From USA Today | A small but growing list of airlines are eliminating or reducing rows in the most expensive part of their aircraft as customers increasingly look for cheaper seats. Get the full story »
BofA prepares to restart foreclosures
Bank of America says it plans to resume foreclosures in 23 states next week and will refile paperwork for 102,000 cases. Get the full story »
3-D TV to be land of jellyfish, ghost towns, animation
Killer jellyfish, ghost towns and a cartoon weathergirl will be among the stars of a new 3-D television network under development by Discovery Communications Inc., Sony Corp. and Imax Corp., the companies said Monday. Get the full story »
Ford set to cut ties with Mazda
Ford Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. look set to drift further apart as the U.S. carmaker plans to wind down its stake in the Japanese company, leaving Mazda freer to make decisions, but possibly in need of a new partner down the line.
Ford is set to sell most almost all of its stake in Mazda, which stands at 11 percent, a source told Reuters Saturday. Trading house Sumitomo Corp. and other Japanese business partners of Mazda were in talks to buy the shares, the source said. Get the full story »
Starbucks puts the bar into barista in Seattle
Something new is on the menu at a renovated Starbucks in Seattle: beer and wine.
A store that reopened Monday is the first under the Starbucks brand to offer alcohol. Get the full story »
Citi dips into reserves to post 3Q profit
Citigroup Inc. reported its third straight quarterly profit, beating forecasts and boosting optimism that the banking sector is on track to recover even amid a tepid economic expansion.
Relief about the improving results, bolstered by slowing credit losses and reduced reserves for bad loans, outweighed lingering concern about the foreclosure crisis, boosting the bank’s shares nearly 4 percent. Get the full story »
Boeing to test China biofuel
Boeing Co., in cooperation with Air China Ltd. and others, plans to test a commercial-jet biofuel in China produced from a locally grown plant by the middle of 2011-part of an effort to commercialize cleaner fuels world-wide and bolster China’s potential as a biofuel provider.
Boeing first tested a biofuel on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 jet in early 2008 in London. It has since conducted similar tests a few more times, each time experimenting with different types of biofuels on different engines. The China demonstration flight, expected to be conducted by May or June next year, would be Boeing’s sixth such demonstration flight using a biofuel, said a Boeing executive, Al Bryant, in an interview Monday with The Wall Street Journal. Get the full story »
Oct. 18, 2010 at 10:56 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Investing, Retail, Stock activity J.C. Penney adopts rights plan to thwart Ackman
J.C. Penney’s board approved a “poison pill” designed to fend off potential takeover threats after hedge fund manager William Ackman acquired one-sixth of the retailer. The company’s shares fell 3 percent on the news. Get the full story »
CME begins clearing interest rate swaps
CME Group Inc. said on Monday that it had begun clearing interest rate swaps, the largest of the over-the-counter derivatives markets that lawmakers are forcing through more transparent venues.
The giant futures exchange operator named as participants in the clearinghouse five buyside firms, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and PIMCO, and 10 dealers, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase and Co. Get the full story »
Small business loans less risky than junk bonds?
In the world of high-yield securities, small business loans are safer than junk bonds, and are expected to get even less risky over the next two years, according to PayNet, which provides risk-management tools to the commercial lending industry. Get the full story »
Navistar, UAW reach tentative contract deal
Commercial truck maker Navistar International Corp. and the United Auto Workers Union have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract, the company said.
No details of the deal reached late Saturday were released by the company or the union. The agreement is subject to a ratification vote by union members at six Navistar sites. A majority of the members voting on the tentative contract must approve it for the deal to become binding. Get the full story »
Bulls guard Korver buys $1.38M Glencoe mansion
Kyle Korver holds the ball away from Milwaukee Bucks point guard Keyon Dooling. (Jeff Hanisch/USA Presswire)
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago Bulls guard and forward Kyle Korver has paid $1.38 million for a 16-room mansion in Glencoe that once was listed for $2.95 million.
Korver, 29, signed a three-year, $15 million contract during the summer to join the Bulls from the Utah Jazz. Now, he has become the rare Bull to buy in Glencoe. Most Chicago-area homeowning Bulls over the years have bought downtown or in other northern suburbs like Northbrook, Highland Park and Lake Forest. Get the full story »
Oct. 18, 2010 at 7:38 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Education, Housing, Real estate New Kellogg dean buys $885K Evanston home
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Sally Blount, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s new dean, has paid $885,000 for a six-bedroom brick Georgian-style house in Evanston. Blount joined Kellogg in July after serving as a dean at New York University. Get the full story »
Oct. 18, 2010 at 7:11 a.m.
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Filed under: Fire consumes abandoned Toastmaster factory
A roaring fire at enveloped the abandoned Toastmaster factory in northwest suburban Algonquin early this morning. There were no reports of injuries at the the two-story plant at 401 Washington St., which once produced shell casings and small appliances. The factory had been slated for demolition to make way for Algonquin’s Route 31 bypass.
Hilton Chicago workers in last day of strike
Hilton workers protest in front of thee Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago Saturday. (Tribune / Abel Uribe)
A strike by hundreds of Hilton Chicago Hotel workers who are working without a contract entered its third and presumably last day today. The three-day strike began Saturday in connection with the workers’ inability to negotiate an agreement at the same time they assert the hotel received a sweetheart deal from the federal government. Get the full story>>
