Breaking Business News
Retired teachers file first lawsuit against Illinois pension reform law
The Illinois Retired Teachers Association filed suit Friday challenging the constitutionality of the state’s historic but...
Abbott Labs settles with U.S. over kickback claims
Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay the United States $5.48 million to resolve allegations that it paid improper kickbacks to induce...
Wall Street ends mostly flat, but scores weekly gains
U.S. stock indexes closed mostly flat on Friday, with the Dow snapping a six-day streak of record closing highs after investors took a break...
Target says PINs stolen, but confident data is secure
Target Corp said PIN data of its customers' bank ATM cards were stolen as part of the massive data breach at the third-largest U.S....
Nasdaq to pay out for botched Facebook IPO at year end
Nasdaq will compensate firms on December 31 for qualifying claims related to Facebook Inc's botched May 2012 initial public offering, the...
Tribune closes $2.7B Local TV acquisition
Tribune Co. has closed on its $2.73 billion acquisition of Local TV, making it one of the country's largest television station owners, the...
Godiva owner buys DeMet's Candy
DeMet's Candy Company, the creator of Flipz chocolate pretzels and Turtles covered nut clusters that...
Delta website error yields super-low fares for some fliers
An error on Delta Air Lines' website produced super-low fares Thursday morning before the problem was...
GM recalls 1.5M cars in China, one of biggest recalls ever
General Motors Co's China joint venture will recall close to 1.5 million vehicles due to potential safety issues in...
Discounts, promotions spur sales in U.S. holiday season
Sales during the 2013 U.S. holiday season grew from a year earlier as deep discounting and increased promotions encouraged consumers to...
SBA approves $5 million in tornado-related aid to Illinoisans
The Small Business Administration said Thursday it has approved $5 million in loans to Illinoisans affected by last month's devastating...
UPS holiday package delivery glitches could boost competition
UPS scrambled on Thursday to deliver packages that had failed to arrive in time for Christmas as the No. 1 U.S. ground delivery service...
McDonald's takes down employee website after controversy
CNN is reporting: McDonald's has taken down its employee website after controversy surrounding the world's largest...
Jobless claims fall in positive sign for labor market
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly a month, a hopeful sign for...
Retailers prepare for post-Christmas discounts, gift returns
Christmas is in the rearview mirror, but there's still no rest for retailers expecting yet another day of intense crowds Thursday.
SoftBank in talks to acquire T-Mobile, sources say
Japan's SoftBank Corp is in talks to acquire U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc and is discussing funding for a deal with financial...
Postage stamp increase to 49 cents approved
The U.S. Postal Service’s regulator approved price increases amounting to 6 percent on most mail, a step the service’s board...
Wireless carriers consider ending phone subsidies
It's a perk wireless customers have come to expect: Sign up for a two-year service contract, and get a new smartphone at a deeply discounted...
Over-the-top amenities help luxury homes stand out
If you thought Southern California mansions could hardly get more outlandish, consider the latest must-have feature: A moat encircling the...
Cusack family home in Evanston sold for $940,000
On Dec. 20, the five-bedroom house in Evanston where actors John and Joan Cusack grew up sold for $940,000.
BlackBerry co-founder cuts stake in company
BlackBerry Ltd co-founder Mike Lazaridis cut his stake in the company to 4.99 percent from 8 percent, and said that a group,...
Madison Dearborn buying stake in medical supplier Ikaria for $1.6B
Chicago-based buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partners said Tuesday that it plans to buy a majority stake in Ikaria Inc. in a deal that...
Democrats see benefits from Obama's long-shot minimum wage push
President Barack Obama's push to raise the minimum wage will almost certainly fail due to stiff Republican opposition, but analysts and...
U.S. watchdog tells American Express to refund duped clients
U.S. regulators fined American Express on Tuesday over deceptive and misleading practices in selling credit card add-on products, and forced...
Champagne sales fall flat on French economic gloom
Economic woes in champagne's home market of France took the fizz out of global sales of the prestige sparkling wine for the second year in a...
Broker cuts Target earnings forecast after data theft
Brokerage Cowen and Co cut its earnings forecast on Target Corp after the massive theft of card data over the holiday season, saying...
Google edges Apple as most talked about company of 2013
When it came to being mentioned by the press, Google was the top company in 2013, just edging out rival Apple.
U.S. mobile data traffic nearly doubled in 2013, report says
Faster Internet, faster smartphones and bigger screens means U.S. mobile users are going online with their phones more than ever before --...
Mortgage applications fall as refinance hits 5-year low
Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell for a second week and hit a 13-year low as mortgage rates rose due to a bond market sell-off...
U.S. new home sales fall from 5-year peak, prices up
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell modestly in November from a five-year high and prices pushed higher, indicating the housing...
U.S. upgrades probe of Mercedes car rear-light issue
U.S. safety regulators upgraded an investigation into more than 250,000 Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars for possible failure of the rear lights.
Emanuel announces appointments for grocery task force
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday announced the members of a grocery store task force that will work to find new owners for stores...
The day ahead in business
Reports: November durable orders and shipments, November new home sales, Richmond Fed Index
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells private island for $8 million
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has sold a private island in northwestern Washington state to undisclosed buyers for $8 million, his real...
Former Chicago comptroller pleads guilty to corruption charges in Ohio
Former Chicago Comptroller Amer Ahmad pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to charges stemming from a kickback scheme he ran with his...
Tribune in deal to buy Sony's Gracenote
Tribune Co. has agreed to buy Gracenote, which provides music data for iTunes and other digital applications, from Sony Corporation of...
Hyundai, Kia reach $400M settlement over inflated MPG claims
Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America, the U.S. sales arms of the sibling South Korean automakers, said Monday they have reached a...
Obamacare's signup deadline extended to Christmas Eve
The Obama administration said on Monday it has extended a deadline for health insurance under Obamacare, giving consumers shopping on...
Bargain-hungry shoppers buy less on weekend before Christmas
U.S. consumers shopped less on the final weekend before Christmas despite deeper discounts, the latest sign of how difficult a season this...
NYSE proposes 'kill switch' to help catch trading errors
IntercontinentalExchange Group's NYSE Euronext unit has filed a plan with regulators to offer firms that trade on the New York Stock...
Fed proposes rule to scale back emergency lending powers
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors unveiled a proposal on Monday that would limit the scope of its authority to bail out a large...
Ex-Tiffany exec given year in prison for $2 million jewelry theft
A former Tiffany & Co. executive was sentenced to a year in prison on Monday after admitting to stealing more than $2.1 million of...
Hulu must face privacy lawsuit, U.S. judge rules
Hulu has failed to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the video streaming service of illegally sharing...
Sun-Times sells Joliet Herald-News to Shaw Media
Sun-Times Media, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban newspapers, announced Monday it has agreed to sell the...
U.S. funeral firm agrees to sell assets as part of $1.4 billion deal: FTC
The largest U.S. provider of funeral and cemetery services has agreed to sell some of its assets to resolve federal charges that a...
Jos. A. Bank rejects Men's Wearhouse takeover offer
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. has rebuffed a $1.5 billion takeover bid by Men's Wearhouse Inc, prompting its larger...
Dreamliner grounded in Florida due to technical problems
Budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle said one of its Boeing Dreamliners was grounded in Florida, the latest in a string of technical...
Consumer sentiment up in December on improved economic outlook
Consumer sentiment rose to its strongest in five months in December as Americans' outlook on the economy and job prospects improved, a...
Cracker Barrel puts 'Duck Dynasty' products back on shelves after outcry
The Cracker Barrel restaurant chain, two days after removing “Duck Dynasty”-related products from its shelves, said Sunday it...
Twenty-two cars named safest in 2014
Earning the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick Plus award has become tougher for 2014, but 22 cars managed to earn the...
The day ahead in business
Reports: November personal income, Chicago Fed National Activity Index, December U. of M. Sentiment
Apple reaches iPhone pact with China Mobile
Apple Inc on Sunday announced a multiyear deal with China Mobile to bring its iPhone product lines to China, starting January 17, 2014.
Traffic at Target stores falls after data breach: WSJ
In the wake of a massive data breach, Target Corp. suffered reduced customer traffic over one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year,...
Boeing machinists to vote Jan. 3 on revised contract
Unionized workers at Boeing Co will vote on Jan. 3 on the company's latest proposed contract, according to a statement issued by...
Emanuel promotes Chicago in China trip
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in China to promote Chicago business opportunities on a trip paid for by the city's economic development agency.
Seagram chairman, WJC head Edgar Bronfman dead at 84
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Edgar Bronfman, the chairman of the Seagram Company and long-serving...
JPMorgan Chase limits Chase debit cards used at Target stores
At least 2 million shoppers who used bank debit cards at Target Corp stores during its recent data breach are facing lower limits on how...
Target offering weekend discounts, free credit monitoring after data breach
Investigators believe that overseas hackers were responsible for the cyber attack on U.S. retailer Target Corp that compromised up to 40...
Obama says more than 500,000 bought plans online in December
President Barack Obama said on Friday more than half a million Americans enrolled in health insurance plans under Obamacare using the...
Shares decline as Navistar reports another loss
Navistar International Corp. reported another quarterly loss on Friday as the vehicle maker continued to struggle to right itself after...
Oil tycoon Khodorkovsky free after pardon
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, left prison on Friday after a pardon from President Vladimir Putin ended a decade in jail...
FCC approves Tribune Co. acquisition of Local TV
Tribune Co.’s $2.73 billion acquisition of Cincinnati-based Local TV LLC was approved by the Federal Communications Commission Friday.
ADM to pay $36.5 million to resolve bribery allegations
Bloomberg News is reporting: Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. agreed to pay a $36.5 million fine to the U.S. Securities and...
Boeing gets $7B order from Cathay Pacific for 777X jets
Boeing Co said it won an order from Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd for 21 Boeing 777X jets, valued at more than $7 billion at current...
BlackBerry $4.4 billion quarterly loss
BlackBerry Ltd, which gave up on a plan to sell itself last month, reported a massive quarterly loss on Friday, as sales of its...
Walgreen profit, revenue up in 1Q on stronger prescription sales
Walgreen Co. said Friday its first-quarter net income rose 68.3 percent to $695 million, or 72 cents a share, helped by strong sales of...
Ally to pay $98M in auto lending discrimination settlement
Ally Financial Inc. agreed to pay $98 million to settle allegations by federal regulators that it discriminated in auto lending against...
England moving to plastic bills starting in 2016
The Bank of England said this week it would discontinue paper currency after 300 years and begin printing its smaller bills -- 5 and 10...
Economic growth revised higher for 3Q
WASHINGTON -- U.S. economic growth in the third quarter was revised sharply higher, to a healthy annual rate of 4.1%, thanks to stronger...
McDonald's looking for way to move unsold Mighty Wings
The Wall Street Journal is reporting: McDonald's Corp. is planning another Mighty Wings promotion to sell off the excess...
Gold heading for biggest annual loss in 32 years
Gold hit a six-month low on Friday, on course for its largest annual loss in 32 years, as the U.S. Federal Reserve's first step...
The day ahead in business
Reports: Third-quarter GDP, November mass layoffs, thrid-quarter after-tax corporate profit
Yellen expected to win Senate test vote on Friday to head Fed
The Democratic-led U.S. Senate is expected to wrap up its work for the year on Friday by moving to clear President Barack Obama's nomination...
Banks shed foreclosures, reap benefits
The idea seems noble enough: Financial institutions donate foreclosed homes to charities, which then hire local residents to rehab the...
About 25,000 in Illinois to benefit from Ocwen mortgage settlement
Ocwen Financial Corp. will provide $2 billion in principal reductions to underwater borrowers, as well as refund $125 million to almost 185,...
Samsung, LG to showcase curved 105-inch Ultra HD TVs at CES
South Korea rivals Samsung and LG are squaring off again, this time when it comes to gigantic televisions with curved screens.
Vine to let users register for custom URLs on Monday
Vine will begin letting users register for custom website URLs, like the ones they can already get on Twitter and Facebook, on...
Mortgage rates tick upward
Average mortgage interest rates inched up slightly this week, but remain under 4.5 percent for the most popular mortgage loan, Freddie Mac...
Chicago-area home sales flat, but prices improving
Sales of existing homes last month in the Chicago area failed to beat their year-over-year comparison for the first time in more than two...
Most new cars fail to earn insurance industry's top safety ratings
Honda, Subaru and Volvo are making strides protecting the occupants of their cars, while big manufacturers such as General Motors are...
The day ahead in business
Reports: November leading indicators, November existing home sales, weekly jobless claims
Jewel to convert 4 Dominick's stores in January, has no plans to buy more
Jewel-Osco is planning to convert the four Dominick’s grocery stores it acquired from Safeway to its own banner in mid-January,...
Michael Jordan relists mansion at $16M after failed auction
Despite a recent attempted auction of his 56,000-square-foot Highland Park mansion that failed to find a bidder at his minimum reserve price...
ComEd to hike electricity delivery charge
Starting in January, electricity customers will pay an extra $5.50 per month on average to have Commonwealth Edison deliver electricity.
Fed cuts bond-buying but stresses easy policy
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced plans to trim its aggressive bond-buying program on Wednesday but sought to temper the long-awaited...
No cellphone calls on Delta Air Lines, CEO says
A week after a federal agency began the process of lifting the ban on cellphone calls on planes, the chief executive of one of the nation'...
Apple to begin taking orders for U.S.-made Macs
Apple is set to finally begin selling its new Mac Pro desktop after months of teasing the redesigned and American-built computer.
Ari Emanuel's talent agency wins bidding war for IMG
Ari Emanuel's William Morris Endeavor talent agency, and its private equity backer Silver Lake, won a bidding war for the huge sports...
Share in theater chain AMC up 10 % in debut
Shares of AMC Entertainment Holding Inc., a theater chain controlled by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, rose 9 percent in their debut,...
Anxious retailers stretch holiday hours
With a week to go before Christmas, retailers are in full battle mode, with many unveiling plans to keep their stores open for marathon...
Strategic Hotels being pressured by Orange Capital
Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., the Chicago company with holdings including luxury hotels run by the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton...
Kraft OKs $3 billion stock buyback
Northfield-based Kraft Foods Group Inc. said it is setting aside $3 billion for an open-ended stock repurchase program.
Amazon beats Toys 'R' US, other retailers with most toys online
NEW YORK — Gift givers searching online for a kid's must-have toy this holiday season are more likely to find it at Amazon.com than...
Three indicted in Washington National Trust mortgage fraud
An alleged mortgage scam that swindled at least 54 suburban, primarily Hispanic homeowners out of $220,000 has resulted in three federal...
Former Microsoft executive to lead effort to fix Obamacare website
A former executive at software giant Microsoft is assuming oversight of the Obama administration’s efforts to repair the troubled...
Neil Bluhm donates $25 million to Northwestern
Neil Bluhm, a Chicago real estate and casino magnate, has made a $25 million gift to Northwestern University, where he graduated from law...
Moving on Up
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