What recession? The millionaire population jumped in the U.S. by 8 percent last year, fueled by the stock market recovery, according to an industry report on Wednesday.
The number of U.S. households worth at least $1 million rose to 8.4 million in 2010, compared to 7.8 billion the prior year, according to a report by Spectrem Group. Get the full story »
Mergers sweeping financial exchanges are in part an unintended consequence of global financial regulatory reforms, the head of IntercontinentalExchange Inc. said Wednesday. Get the full story »
Motorola Mobility says it will start selling a Wi-Fi-only version of its Xoom tablet computer for $599 on March 27. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart will open two more stores on the South Side next year, city officials and the giant retailer announced today.
A store with a grocery and pharmacy will open at the corner of 76th Street and Ashland Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, said Ald. Latasha Thomas, 17th, said in a news release.
Friday’s earthquake in Japan caused insured losses of between $12 billion and $25 billion, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in history for global insurers, catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat said. Get the full story »
U.S. stocks sank deeper into the red on Wednesday after the European Union’s energy chief warned of “possible catastrophic events” at Japan’s nuclear plants.
Swinging in choppy trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 99 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11756, with all but two of its 30 components in the red. Get the full story »
Forman Mills Clothing Factory Warehouse will open its first store in Chicago tomorrow in a former Goldblatt’s Department Store site at 1450 N. Cicero Ave.
The 55,000-square-foot store will sell marked-down designer clothes as well as authorized apparel from major league and collegiate sports teams. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created. Get the full story »
Christopher Artinian, CEO and president of Morton's . (Nancy Stone/Tribune)
By Robert Channick | Upscale Chicago-based steakhouse chain Morton’s Restaurant Group announced Wednesday that it is exploring a possible sale.
Morton’s is still struggling to recover from the recession that cut into its business. It said it is exploring “strategic alternatives” to enhance shareholder value. The board has retained Jefferies & Company as its financial advisor to assist in the process.
No timetable has been set for a possible sale, which is being pursued with the support of affiliates Castle Harlan and Laurel Crown Partners, the company’s largest shareholders. Get the full story »
The Chicago Board Options Exchange said it plans to expand its volatility-index franchise, aiming to lure more traders to an area where it already leads its competition.
The exchange, part of CBOE Holdings Inc., said in a release Wednesday that it plans to list options on single-stock volatility measures and to extend the franchise to a raft of sector exchange-traded funds. The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, is often called the “fear index” and is the most widely followed gauge of investor expectations for stock-market swings. Get the full story »
A promotional still for "The Lincoln Lawyer," starring Matthew McConaughey, right. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Groupon launched a two-day national deal Wednesday offering discounted tickets for the upcoming movie “The Lincoln Lawyer,” partnering with Lionsgate in what the studio said was a first for the feature film industry.
“The Lincoln Lawyer,” starring Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, opens nationwide on Friday. Groupon is selling $6 tickets to the film. Subscribers who purchase the deal will get a special code to redeem their tickets on Fandango at any time during the movie’s theatrical run.
Lionsgate said it is the first Hollywood studio to promote a major feature film through Groupon. Movie tickets have been featured on daily deal sites in the past; earlier this month, Groupon rival LivingSocial offered a national deal where consumers could purchase two tickets on Fandango for $9. Get the full story »
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.’s possible counterbid for NYSE Euronext faces some big hurdles, including funding a complicated deal and convincing Big Board shareholders that it’s better than Deutsche Boerse’s offer, experts said. Get the full story »
U.S. housing starts posted their biggest decline in 27 years in February while building permits dropped to their lowest level on record, suggesting the beleaguered real estate sector has yet to rebound from its deepest slump in modern history. Get the full story »
Lawmakers in Illinois say they may try to fix the state’s ailing pension system by asking current workers to pay more into the plan, though the approach faces substantial legal and political obstacles.
The lawmakers are also entertaining the politically difficult idea of applying broader pension changes made this year for newly hired employees to current workers. Those include raising the retirement age and scaling back on annual cost-of-living raises.
Whatever approach is embraced, it remains unclear whether such strategies would fix the Illinois system, which is 45 percent funded. That makes it the most under-funded state plan in the U.S., according to Moody’s Investor’s Service. Get the full story »
Gasoline prices dipped for a second straight day on Wednesday, providing a reprieve to motorists after a 20-day streak of gains, even though they’re expected to rise again.
The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline slipped 0.3 cent to $3.533 on Wednesday, reported the motorist group AAA. In Chicago, gas prices were down 0.3 of a cent overnight to $3.693. A week ago, Chicago gas prices averaged $3.72. Get the full story »
Chicago-based Boeing Co. says the company will make a $2 million contribution to aid those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Get the full story »
