Nov. 30, 2010 at 9:38 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Jobs/employment,
Policy
By Kathy Bergen
A view of Istanbul, Turkey at night. Cities like Istanbul are rebounding from the recession faster than U.S. ones. (Steve Brandt/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT)
Major American and European cities, from New York and Chicago to London and Paris, are pulling out of the Great Recession at slower rates than cities in Asia and Latin America, according to a study released this morning by the Brookings Institution and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
In fact, the recession served to accelerate a shift in economic growth to emerging metro areas that has gone on for many years, the report found.
The first Global MetroMonitor study ranked 150 metro areas on their growth in employment and economic output per person, before, during and after the global downturn. Twenty-nine of the 30 top performers post-recession were outside the U.S. and Europe, while 28 of the 30 weakest performers were in those two global regions. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 8:40 a.m.
Filed under:
Small business
By Kathy Bergen
Some of the nation’s smallest businesses continue to add jobs this month, though Illinois’ tally was flat, according to an index released this morning.
Small business employment grew by 0.24 percent in November, or about 49,000 new jobs, according to the report by Intuit Inc., which uses data from 59,000 employers with fewer than 20 employees each. This monthly rate would produce annual growth of 3 percent. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 8:06 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Real estate
By Reuters
Prices of single-family homes in September fell more than twice as fast as expected from the prior month, while prices compared to a year earlier rose more slowly than forecast, according a widely watched index of U.S. home prices released on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 8:00 a.m.
Filed under:
Government
From Bloomberg News | Illinois began taking orders from individuals on $1.46 billion in municipal bonds backed by tobacco settlement payments to help meet $2 billion in outstanding bills. The so-called Railsplitter Tobacco bonds are the week’s largest issue and the state’s biggest tax-exempt borrowing since a $1.5 billion refinancing deal in February. Get the full story>>
Nov. 30, 2010 at 7:49 a.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Magazines,
Media
From Time Magazine | With this week’s opening of the Playboy Club Macao, Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said he is confident he’s found a place for the iconic company in the digital age. Instead of relying on American men buying magazines and watching cable, the company’s profits will depend on two seemingly unlikely demographics: Asian women and cosmopolitan clubgoers. Get the full story>>
Nov. 30, 2010 at 7:41 a.m.
Filed under:
Jobs/employment,
Layoffs
From the Chicago Sun-Times | A stimulus program that has given job training and work experience to 26,000 low-income Illinoisans will end today unless Congress extends its funding. Gov. Quinn extended the “Put Illinois to Work” program for two months past its original Sept. 30 expiration date by allocating $75 million in state money on Sept. 29. Get the full story >>
Nov. 30, 2010 at 7:29 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Health care,
Insurance,
Restaurants
By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal
A congressional committee is widening its investigation of bare-bones health-insurance policies to encompass potentially hundreds of plans offered by low-wage employers.
What started as a probe into McDonald’s Corp.’s insurance plan for store workers is expanding into broad scrutiny of “mini-med” policies that could ensnare large mini-med carriers including Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 6:22 a.m.
Filed under:
International
By Reuters
U.S. singer Madonna smiles with Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard at the opening of her Hard Candy Fitness gym in Mexico City. (Henry Romero/Reuters)
She writes children’s books and makes wine, dons a spandex leotard like no one else and has sold millions of albums around the world. Now she wants you to have a toned body.
Madonna launched her new brand of “Hard Candy Fitness” gyms in Mexico City on Monday, opening a huge, 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) compound where Mexico’s rich and the beautiful can go through dance classes and fitness routines inspired by the singer’s routines. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 6:15 a.m.
Filed under:
Government
By CNN
A Democrat-sponsored bill to extend unemployment benefits by one year was introduced in the Senate Monday, but it is likely to face stiff opposition from Republicans. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., said in a statement that the proposed legislation would reauthorize benefits for nearly 800,000 out-of-work Americans who are about to exhaust their benefits next week.
It would also extend benefits for 2 million more Americans facing the same fate at the end of the year, he said. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 5:55 a.m.
Filed under:
International,
Investigations,
Policy,
Technology
By Reuters
European Union antitrust regulators launched a formal investigation on Tuesday into Google after several search service providers complained that the company had abused its dominant position. Get the full story »
Nov. 30, 2010 at 5:30 a.m.
Filed under:
Reports: S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for September, 8 a.m.; Consumer Confidence Index for November, 9 a.m.
Major earnings: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Nov. 29, 2010 at 6:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Retail
By Sandra M. Jones
The first major shopping weekend of the holiday season drew more crowds to stores than a year ago, even as spending remained flat, a sign that consumers are in the mood to shop when the price is right.
Foot traffic at U.S. malls and retail outlets rose 2.8 percent for the three days following Thanksgiving, compared with the same period last year, according to ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based research firm. Retail sales remained unchanged from the same period a year ago at $20.49 billion.
Get the full story »
Nov. 29, 2010 at 5:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Associated Press
Kraft Foods said it began a cash tender offer for up to $1 billion of its notes.
The offer, which expires Dec. 27, is for its 5.625 percent notes that are due in 2011 and its 6.25 percent notes due in 2012. Holders who tender their offer by Dec. 10 will get an early tender premium of $30 for every $1,000 in principal amount of the notes they turn over. Get the full story »
Nov. 29, 2010 at 5:10 p.m.
Filed under:
Entertainment
By Reuters
Netflix network partner Level 3 Communications said it will resist efforts by Comcast to force it to pay fees for delivering online movies to Comcast customers. Get the full story »
Nov. 29, 2010 at 4:56 p.m.
Filed under:
China,
International,
Manufacturing
By Dow Jones Newswires
Caterpillar Inc. plans to move “as much as possible” of the sourcing for its most complex parts from Japan to China, the Financial Times reported Monday on its website.
The company imports 40% of components for its excavator factories from Japan, according to the FT. However, it plans to cut that by at least a quarter within five years as it prepares for a bigger shift. Get the full story »
