What was supposed to be a light-hearted look at a link between car accidents and astrology has turned into a public-relations misstep for Allstate Insurance.
The Northbrook-based insurer issued an apology Saturday for a study it released two days earlier that rated the safest drivers based on their Zodiac signs. Get the full story »
Plane maker Boeing received unfair subsidies from the U.S. government, according to a World Trade Organization report on Monday, and Boeing and its European rival Airbus immediately quarreled over the scale of the support.
European rival Airbus said the report showed Boeing had received at least $5 billion in illegal subsidies and was only able to launch its 787 Dreamliner with such support. Boeing denied the assertions. Get the full story »
Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. sued H&R Block Inc to stop a new advertising campaign that it said misleads customers about tax refund loans and disparages Jackson Hewitt’s competence. Get the full story »
Affluent women expect to be more active than their male counterparts in retirement, but they are also more worried about outliving their money, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch study.
The vast majority of affluent baby boomers believe their retirement will be more active and prosperous than that of their parents, the quarterly survey found. Get the full story »
Super Bowl Sunday is coming and pie-makers across the country are bracing for a pizza one of the five big pizza days of the year along with Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
All of which require some serious flour power. At the Papa John’s chain, officials expect to sell a million pizzas when the Steelers meet the Packers on Feb. 6, making it their biggest day of the year. Get the full story »
Union workers at Caterpillar Inc. voted by a 94 percent majority to stage a strike against the company should a new contract not be drawn up by March 1, when the existing agreement expires, Illinois’s Peoria Journal Star reported on its website Sunday.
The vote involved union members at seven locals in Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and Pennsylvania, according to the report. Get the full story »
A measure of factory activity in the U.S. Midwest rose to a 22-1/2 year high in January on strong orders and employment prospects, bolstering hopes the economy would stay on a solid growth path this year. Get the full story »
Brent crude oil topped $100 for the first time since 2008, as investors kept an anxious eye on Egypt and worried about unrest there disrupting the flow of oil from the Middle East.
Google’s Android dethroned Nokia’s Symbian as the most popular smartphone platform in the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry 10 years ago.
Research firm Canalys said on Monday phonemakers sold 32.9 million Android-equipped phones in the last quarter, roughly seven times more than a year ago, compared with Symbian’s sales of 31 million.
The phones are produced by manufacturers that include Libertyville-based Motorola Mobility, Samsung and HTC. Get the full story »
CME’s politically-minded chairman, Terry Duffy, might make a good Illinois governor, says Chicago futures broker and exchange-industry gadfly John Lothian. Sending Duffy to Springfield would give state businesses better representation and continue a long tradition of public service by Chicago’s exchange leadership, according to Lothian. Get the full story »
Lincolnshire-based firm Zebra Technologies Corp. said Monday it has reached an agreement to sell its Navis unit to Finland’s Cargotec Corp. for $190 million in cash.
The sale will result in an after-tax gain of $30 million to $40 million, Zebra management said. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter. Get the full story »
Alberto-Culver Co.’s fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 30 percent, missing Street estimates, as currency fluctuations and rising input costs dampened sales growth.
The personal-care product maker’s shareholders approved its $3.7 billion acquisition by consumer products giant Unilever PLC last month after it conceded in November to some institutional investors’ demands for the company to make itself more amenable to competing offers. Get the full story »
Check the due date on your Cook County property tax bills that will arrive in the mail any day.
Property owners have an extra 30 days to pay their bills. The first installment, for the 2010 tax year, is due April 1, instead of March 1. Get the full story »
U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in December to post the sixth straight month of gains as households drew down on their savings to fund purchases, government data showed Monday.
The Commerce Department said spending increased 0.7 percent after rising by 0.3 percent in November. Get the full story »
Diversified U.S. manufacturer Illinois Tool Works Inc. reported quarterly earnings that were a penny shy of expectations even as a host of its business units reported double-digit sales growth.
The company, which makes everything from industrial fasteners and adhesives to professional kitchen equipment and flooring, also issued a profit forecast for the current quarter that was higher than the average Wall Street view. Get the full story »
