courtesy of YouTubeThe U.S. House of Representatives passes a bill to avoid the fiscal cliff but leaves open issues about the debt cap. (Reuters) Reports from several large nations in Asia show manufacturing up…
ThinkstockMinimum Wage Hike The National Employment Law Project (NELP) reports that the minimum wage will increase in 10 states as 2013 begins. These include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont…
ThinkstockTwo pieces of financial news highlighted the past day. Congress has been unable to reach a compromise on budget cuts and taxes, which could easily drive the U.S. economy into a first-half recession. And…
The Tribune Company will exit Chapter 11 today. (Reuters) Some pension funds want a change in rules about how executives can trade stocks in the companies they run. (WSJ) Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s (NYSE: CHK)…
ThinkstockMost experts worry that, as long as unemployment is above 6% in America, the U.S. economy cannot recover. The Fed even has set a target of 6.5% as a measure for when it will stop…
thinkstockThe Tribune Company, one of America’s oldest and largest media firms, will exit Chapter 11 today. Reuters reports that the firm will get a $1.1 billion senior secured term loan and other financial support.…
One would think that Newtown and a slew of other gun-related killings recently would turn the public sharply against gun ownership and toward gun control. Apparently, that is not the case, at least at…
ThinkstockCalifornia, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina and Rhode Island have 23% of the U.S. population. Each also has an unemployment rate above 8.6% in November. With the national unemployment rate at…
courtesy Best Buy Co. Inc.Some of the news about holiday sales at deeply troubled retailers Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) has been better than expected. But…
courtesy of Google Inc.Shaky Year-End Markets Only a few days remain for the U.S. markets to sell off because of fiscal cliff worries. There are actually just two. Volume will be light because so…
courtesy of Facebook Inc.The yen reaches a two-year low on worries about the Japanese economy and hopes of a budget resolution by Congress. (Reuters) Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), takes a large…
courtesy Boeing Co.Longshoremen’s Strike Looms A strike by the The International Longshoremen’s Association’s (ILA), which would begin Sunday, appears very likely. A number of companies that rely on the ports for their inventory have…
Frank Golhen, via Wikimedia CommonsAt this point, it may not take much for bond rating agencies to do what S&P did in August 2011 — cut ratings on U.S. sovereign paper. The firms have…
courtesy of WalgreenMost data on holiday spending show that it was slower than expected. A division of MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) put the improvement for November 1 through Christmas at only 0.3% compared to…
courtesy of YouTubeRetailers press post-holiday discounts to make up for poor sales earlier in the cycle. (Reuters) Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) will pay $1.1 billion to settle U.S. class action suits over recalls…
ThinkstockAs a larger and larger portion of retail sales in the U.S. move online, customer service has become essential to e-commerce businesses that want to attract shoppers and keep them. E-commerce also has become critical…
courtesy of General MotorsThe top 12 luxury brands accounted for only 10.8% of total U.S. car sales through the first 11 months of this year. But these lines are important to the companies that…
courtesy of Apple Inc.Google Presses Microsoft Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has increased its push to take away low-end business customers who use Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows products. Google Apps has been available for several…
courtesy of NetflixNetflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) management said the reason part of its service was out on Christmas Eve was that the technology and hardware owned by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), which powers the video firm’s streaming product, were “broken.” That…
courtesy of Toyota Motor Corp.Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) released its sales forecasts for its 2013 fiscal year, which begins in April. The prediction is extremely optimistic. The Japanese firm expects global sales to increase…