Oil prices surged Friday as thousands continued to riot against the government in Egypt, and unrest threatened to spread across the Middle East.
Benchmark oil rose $3.56, or 4.2 percent, to $89.23 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was as high as $89.73 a barrel. Get the full story »
The Federal Communications Commission filed Friday to dismiss challenges to its new Internet traffic rules, an agency official said. Get the full story »
The New York Mets are exploring a partial sale of the team as they face a lawsuit from a trustee trying to reclaim money for victims of the Bernard Madoff swindle. Get the full story »
Hit by increases losses in its credit portfolio, Taylor Capital Group Inc., the parent of Cole Taylor Bank, reported Friday a fourth-quarter loss of $38.5 million , or $2.21 a share, compared to year-ago quarterly earnings of $30.7 million, or $1.57 a share. Get the full story »
Taco Bell said Friday that it has launched a nationwide advertising campaign to tell customers what’s in the seasoned beef it puts in its tacos, burritos and other fare.
The campaign is in direct response to media coverage of a suit filed last week by an Alabama law firm. The suit claims Taco Bell is incorrectly using the word “beef” to promote its products because the taco mixture doesn’t contain enough of it to use that term. Get the full story »
Microsoft shares fell 3.5 percent on Friday as its better-than-expected profit was overshadowed by worries it is failing to cope with threats from hot areas like tablet computing. Get the full story »
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner does a flyby at the Farnborough Airshow in England, July 18, 2010. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)
Fitch Ratings downgraded Boeing Co. on Friday as the company struggles with delays in getting its new line of jets to market.
Boeing’s new 787 is running three years behind schedule. Earlier this month, the Chicago company said it won’t be able to deliver the plane until July at the earliest instead of February. On top of that, Boeing is faced with rising pension costs and tightening defense budgets at the Pentagon and other governments around the world. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart Stores named a longtime grocery executive as the chief merchandising officer for its U.S. discount stores Friday, filling the post that had been vacant since John Fleming left the role last year. Get the full story »
Jewel-Osco’s president for the past four years has announced plans to retire, and parent company Supervalu Inc. is sending an executive from its Eden Prairie, Minn., headquarters to replace him.
The change in leadership comes at a time when Supervalu is struggling to remain competitive against rivals like Wal-Mart, Target and even drugstore chains that have greatly expanded their selection of grocery items.
Keith Nielsen, who started working at Jewel more than 40 years ago as a grocery store clerk, will retire, effective Feb. 28. Succeeding him will be Brian Huff, currently senior vice president of specialty retail at Supervalu, who will join Itasca-based Jewel on Feb. 7. Get the full story »
Ford earned its biggest profit in more than a decade in 2010 as robust car and truck sales and years of cost cuts paid off for the company.
The results disappointed Wall Street, however, and Ford’s stock price fell 6 percent to $17.73 in premarket trading. The reaction hinted at the difficulties the company still faces, even though it’s remade itself in recent years.
Spending at restaurants grew 2.1 percent, but the cash register may slow down this year, according to a new survey.
Almost one in four restaurant-goers say they plan to spend less at restaurants this year than they did in 2010, a year in which restaurant-industry spending grew to $403.5 billion, according to Mintel, a Chicago-based consumer research company. Get the full story »
The U.S. economy gathered speed in the fourth quarter, though a touch below expectations, with the biggest gain in consumer spending in more than four years and strong exports offering the clearest signals yet that a sustainable recovery is under way. Get the full story »
Senators from both parties lambasted the U.S. Air Force after military officials acknowledged that they’d accidentally disclosed secret data to competitors Boeing and EADS as part of their effort to award a $35 billion contract to build a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers.
At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called the incident “a debacle” and asked what punitive action had been taken. She said those involved in the error should be fired. Get the full story »
Federal safety officials urge parents to put their children in child seat on planes, but a California mother says that twice in the last month she has been thwarted by airlines when she tried to do the right thing.
Melissa Bradley, 39, said she was forced off a United Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday in a dispute over an economy-class row too narrow to accommodate an infant carrier for her 1-year-old daughter. Get the full story »
Gov. Pat Quinn says the American Aluminum Extrusion Co., an aluminum extruder and fabricator based in Beloit, Wis., is investing $7.5 million to open a plant in the Winnebago County town of Roscoe. Quinn says the plant is expected to employ 130 people. Get the full story »
