Spot gold regained lost ground on Monday, as bargain hunting trickled in after prices dropped about one percent in early trade in response to China’s interest rate increase on Saturday. Get the full story »
Citadel delivers 10% gain on 20th anniversary
Hedge fund firm Citadel, one of the world’s biggest, returned 10 percent to its investors this year, more than double what its peers earned on average.
The Chicago-based firm’s flagship Kensington and Wellington funds climbed about 10 percent, according to a person who has seen the numbers but was not allowed to discuss them publicly. Get the full story »
Dec. 27, 2010 at 7:02 a.m.
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Filed under: Stocks poised to fall after Chinese rate hike
Stocks are poised to fall in early trading after China moved to raise interest rates over the weekend to combat rising inflation. Get the full story »
Associated Bank has sights on Top 10 in Chicago
Days after one publicly traded Wisconsin bank agreed to sell itself, another said it’s in negotiations on more than $500 million in new loans in the Chicago area and plans to crack the Top 10 in deposit market share here in the next five years.
Associated Bank, part of Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp., has had a Chicago presence for 26 years and has 27 branches here with 275 employees. Get the full story »
No peace, love in popcorn trademark suit
The Peace, Love, Popcorn logo is being challenged by the Popcorn Factory.
The Popcorn Factory's logo
Here’s the story of how peace and love turned into a lawsuit about popcorn.
In May 2008, Gary Paparella and his youngest daughter, Meagan, were at a Pittsburgh restaurant doodling logos and names on napkins for a gourmet popcorn and candy store. The family was moving to Frisco, Texas, for Paparella’s job at Dr Pepper Snapple Group and had decided to leave the corporate world behind to open a family business.
That’s when 19-year-old Meagan wrote the words “love peace popcorn,” doodling a heart, a peace sign and a piece of popcorn. Today, the brick and mortar store sells “peace love popcorn” T-shirts, fudge and, of course, popcorn in more than 60 flavors — even dill pickle-flavored. They’re on Twitter, Facebook and online with three registered domain names. They even trademarked the name and logo.
Get the full story »
Chase ties free checking to $500 direct deposit
Chase, Chicago’s biggest bank, is making changes to its basic checking account that could make it tougher to avoid a monthly service fee.
Beginning Feb. 8 , customers will need at least one direct deposit of $500 a month for Chase to waive its $6 monthly service fee. The direct deposit may include a payroll, pension or government benefit payment, such as Social Security. Get the full story »
Gillette drops Tiger Woods as spokesman
Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette brand will not renew its endorsement contract with golfer Tiger Woods, which ends Dec. 31, a company spokesman confirmed Thursday.
Boeing to resume 787 test flights after fire
Boeing will resume flight tests of its long-delayed 787 jet Thursday, six weeks after they were suspended because of an in-flight electrical fire in the plane’s power distribution system.
The company says it installed an updated, interim version of the software that controls the system in the first of six test flight aircraft. Get the full story »
Expedia hides American flights in support of Orbitz
Expedia is hiding pricing information for American Airlines flights on its Web sites in a display of solidarity with Chicago-based Orbitz Worldwide Inc., which is enmeshed in a contract dispute with the nation’s #3 carrier.
The online travel giants are warring with American over the airline’s attempts take greater control of the way it sells tickets and other services.
The new contract terms the Texas-based carrier seeks would drive down its costs and impose new technology on agencies like Orbitz and Expedia and the global clearinghouses that provide the ticket data they peddle over the Internet, analysts said. Get the full story »
Gasoline Grinch arrives with pump prices above $3
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3 a gallon on Thursday, just in time for the holiday driving trips millions of Americans will take this week. Get the full story »
Dec. 23, 2010 at 12:26 p.m.
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Filed under: Commercial real estate, International, Real estate British Consulate shopping for new Chicago digs
The British Consulate-General, which has leased two floors of the Wrigley Building for more than a decade, is shopping around for new offices. The consulate’s lease expires next month, and the Consul General Robert Chatterton Dickson said Thursday that they are “looking at options.”
“We definitely have more space than we need; so, the timing of our lease negotiation is good,” he said. Get the full story »
IRS: Tax changes to delay filing for some
Some taxpayers will be unable to file returns until mid-to-late February because of recent tax breaks approved by Congress in its lame-duck session, the IRS said Thursday.
Congress approved tax breaks for higher education tuition, state and local sales taxes and out-of-pocket expenses for teachers in kindergarten through high school. Get the full story »
United to switch to Continental’s booking system
United Airlines is dropping the reservations system it created almost 40 years ago in favor of a platform provided by Hewlett-Packard Co.
Travelport Ltd., the travel services group that now runs the Apollo system used by United, said the carrier planned to terminate their deal March 1, 2012, and transition to the H-P system used by merger partner Continental Airlines. Get the full story »
