Reports: Weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m; Wholesale trade inventories for October, 9 a.m.; Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates.
Major earnings: Borders Group Inc., Smithfield Foods Inc.
Exelon nuclear plant closing 10 years early
The nation’s oldest nuclear power plant will close in 2019 — 10 years earlier than planned — but will not have to build costly cooling towers, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The people, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plans ahead of an announcement expected Thursday, said the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in the Forked River section of Lacey Township will close a decade earlier than called for under its current license.
In return, the aging plant, owned by Chicago-based Exelon Corp., will not be required to build one or more cooling towers to replace its current technology, which draws 1.4 billion gallons of water a day from Barnegat Bay, killing billions of aquatic creatures each year. Get the full story »
Dec. 8, 2010 at 5:29 p.m.
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Filed under: Credit Cards, Policy, Politics, Privacy issues, Updated WikiLeaks backers attack MasterCard, Visa sites
Credit card giants MasterCard and Visa came under intense cyber attack Wednesday as supporters of WikiLeaks retaliated for moves against Julian Assange after the release of U.S. diplomatic cables that angered and embarrassed Washington.
The Swedish prosecution authority, whose arrest order for Assange over accusations of sexual offenses led a British court to remand the 39-year-old WikiLeaks website founder in custody, also said it had reported an online attack to police. Get the full story »
AptarGroup rival Greif tops Wall Street Q4 view
Greif Inc., a maker of industrial packaging products, posted better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by solid sales at all its packaging divisions.
The company, which competes with Crystal Lake-based AptarGroup Inc., saw quarterly revenue rise 31 percent to $993.9 million. Get the full story »
TransUnion: 2011 payment problems to drop
Consumers are expected to get better control on their mortgage and credit-card payments next year as the economy slowly improves.
Chicago-based credit reporting firm TransUnion predicts that delinquencies, or late payments, on the two biggest major forms of borrowing will drop sharply again in 2011, after substantial declines seen in the second half of this year. Get the full story »
Analysts: LCD TV sales to fall for first time
Shipments of LCD flat-panel TVs will fall this year from the year before, the first such decline since the popularity of such TVs took off in 2006, according to a research firm. Get the full story »
CME more optimistic on CFTC position limits
The top U.S. futures exchanges expressed confidence that a revised plan to clamp down on commodities market speculation will not unduly burden the market.
The comments on Wednesday by the chief executives of IntercontinentalExchange and CME Group were more optimistic than in the past, when exchanges, banks and other market participants sharply criticized the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s plan. Get the full story »
Illinoisans less likely to live paycheck to paycheck
Illinois residents are less likely to live paycheck to paycheck than the national average, although citizens of New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire are considered the most financially capable in the nation.
The three eastern states ranked in the top five in at least five measures of financial capability, according to a new survey of 28,146 respondents, or about 500 per state plus Washington, D.C. Get the full story »
Equity Intl. CEO: Brazil demand outweighs fears
Brazil might be an exception to the rule of thumb that says avoid the asset everyone’s piling into, according to the chief executive of Equity International, the international arm of real estate mogul Sam Zell. Get the full story »
HUD to investigate loan discrimination charges
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department said Wednesday it would investigate charges almost two dozen lenders have unfairly denied U.S. government-backed mortgages to qualified loan applicants.
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed a fair housing complaint with HUD against 22 lenders that offer loans guaranteed by HUD’s Federal Housing Administration. Get the full story »
Groupon to expand Chicago headquarters
From Chicago Real Estate Daily | Chicago-based daily deal company Groupon plans to expand its headquarters at 600 W. Chicago Ave. by about 57,000 square feet.
FCC exploring role in TV programming disputes
Federal regulators will explore whether they can do more to protect consumers from losing their television signals because of disputes over the fees that subscription-video providers pay broadcasters for their programming. Get the full story »
Americans say China’s economy is No. 1
Only one in five Americans believe that the U.S. has the world’s strongest economy, while 47 percent believe that China deserves that honor, according to a new poll released Wednesday by Northbrook-based Allstate Corp. and the National Journal.
It’s the first time that the Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has posed the question.
The survey also found that 67 percent of Americans believe that their financial situation will get worse or remain the same in 2011, rather than improve. Get the full story »
