Feb. 3 at 5:30 a.m.
Filed under:
Reports: Weekly jobless claims, 7:30 a.m.; Fourth-quarter productivity, 7:30 a.m.; ISM service sector index for January, 9 a.m.; Factory orders for December, 9 a.m.; Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates, 9 a.m.; Retailers release sales data for January.
Major earnings: AutoNation Inc., Cigna Corp., CVS Caremark Corp., Dow Chemical Co., Estee Lauder Cos., Kellogg Co., Las Vegas Sands Corp., MasterCard Inc., Merck & Co., New York Times Co., Reynolds American Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., Viacom Inc.
Feb. 2 at 10:05 p.m.
Filed under:
Agriculture/Farming,
Food,
International
By Reuters
Sugar prices spiked to their highest level in more than 30 years as a massive tropical cyclone slammed into the northeast coast of Australia, the world’s third-biggest exporter of the sweetener. Raw sugar futures jumped 4% to settle at 35.31 cents a pound on Wednesday after trading as high as 36.11 cents. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 5:52 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Retail,
Updated
By Tribune staff report
Click here for photos of the 2011 Chicago blizzard
One of the biggest snowstorms in Chicago history has paralyzed businesses across the region.
The blizzard, which dumped more than 20 inches of snow on the Chicago area Tuesday night and Wednesday, will have a significant economic impact, as banks, retailers and other companies that rely on face-to-face contact with their customers were closed Wednesday or struggling to open.
DOWNTOWN
Downtown businesses were mostly abandoned Wednesday morning.
One of the only lights emanating from the Thompson Center came from the Dunkin’ Donuts. The newsstand, the salon, the nail parlor, which usually bustle with commuters from the Clark/Lake stop, were closed and darkened. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 5:23 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology
By Reuters
Spotted at Rupert Murdoch’s splashy digital newspaper launch on Wednesday: a prototype of Apple’s newest iPad.
A Reuters eyewitness saw what appeared to be a working model of the next iPad with a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen at a press conference to mark the debut of News Corp’s Daily online paper in New York on Wednesday.
A source with knowledge of the device confirmed its existence, adding that the final release model could have other features. News Corp and Apple declined to comment. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 5:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Advertising/Marketing
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Chicago ad agency DraftFCB may see State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. leave it and turn to ad agency DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc.
Feb. 2 at 4:18 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Becky Yerak
Northern Trust Corp., which last month launched a practice catering to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, will be the lead corporate sponsor for the “Out in Chicago” exhibition opening May 21 at the Chicago History Museum.
The museum has shown a lecture series focusing on LGBT issues annually for the past eight years, but said this year will mark “the first time that a mainstream urban history museum exhibition” examines the LGBT community.
The exhibit, which runs through early 2012, features several themes, including the stories of gay Chicagoans, past and present, the building of families and homes, the evolution of communities and city neighborhoods and political activism. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 3:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Real estate,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Mortgage loan servicers negotiated 1.76 million permanent loan modifications for homeowners last year, but more than two-thirds of them were completed in-house and not part of the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 3:57 p.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Software,
Technology,
Updated
By Dow Jones Newswires
Google Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a Android Market web store that lets consumers download applications through their Internet browser, a move that ratchets up the company’s rivalry with Apple Inc.’s popular App Store.
Users previously could access the more than 100,000 apps at Google’s Android Market only from their mobile devices. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 3:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
From DealBook | Midwestern bank Fifth Third Bancorp said Wednesday that it has repaid the $3.4 billion bailout money it received from taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis.
Feb. 2 at 3:05 p.m.
Filed under:
Media,
Newspapers,
Technology
By Reuters
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, among the most ardent defenders of the traditional press, launched the first ever newspaper created solely for tablet devices like the iPad.
Murdoch, along with Apple executive Eddy Cue, introduced the Daily during a Wednesday event at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan. Get the full story »
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
If a groundhog is supposed to predict the end of winter, can vacant office space signal who’s going home with a Super Bowl victory Sunday?
Just maybe, says commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, whose executive chairman happens to be Roger Staubach, who has two Super Bowl rings of his own. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 1:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Commercial real estate,
Real estate
Crain’s Chicago Business | Two downtown office towers — Three First National Plaza at 70 W. Madison St. and 233 N. Michigan Ave. in Illinois Center — have come on the market in a possible sign of thawing in real estate investment.
Feb. 2 at 1:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Internet,
Sports
By Los Angeles Times
Days before the Super Bowl, government authorities in New York seized several streaming Web sites that they accused of illegally showing live and pay-per-view sports events.
Content on web sites such as Rojadirecta.org, Channelsurfing.net and ATDHE.net was replaced by a note saying that the domain names were seized by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement through seizure warrants obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
None of the three popular sites, which feature live sports and other programming, are hosted in the U.S. Ten sites total were seized Monday, including HQ-Streams.com, HQ-Streams.net, Firstrow.net, Ilemi.com, Iilemi.com, Iilemii.com and Rojadirecta.com.
Feb. 2 at 1:00 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Government
By Reuters
The United States will hit a $14.3 trillion statutory limit on its debt slightly later than estimated, the Treasury said Wednesday as it unveiled a still-hefty debt auction schedule.
Treasury officials said the limit would now be hit between April 5 and May 31, versus a previous estimate of end-March to mid-May. The later time frame reflected an upward revision to estimates of tax receipts and a downward revision to projected borrowing from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Get the full story »
Feb. 2 at 12:23 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Private equity,
Stock activity
By Becky Yerak
Merger and acquisition activity nationwide in 2010 was something to cheer about for the first time in years, a new report by William Blair & Co. shows.
The Chicago-based financial services firm said M&A activity rose for the first time in three years, with the total number of U.S. deals rising 32 percent, to 12,271, and the dollar volume rising 25 percent, to $1.097 trillion. Get the full story »
