lime Energy Co., Telephone & Data Systems Inc., U.S. Cellular Corp.

Dollar to drop on S&P;, flows seen to safe assets

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar is likely to take a further beating against the Swiss franc and Japanese yen on Monday, while global stocks could...

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  Investors try to look past panic

Shorewood bank shut down by federal regulators

WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday shut down a small bank in the southwest suburbs and one in Washington, lifting to 63 the number of U.S. bank...

S&P; cuts U.S. credit rating to AA-plus

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday, in a dramatic reversal of fortune for the world's largest...

Playboy teams up with world's largest online porn company

Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises has teamed up with one of the largest names in pornography's online industry -- Manwin.

Groupon to get rid of controversial accounting in amended IPO filing

Chicago-based daily deal giant Groupon will amend its S-1 public offering filing to remove references to an unusual accounting treatment that has...

Berkshire Hathaway second quarter profit rises

Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway reported a larger second-quarter profit on Friday, as favorable investment results and strength in...

Groupon subscribers jump to 115 million: Source

Groupon subscribers have more than doubled to 115 million so far this year, according to a person familiar with the situation.

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  Groupon cutting 'underperformers' in China

Stocks rally back in wildly volatile session

Stocks closed out their worst week in more than two years on Friday in a volatile session that saw the major indexes whip back and forth before the S&...

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  Odds of a double-dip recession still high

Illinois Tool Works raises dividend

Illinois Tool Works Inc. said Friday that it will raise its quarterly dividend to 36 cents from 34 cents.

IRS won't collect back taxes on airline tickets

The Internal Revenue Service won't collect retroactive taxes for airline tickets purchased during a lapse in the government's taxing authority, agency...

A record 45.8 million American using food stamps

 Nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Argonne cuts 48 jobs

Argonne National Laboratory is laying off 48 employees as part of a belt-tightening move to save $13 million a year. That includes 27 employees who...

WMS stock sees worst day in a decade amid cuts

Waukegan-based WMS Industries Inc., a maker of games and gaming machines, is seeing its worst day in trading since January 2000 after announcing job...

Former major leaguer settles insider trading charges over Abbott takeover target

Former Angels baseball player Doug DeCinces has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle allegations that he used inside information to score big...

Senate approves bill to end partial FAA shutdown

The Senate approved legislation Friday ending a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, clearing the way for thousands of...

Airbus stays ahead of Boeing so far in 2011

Airbus extended its lead over Boeing in July as both planemakers added a major order from American Airlines to their books and prepared to fight...

Honda recalls 1.5M U.S. cars for transmission software

Honda Motor Co. Ltd will recall 1.5 million cars and small SUVs in United States to repair the software that controls the automatic transmission,...

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  Honda tries to limit fallout from negative Civic review

U.S. adds 117K jobs, unemployment at 9.1%

The job market strengthened in July, a welcome piece of good news that sharply contrasted other recent readings pointing toward an economic slowdown.

• 
  Stocks jump around in volatile session

DeVry buys medical school in St. Maarten

Downers Grove-based education company DeVry Inc. says it has bought a medical school in St. Maarten.

• 
  Career Education under microscope

Home ownership hits lowest level since 1965

As the foreclosure crisis continues to wreak havoc on the housing market, a source of national pride has taken a sour turn. Home ownership is on the...

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  Rates on 15-year mortgage drop to record 3.54%; 30-year at 4.39%

The day ahead in business

Reports: Unemployment rate for July, 7:30 a.m.; Consumer credit for June, 2 p.m.

Giordano's owner sues bank, lawyers, franchisees

• 
  Read Apostolou's lawsuit

Obama urges Geithner to stay as Treasury chief

President Barack Obama has asked Timothy Geithner to stay on as Treasury secretary and a decision is expected soon, officials said on Thursday.

LinkedIn's Q2 results glide past Street view

LinkedIn is banking on faster-than-expected revenue growth in 2011, as the professional networking site sets off to prove it can fulfill the promise...

Groupon picks up Obtiva to boost engineering team

Chicago-based daily deal site Groupon said Thursday that it would acquire Obtiva, a Ruby on Rails software development firm also based in Chicago....

CBOE says VIX volumes reach record high

The Chicago Board Options Exchange on Thursday said the trading volume in futures of the CBOE Volatility Index reached a single-day record.

Comcast sues DirecTV over NFL Sunday ticket ads

Comcast has sued DirecTV alleging that the satellite company is baiting consumers by advertising that its NFL Sunday Ticket service is available for...

Dow plunges more than 500 points, erasing year's gains

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the depths of the Great Recession in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-...

• 
  A bad couple of weeks

Allison Payne leaving WGN-Ch. 9

Hampered by health issues that knocked her from the prime time anchor perch at WGN-Ch. 9, Allison Payne announced Thursday she is leaving the...

Mortgage losses threaten PMI's ability to write new insurance

PMI Group's U.S. mortgage losses mounted and the company said its unit MIC might be stopped from writing insurance in more states, wiping out more...

Chrysler recalls 300K '08 minivans over airbag issue

Chrysler is recalling nearly 300,000 minivans for a possible heating and air conditioning problem that could trigger the air bag, the second related...

Company sues after losing O'Hare concessions contract

The company that lost the concession contract at O'Hare International Airport's international terminal sued today, arguing the new firm will...

Kraft Foods to split into 2 companies

Just 18 months after acquiring British candy maker Cadbury, Kraft Foods is breaking up.

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  Warren Buffett not opposed to Kraft split

Morton Salt seeks $7 million upgrade at Kansas plant

Morton Salt Co. has asked South Hutchinson city authorities for a10-year tax abatement as it plans to upgrade its salt evaporation plant.

Career Education shares continue to fall

Career Education Corp., the Schaumburg-based for-profit college company, said some of its campuses improperly reported student placement rates -- an...

Mesirow to open Hong Kong office

Mesirow Financial will open a Hong Kong office in the fourth quarter, and will initially staff it with personnel from its hedge funds unit, Mesirow...

Index options drive CBOE 2Q profit up 32%

CBOE Holdings became the fifth U.S. exchange operator to beat analysts' second-quarter profit expectations, as it trimmed expenses and promised more...

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  CBOE to buy back $100 million in shares

Littelfuse Q2 results hurt by metal, oil costs

Chicago-based circuit protection products maker Littelfuse Inc. posted quarterly results below analysts' expectations, hurt by higher metal and oil...

Glenn Tilton selling off shares in United Continental

Glenn Tilton, UAL Corp.'s former CEO, has been quietly selling his stock in the parent of Chicago-based United Airlines.

French court orders investigation into IMF's Lagarde

A French court ordered an investigation on Thursday into the role of IMF head Christine Lagarde in a huge settlement paid to a businessman friend of...

Fortune Brands profit from continuing operations slips

 Consumer goods company Fortune Brands Inc reported lower earnings from continuing operations Thursday, hurt by a weaker-than-expected market for...

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  Fortune Brands completes $1.23B sale of golf unit