CME Group eyes Illinois exit; Emanuel confident it will stay

The company that owns Chicago's two leading futures exchanges is weighing whether to move some operations from Illinois, citing the state's...

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  CME cites regulatory uncertainty for weak stock

Borders says 'highly profitable' stores among 51 at risk

Bankrupt Borders Group Inc. said it may have to close up to 51 more stores -- including some of its most successful -- as the shrinking bookstore...

Ford plans to triple production of electrics by 2013

Ford Motor Co. plans to triple its production of electric vehicles, including hybrids, to an annual rate of 100,000 by 2013, the No. 2 U.S....

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  Photos: Fastest-moving new cars

Obama weighs temporary cut in payroll taxes

The White House is considering a temporary cut in payroll taxes that employers pay on wages, an administration official said Thursday, as advisers...

CNA Financial moves closer to taking CNA Surety private

Commercial insurer CNA Financial, which already has a controlling stake in CNA Surety Corp , said a large chunk of other stakeholders tendered their...

Coupons.com raises $200 million in private round

Digital-coupon business Coupons.com said it had raised $200 million from institutional investors, underscoring the tremendous investor appetite for...

Dow up 1 percent as stocks bounce back

The Dow rose 1 percent Thursday, with Wall Street rebounding after six days of losses as a narrowed U.S. trade deficit was seen as one positive...

Motorola Mobility introduces 4G phone, strengthens ties with Sprint

Motorola Mobility and Sprint unveiled Thursday "a reinvigorated alliance" that will bring more than 10 Motorola devices to the carrier this year.

Pabst beer and Facebook don't mix, says SEC

It was a takeover attempt that fizzed out.

Obama administration cracks down on mortgage servicers

The Obama administration is taking the first steps to punish mortgage companies for poor performance in its loan assistance program, withholding...

Cell carriers worry about slowdown in texting

Growth in the volume of text messaging is slowing sharply, just as new threats emerge to that lucrative source of wireless carrier profits.

Alcohol sales thrive in hard times

Alcohol sales climbed with little interruption throughout the recent recession, and have continued to expand in recent months.

SUVs now least likely to roll over in crashes

Once feared for their dangerous rollover tendencies, high-riding SUVs are now much less likely to be involved in the deadly crashes than ordinary...

Smartphone deliveries expected to increase 55% this year

Deliveries of smartphones like Apple's iPhone are expected to increase 55 percent this year, four times as fast as the wider phone market, IT research...

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  Graphics: Market share for smartphones

Citigroup credit card customer information hacked

Citigroup says it has discovered a security breach in which a hacker accessed personal information from hundreds of thousands of accounts.

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  Citibank exposes 600,000 Social Security numbers

The day ahead in business

Reports: Jobless claims for week ended June 4, 7:30 a.m.; Balance of trade for April, 7:30 a.m.; Wholesale inventories for April, 9 a.m.; Mortgage...

PIMCO head Bill Gross: Stay away from Treasury bonds

PIMCO Founder Bill Gross, who heads the world's largest bond investment firm, told financial advisers to keep their clients out of U.S....

Analyst: Groupon IPO valuation not 'rational math'

Chicago-based Groupon, the largest online coupon company, may be worth billions of dollars less than its recent initial public offering filing...

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  Read the analyst's letter to investors

Banks lose fight to keep debit card fees

Major banks and card network companies suffered a major defeat on Wednesday, when the Senate narrowly voted down a measure that would have delayed a...

Harpo Studios says it plans to lay off workers

Harpo Studios has notified the Illinois Department of Employment Security it plans to lay off workers.

GOP-led House panel to hold Boeing hearing in South Carolina

A Republican-led House committee plans to hold a June 17 hearing in South Carolina on a federal board's suit alleging the Boeing Co. retaliated...

Chicago exec resigns from Notre Dame board

A Chicago business executive resigned Wednesday from the University of Notre Dame's board of trustees after a conservative Roman Catholic watchdog...

New name for Pump Room?

As you may have read a couple of weeks ago, the venerable Pump Room restaurant, and the building that houses it, are being renovated by hotelier/...

Caterpillar boosts dividend by 2 cents

Caterpillar boosted its quarterly dividend 4.5%, joining a long list of companies that have raised payouts to shareholders in recent months.

Privacy group targets Facebook facial recognition feature

A privacy-rights group said it plans to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Facebook Inc.'s facial-recognition feature for photo...

FDA adds muscle damage warning to Zocor based on dosage

The Food and Drug Administration has added new warnings to the blockbuster cholesterol drug Zocor, cautioning doctors that the highest dose can...

T-Mobile dangles $200 credit to lure business customers

T-Mobile USA, hoping to stem the loss of its most-valuable customers, began offering a $200 credit to business customers looking to switch to its...

Fed's latest Beige Book outlook dotted with red flags

Businesses said the U.S. economy expanded the last two months, with most of the Federal Reserve's 12 districts receiving reports of growth in...

Apple plans 12,000-capacity 'spaceship' building for HQ campus

Apple Inc. plans to build a circular "spaceship" building in hometown Cupertino that will hold 12,000 employees -- and be the best office building...

Chicago's first AllSaints Spitalfields to open June 23

AllSaints Spitalfields, Britain's edgy upscale clothing retailer, plans to open its long-anticipated Mag Mile store June 23.

Watchdog finds prisoners, dead people got tax break for buying car

Prisoners, dead people and children qualified for a 2009 tax break to spur car buying, according to a U.S. report Wednesday that criticized the...

FDA study finds traces of arsenic in chicken meat

The Food and Drug Administration says some chicken meat may contain small amounts of arsenic, though the agency is stressing that the amount is too...

Airbus trails Boeing ahead of Paris air show

Europe's Airbus trailed U.S. rival Boeing in terms of plane orders in the first five months of the year as the companies gear up for their annual...

UAL CEO Smisek says pilot contract must be fair

United Continental Holdings, the parent of new United Airlines, wants a contract with pilots, but any deal must be affordable and fair, its chief...

Notable Chicago execs to help expand manufacturing jobs

President Barack Obama is naming a number of prominent Chicagoans to the board of Skills for America's Future, a program designed to give community...

OPEC oil talks collapse, no output deal

OPEC talks broke down in acrimony on Wednesday without an agreement to raise oil output.

Ulta Salon shares jump on way better-than-expected 1Q

Ulta Salon's shares were trading up 7.3 percent at $53.22 Wednesday, a day after the company's fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 71 percent.

CME Group expands product offerings in UK

CME Group Inc. aims to expand its clearing service to over-the-counter base metals products in the United Kingdom, becoming the latest entrant in a...

Google, Facebook test IPv6 Internet upgrade

Today hundreds of Internet giants, including Google and Facebook, are participating in the first worldwide “test flight“ of a major...

Walgreens, Northwestern Memorial docs partner to coordinate care

Walgreen Co. and a large doctor group affiliated with Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago this morning said they will partner on a “new...

McDonald's May same-store sales rise 3.1%

McDonald's Corp reported a lower-than-expected sales increase at established stores in the United States in May as high gas prices and unemployment...

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  McDonald's promises sustainable Filet-O-Fish in Europe

Jamie Dimon still griping about reform, this time to Bernanke

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is still griping about financial reform, and this time, he took his complaints straight to the top official at the...

U.S. debt to exceed size of economy this year

A recent Treasury report noted that national debt will exceed the size of the economy this year -- a first since World War II. A year ago, the...

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  China warns U.S. debt-default idea is "playing with fire"

Chicago security company ordered to pay guards $200K

 A federal judge has ruled a company that tried to avoid paying overtime to 57 Chicago-area security guards by making them sign independent...

The day ahead in business

Reports: MBA mortgage index for week ended June 4, 6 a.m.; Crude inventories for week ended June 3, 9:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve Beige Book, 1 p.m.;

Many U.S. employers to drop health benefits, McKinsey finds

At least 30 percent of employers are likely to stop offering health insurance once provisions of the U.S. health care reform law kick in in 2014.

Loehmann's State Street store to briefly become a Hartmarx

The vacant Loehmann's building on State Street has been turned into a Hartmarx pop-up store for the month of June.

French media can tweet, but can't mention Twitter

French TV and radio stations can tweet as much as they like but must stop telling people to consult them on Twitter and Facebook.

Bernanke: Job market 'far from normal'

The economy lost some momentum recently, Ben Bernanke acknowledged Tuesday, but the Federal Reserve chairman is still optimistic that the recovery...

Saudi upping oil supply, wants OPEC to increase

Regardless of OPEC policy, Saudi Arabia is planning to lift oil output sharply this month to rein in high fuel prices.