U.S. regulators Monday approved a Royal Dutch Shell PLC plan to drill three exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Interior Department’s green light for the wells in Shell’s Auger field marks the first time U.S. regulators have approved a new deepwater well in the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon explosion last April and subsequent oil spill.
Asia’s mills lead the world’s crude steel production rate to a new record in February, the World Steel Association said Monday, as demand from economic recovery gathered pace.
Output in the West edged up but lagged pre-recession levels, World Steel said. Get the full story »
Washington Mutual on Monday won court approval to move to the next stage in its renewed attempt to exit bankruptcy but was told to spell out what effect suspicions of insider trading could have on the $7 billion distribution plan.
Judge Mary Walrath said the company, the former parent of Washington Mutual Bank, or WaMu, can send out its revised plan to creditors for a vote after supplementing it with an analysis of what could happen if there is proof of insider trading. Get the full story »
France’s online privacy watchdog said Monday it has fined Google Inc. 100,000 euros, or around $144,000, for unfair data collection from wireless networks through the company’s Street View mapping service and localization program Latitude.
Last May, Google disclosed that the camera-equipped cars it uses to take pictures for Street View, which has provided panoramic views of city streets since it was launched in 2007, had for several years inadvertently collected personal data from unsecured wireless networks across the world. The revelation prompted scrutiny from authorities in a number of countries, including France and the United Kingdom. Get the full story »
Mylan Inc. has sued the Food and Drug Administration to get generic versions of Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor on the market in late June and block India’s Ranbaxy from receiving 180 days of marketing exclusivity for its version of the medicine.
Ranbaxy is expected to launch its generic Lipitor Nov. 30 under a settlement with Pfizer and remain free of multiple competitors for 180 days, as the first company to apply to sell a cheaper version of the world’s best selling prescription medicine. Get the full story »
China has missed a deadline to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling against restrictions on foreign companies distributing copyright-intensive goods including books, newspapers, films, DVDs and music, U.S. movie and music groups said Monday. Get the full story »
The U.S. Treasury Department will begin selling about $10 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities as the government winds down emergency programs set up during the financial crisis.
The announcement of a fresh supply of high-quality debt coming to market surprised traders, but they said later it should be manageable. The Treasury has a $142-billion portfolio of MBS, acquired in 2008 and 2009, and estimates it will take about a year to dispose if it. Get the full story »
The current high rate of unemployment in the United States is primarily due to cyclical factors, not structural changes in the economy, according to researchers at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.
The study runs counter to worries among some top Fed policymakers that undesirable upward pressure on wages, and thus inflation, could kick in even when unemployment remains relatively high — a situation that could have implications for U.S. monetary policy. Get the full story »
U.S. nuclear regulators are launching additional inspections and considering a 90-day review of the country’s 104 nuclear reactors in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis, officials said Monday. Get the full story »
General Motors Co. is halting some production at its Buffalo, N.Y., engine plant because of a slowdown in parts from Japan. Get the full story »
The Supreme Court has rejected banks' attempts to shield Federal Reserve lending data. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board on Monday said it is preparing to release sensitive emergency lending data from the peak of the 2008 financial crisis after the Supreme Court rejected a bid by major banks to keep the information secret.
The justices, in a short written order, left in place a 2010 federal appeals court decision that ordered the Fed to identify commercial banks that received emergency loans from the central bank during the crisis. Shortly after the announcement, a Fed spokesman said the central bank would release the information, but didn’t provide a time frame. Get the full story »
The weeks after the Super Bowl are considered the traditional start of the home-buying season, but home sales were a non-starter in the Chicago area last month.
February sales of existing homes in the Chicago area fell 8.8 percent from their level of a year ago, to 3,769 homes sold at a median price of $152,500. A year ago, in February 2010, the median price was $165,000. Get the full story »
AT&T says that if its deal to buy T-Mobile USA goes through, T-Mobile subscribers with “3G” phones will need to replace those to keep their wireless broadband service working. Get the full story »
Charles Schwab is acquiring Chicago-based online brokerage optionsXpress Holdings Inc. for about $1 billion, the companies announced Monday.
OptionsXpress stockholders will receive 1.02 shares of Schwab stock for each share of optionsXpress stock, under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011. Get the full story »
The 747-8 Intercontinental, Boeing's largest-ever passenger airplane, returns to its hangar on Sunday. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty)
Boeing Co.’s newest 747 passenger jet, the largest commercial plane it has ever built, took to the skies for the first time Sunday, marking the third maiden flight of a new Boeing commercial airplane in the past 15 months. (See video)
Painted in its orange and red “sunrise” livery, the massive, four-engine 747-8 Intercontinental lifted off from Paine Field, north of Seattle, at 10 a.m. local time under partly cloudy skies and gusty northerly winds. At 250 feet long, the 747-8 is 18 feet longer than its predecessor. Get the full story »
