American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said it would cut planned capacity growth this year as the industry wrestles with higher oil prices.
Most U.S. airline shares moved lower on Tuesday as oil prices continued their rise in wake of unrest in the Middle East. U.S. crude futures were up $1.46 at $98.43 a barrel. The Arca Airline index was down 1.4 percent.
U.S. retail gasoline demand rose 3.1 percent in the latest week despite a sharp jump in pump prices as warmer weather boosted use of the fuel, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed Tuesday.
Average gasoline demand climbed to 9.118 million barrels per day in the week to Feb. 25. Year-over-year demand shot up 3.8 percent for a seventh straight week of gains, MasterCard said.
Over the latest four weeks, U.S. gasoline consumption rose 2.6 percent year-on-year. Get the full story »
Bank of America’s online banking system went on the fritz for some users Tuesday, the second such incident this year.
Customers attempting to access the bank’s online services were experiencing “intermittent service disruptions,” according to Tara Burke, a spokeswoman for the bank.
The bank is working to restore the system to normal as soon as possible, Burke said. The bank’s branches and ATM network are unaffected, she said. Get the full story »
Employment in BMO Financial’s U.S. personal and commercial banking operations, which consists mainly of Harris Bank, fell to 3,965 in the first quarter, down from 4,456 jobs in the fourth quarter.
The Canadian bank released its first-quarter financial results on Tuesday. In an afternoon conference call with Wall Street, an analyst asked BMO about the cutting of 491 jobs, or 11 percent of its personal and commercial banking operations in the United States. Get the full story »
A local information technology consulting firm is tapping group-buying site Groupon to offer its services at a steep discount — a $12,500 discount, to be precise.
Rolling Meadows-based Ajilitee, which specializes in analytics and cloud computing, on Tuesday launched a deal on Groupon that offers buyers $25,000 worth of consulting services for $12,500. The firm’s foray into group buying makes them among the first companies to experiment with the technology platform for the business-to-business sector, as Chicago-based Groupon and its rivals primarily offer consumer deals such as discounts on restaurants and salons. Get the full story »
Underwriting losses at the massive car-insurance business operated by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. widened in 2010, even as the biggest home and auto insurer in the U.S. raised prices. Get the full story »
The U.S. Air Force on Tuesday adamantly denied suggestions by union officials that the White House influenced the selection of Boeing Co. to build 179 aerial refueling planes for up to $30 billion.
“There was absolutely nothing inside the competition,” Air Force acquisition chief David Van Buren told reporters after a Credit Suisse conference. Get the full story »
A Verizon Communications executive hinted at a new version of the iPhone and said Verizon Wireless will replace its unlimited mobile data plans with usage-based pricing around the middle of summer.
Verizon’s shares fell 2.4 percent on Tuesday after its chief financial officer, Fran Shammo, said a new iPhone would hurt quarterly margins whenever it arrives. Get the full story »
HSBC Holdings PLC has suspended its foreclosure proceedings in the U.S. after a regulatory letter noted “certain deficiencies” in its processes.
The London-based bank became the latest to disclose that investigations by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency into foreclosure practices will likely result in fines and costly changes to the way it runs its mortgage business. Get the full story »
Did you forget to file your 2007 taxes? The IRS might have a nice check waiting for you.
Nearly 1.1 million taxpayers failed to file that year, and the IRS estimates they are entitled to $1.1 billion in potential refunds. Get the full story »
Businesses that emit greenhouse gases will have more time to report their emissions after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extended a deadline Tuesday.
The EPA announced that it would extend the deadline, originally March 31, saying it would take more time to test the online system to collect data. The agency said it expected reporting to begin in late summer but did not set a new deadline. Get the full story »
From USA Today | Tortas Frontera, a Rick Bayless restaurant that specializes in Mexican griddle sandwiches, scores among the Top 10 airport restaurants in a Frommer’s Travel Guides survey commissioned by USA Today.
“We’ve picked places that serve food you’d eat even if you weren’t trapped,” says Jason Clampet, senior online editor for Frommers.com.
Bloomberg News | Amazon.com plans to open an app store to sell software for the Android operating system. It will join the more than 30 stores selling the mobile-phone downloads.
The new chief executive of General Growth Properties Inc. said the company plans to sell some malls, cut debt and expenses and raise occupancy rates and some rents to boost income and put its bankruptcy behind it.
Sandeep Mathrani, who has been the CEO of the No. 2 U.S. mall owner for about 40 days, said Tuesday that he expects to reduce the number of malls the company owns to 150 from 169. It plans to sell the 19 other malls, which contribute a minimal amount to its income. The company had more than 200 malls before it filed for bankruptcy in April 2009. Get the full story »
Travelocity said Tuesday it signed a multiyear deal with US Airways to offer the carrier’s full range of content through the Sabre Holdings global distribution system, a third party agent that owns Travelocity. Get the full story »
