Water treatment services company Nalco Holding Co. said it will continue to be hit by higher raw material prices in the first half of 2011.
Naperville, Illinois-based Nalco, which forecast weak earnings for 2011 on Tuesday, saw its shares fall 11 percent to $27.63 on Wednesday — their lowest in three months. Get the full story »
Shares of Hospira Inc. lost 7 percent of their value after the company said fourth-quarter profits fell nearly 40 percent, as the maker of drugs and devices works to improve product quality in the wake of regulatory issues.
Hospira had lower-than-anticipated fourth quarter sales because it has been unable to deliver products to customers fast enough due largely to “quality enhancement initiatives.” Get the full story »
U.S. private employers added more jobs than expected in January, the 12th consecutive month that companies took on staff, adding to hopes that the weak American labor market is slowly improving. Get the full story »
Apple Inc. said Wednesday that it would kick off online sales of the Verizon Wireless iPhone on Feb. 9, a day before the device hits its store shelves.
Apple’s Web sales launch of the highly-anticipated phone will follow Verizon’s online sales of a limited number of iPhones to its existing mobile customers starting at 2 a.m. Feb. 3 for delivery on or before Feb. 10. Get the full story »
The blizzard has delayed the opening of Chicago floor trading at the CME Group Inc. until 10 a.m., the exchange operator said, citing poor travel conditions. Get the full story »
Abbott’s Chicagoland operations, including its day care center, will be closed today due to weather conditions. Employees should not report to work unless otherwise directed by their supervisors. Get the full story »
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, said January volume averaged 12.3 million contracts per day, up 10 percent from January 2010. Total volume for January was 246 million contracts, of which a record 85 percent was traded electronically. Get the full story »
U.S. consumers love Wi-Fi access but don’t always have safe habits when they visit hotspots, according to a new survey by industry group Wi-Fi Alliance.
The survey polled 1,054 Americans over the age of 18 through online interviews. The results showed that 32 percent of respondents had tried to get on a Wi-Fi network that wasn’t their own during the last 12 months, up from 18 percent in December 2008. When asked whether sharing a Wi-Fi network password or a house key required more trust, 40 percent of survey participants chose the former. Get the full story »
From PC Magazine | This month, a cross-country flight won’t be a reason to temporarily suspend a poke war. Seven airlines will offer free access to Facebook via their Wi-Fi networks for the month of February.
The no-cost service will be available through a partnership between Gogo Inflight Internet and Ford, and will be offered on North American flights of Virgin America, AirTran, US Airways, American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines, Gogo said in a blog post. Get the full story>>
The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms in January rose 20 percent from the previous month to 38,519, but the tally was still the lowest for a January since at least 1993, according to a report released on Wednesday. Get the full story »
Hundreds of employers have received federal waivers from a new requirement in the health-care overhaul law.
Government figures show that 733 applicants, mainly employers and union-affiliated insurers, received an exemption from a requirement that puts their plans on the hook for up to $750,000 in eligible medical bills for each covered worker this year. Most of those plans now have reimbursement limits that are a fraction of that amount. Get the full story »
Major earnings: AOL Inc., Hershey Co., Mattel Inc., News Corp., Time Warner Inc., Visa Inc., Whirlpool Corp., Yum Brands
Sears Holdings Corp. has named company executive Scott Freidheim executive vice president and president for Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard — key brands for the retailer. The move comes after several other key personnel announcements at Hoffman Estates-based Sears, including a new chief of home fashions and another for grocery and pharmacy. Get the full story »
Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable and broadband provider, has struck a wide-ranging deal with Time Warner Inc. that will give the company access to content that it can distribute across numerous platforms.
The multiyear deal means that Comcast subscribers will be able to access Time Warner-owned programming from networks that include TBS and TNT online.
Shares of Glenview-based Anixter International Inc. jumped Tuesday after the company said its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, easily topping Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
The stock rose $3.90, or 6.2 percent, to $67.17 in late trading. Get the full story »
