The new federal agency charged with regulating U.S. consumer financial services will have at least some rules in place by early 2012, according to the White House adviser helping to set up the regulator. Get the full story »
Illinois businesses to see tax increase in 2012
Starting next year, Illinois businesses will see a tax increase and the recently unemployed will lose a week of jobless benefits, according to a compromise bill passed earlier this month in the Illinois Legislature. Get the full story »
Inflation, oil prices risks to global economy: IMF
Soaring oil prices and inflation in emerging economies pose new risks to global recovery but are not yet strong enough to derail it, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday. Get the full story »
Nasdaq and ICE not walking away from NYSE bid
Nasdaq OMX Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc are not going to walk away from their bid for NYSE Euronext, despite the NYSE board’s rejection of the unsolicited offer, according to people familiar with the matter. Get the full story »
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ life story coming in 2012
Apple CEO Steve Jobs showing the first version of the iPhone in 2007. (AP file photo/Paul Sakuma)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs will allow best-selling author Walter Isaacson, who chronicled the lives of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, to publish his biography next year.
The Silicon Valley icon, who has battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer and undertook a liver transplant in 2009, granted exclusive interviews to the biographer over the course of three years — an unprecedented level of access to the CEO. Get the full story »
350 suspected terrorists blocked from planes
The U.S. government has prevented more than 350 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from boarding U.S.-bound commercial flights since the end of 2009, The Associated Press has learned. Get the full story »
MB Financial’s former president joins Inland Bank
A former MB Financial president who recently left the $10.32 billion-asset bank after a management shakeup has stepped into the same position at Oak Brook-based Inland Bank & Trust. Get the full story »
Japanese company to proceed with takeover of toy maker RC2
Thomas & Friends trains at a factory in China, Sept. 28, 2007. (Michael Lassman/Chicago Tribune )
Oak Brook toy company RC2 Corp. said Monday that the 30-day period during which it could solicit alternative buyout proposals has ended.
Last month, Japanese rival Tomy Co. agreed to purchase the maker of the Chuggington and Thomas & Friends line toy products in an all-cash deal valued at about $640 million. Get the full story »
Sears adds drugstore brand cosmetics
Sears, Roebuck and Co. announced plans Monday to sell cosmetic brands normally found at the corner drugstore in 100 of its stores and on its web site. Get the full story »
Hiring momentum builds, expected to continue
A year ago, a false start in business hiring came to a sudden end when the economy started to slow. But experts believe the nascent hiring boom has a better chance of weathering the economic headwinds this time around. Get the full story »
Gas averages $4.11 in Chicago, drivers cutting back
Gas prices continue to head higher, and as a result drivers are taking their foot off the accelerator and driving less. Get the full story »
NYSE rejects takeover proposal from ICE
The board of NYSE Euronext on Sunday unanimously rejected a takeover proposal from IntercontinentalExchange Inc. and Nasdaq OMX Group to break up the company, and reaffirmed its commitment to agreed merger partner Deutsche Boerse AG. Get the full story »
Ariel’s Hobson, others on the rise of women
Movie director George Lucas and Mellody Hobson attend the 2009 opening night of "Dreamgirls" at the Apollo Theater in New York City. (Jemal Countess/Getty)
The challenges women face often cut across industries. But some are also unique to specific sectors. Women who have risen high in four industries — finance, health, technology and media — sought to illuminate these issues by recounting their own experiences and assessing how women generally have fared in their fields.
Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments in Chicago, spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Blumenstein. Julie Louise Gerberding, president of Merck & Co.’s Merck Vaccines unit, sat down with the Journal’s Laura Landro. Marissa Mayer, Google Inc.’s vice president, consumer products, talked with the Journal’s Julia Angwin. And Debra L. Lee, chairman and chief executive of BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc., spoke with the Journal’s Alessandra Galloni. Get the full story »
Amid slump, Wal-Mart returning to basics
Wal-Mart plans to bring back some of the products it has dropped. (Reuters)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will launch a promotional campaign next month called “It’s Back,” to tell core customers the discounter is restoring merchandise it removed from store shelves in a flubbed renovation effort.
Starting in May, Wal-Mart shoppers in the U.S. will see signs in stores heralding the return of fishing tackle, bolts of fabric and other “heritage” merchandise that Wal-Mart reduced or cut out altogether as it attempted to spruce up its stores to appeal to more well-heeled shoppers. Get the full story »
Endo Pharma buying American Medical for $2.6B
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. said Monday it is buying urology and pelvic health company American Medical Systems Inc. for about $2.6 billion. Get the full story »
