Oct. 28, 2010 at 5:04 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Earnings,
Technology,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
An app on the Motorola Droid X. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
Motorola Inc., reached a milestone Thursday as its mobile division reported an operating profit a quarter ahead of schedule, and the company said its smart-phone sales will near 14 million units for the year.
The company’s Mobile Devices unit reported operating earnings of $3 million on Thursday, versus a year-ago operating loss of $183 million. During the quarter, the company’s shipments of smart phones rose to 3.8 million and included 22 new products introduced this year.
Smart-phone shipments totaled 2.3 million units in the first quarter and 2.7 million in the second quarter. Analysts had expected ships to total about 3.7 million in the third quarter. The company said smart-phone sales will near the upper end of its previously announced guidance of between 12 million and 14 million units for the year. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 4:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
Pharmaceuticals
By Reuters
A new kind of test that finds evidence of colon cancer in the stool can also detect pre-cancerous growths and could potentially be an alternative to colonoscopies, researchers reported Thursday.
Exact Sciences’ new test detected 87 percent of stage I, II and III colon tumors, which can be surgically removed, and found 64 percent of the biggest pre-cancerous growths, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 4:08 p.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Earnings,
Software
By Associated Press
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that its net income in the latest quarter rose 51 percent, boosted by higher sales of Windows and Office software to businesses.
In last year’s quarter, Microsoft deferred some revenue from Windows sales. Had it not done so, net income would have been only 16 percent higher this year in comparison. Get the full story »
By Reuters
General Growth Properties Inc. named Sandeep Mathrani, Vornado Realty Trust’s former president of its retail unit, to become the No. 2 U.S. mall owner’s new chief executive after it emerges from bankruptcy next month, the company said on Thursday. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 3:10 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Policy
By Kathy Bergen
Less than two weeks before Chicago plans to sell $804.3 million in bonds, Fitch Ratings downgraded the city’s bond rating for the second time in less than three months.
Fitch cited the city’s continued use of long-term financial reserves and other non-recurring revenues to patch budget deficits, its large and increasing unfunded pension liability and the high unemployment and foreclosure rates locally.
“The downgrade reflects the city’s weakened financial flexibility,” Fitch stated in the report it issued this afternoon. Get the full story »
By Reuters
U.S. agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co. announced on Thursday it would realign its senior leadership as part of its long term growth strategy.
Ray Young was named the company’s new chief financial officer, effective Dec. 1, joining ADM from General Motors, where he was vice president of international operation in Shanghai, China, the company said in a statement. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Federal regulators say Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and at least $52.8 million in refunds to customers who inadvertently racked up data charges on their phones over the last three years. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
A sign at a Tea Party rally in September. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
The popularity of Tea Party candidates in U.S. elections could spell renewed efforts to curtail the power and independence of the Federal Reserve, which has been cast as an emblem of big government overreach.
Outsider candidates thriving on the right flank of the Republican Party have tapped anger at bank bailouts, soaring budget deficits and President Barack Obama’s health care and regulatory initiatives to topple establishment GOP politicians in elections around the country.
Tea Party members have lambasted the Fed for its unprecedented and aggressive steps to bolster the economy in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, saying the moves have exposed a lack of accountability at the Fed and raise the risk of damaging inflation down the road. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:47 p.m.
Filed under:
Technology
From The New York Times | An Android app that allows phone users to secretly spy on their significant others was pulled from the Android market Wednesday shortly after being introduced. The application, called Secret SMS Replicator, claimed to be able to forward all text messages from one person’s phone to any other phone without the owner’s knowledge (after being secretly installed on the owner’s phone.)
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Investing
By Associated Press
Investors are lending $29 billion to the government in the last Treasury auction this week.
The Treasury sold seven-year notes at a 1.97 percent yield, versus 1.89 percent in September’s auction. That means it was slightly more expensive for the government to borrow $29 billion from investors this month. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:27 p.m.
Filed under:
Investigations,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Eleven Chicago-area companies were cited Thursday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for offering mortgage loan modifications to consumers without a license.
The companies ordered to stop offering loan medications and pay a fine of $25,000 each were Opportunity Consultants; Carrey Services; American Accurate Services; Gamez & Associates Ltd.; Juan Hernandez; Home Loan Modification; Homeowner’s Advocates Centers; Imperium Realty Group; Mortgage Mitigators; Mi Familia; and Loan Rescue Corp. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:26 p.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Semiconductors,
Technology
By Reuters
Chipmakers Intel Corp, Toshiba Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will join hands to develop technologies that could more than halve semiconductor line widths to nearly 10 nanometers by 2016, the Nikkei daily reported. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 12:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Chicago executives,
Health care,
Media
By Becky Yerak
James Tyree, the Mesirow Financial chief executive who last week disclosed that he has stomach cancer, will begin chemotherapy next week.
“I feel pretty good,” he told the Tribune Wednesday night. “I’m sitting here stronger and greater than ever, and it’s stunning that these things are inside me”
In a note to Mesirow workers on Thursday, Tyree said that, over the past week, he has completed additional tests and consulted with several more doctors. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 12:51 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Food,
Retail
By Associated Press
Infant formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. said Thursday its third-quarter net income climbed 9 percent compared with the same quarter last year, when retailer inventory reductions dampened its sales.
The Glenview, Ill., company earned $106.1 million, or 52 cents per share, in the three months that ended Sept. 30, up from $97.6 million, or 48 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings were 57 cents per share.
Oct. 28, 2010 at 12:45 p.m.
Filed under:
Energy,
Investigations
From The New York Times | Halliburton and BP knew weeks before the blast on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the well was unstable, a commission found.
