Giordano's owner sues bank, lawyers, franchisees

• 
  Read Apostolou's lawsuit

Obama urges Geithner to stay as Treasury chief

President Barack Obama has asked Timothy Geithner to stay on as Treasury secretary and a decision is expected soon, officials said on Thursday.

LinkedIn's Q2 results glide past Street view

LinkedIn is banking on faster-than-expected revenue growth in 2011, as the professional networking site sets off to prove it can fulfill the promise...

Groupon picks up Obtiva to boost engineering team

Chicago-based daily deal site Groupon said Thursday that it would acquire Obtiva, a Ruby on Rails software development firm also based in Chicago....

CBOE says VIX volumes reach record high

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange on Thursday said its Volatility Index reached a single-day record in trading volume.

Comcast sues DirecTV over NFL Sunday ticket ads

Comcast has sued DirecTV alleging that the satellite company is baiting consumers by advertising that its NFL Sunday Ticket service is available for...

Dow plunges more than 500 points, erasing year's gains

Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the depths of the Great Recession in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-...

• 
  A bad couple of weeks

Allison Payne leaving WGN-Ch. 9

Hampered by health issues that knocked her from the prime time anchor perch at WGN-Ch. 9, Allison Payne announced Thursday she is leaving the...

Mortgage losses threaten PMI's ability to write new insurance

PMI Group's U.S. mortgage losses mounted and the company said its unit MIC might be stopped from writing insurance in more states, wiping out more...

Chrysler recalls 300K '08 minivans over airbag issue

Chrysler is recalling nearly 300,000 minivans for a possible heating and air conditioning problem that could trigger the air bag, the second related...

Company sues after losing O'Hare concessions contract

The company that lost the concession contract at O'Hare International Airport's international terminal sued today, arguing the new firm will...

Kraft Foods to split into 2 companies

Just 18 months after acquiring British candy maker Cadbury, Kraft Foods is breaking up.

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  Warren Buffett not opposed to Kraft split

Morton Salt seeks $7 million upgrade at Kansas plant

Morton Salt Co. has asked South Hutchinson city authorities for a10-year tax abatement as it plans to upgrade its salt evaporation plant.

Career Education shares continue to fall

Career Education Corp., the Schaumburg-based for-profit college company, said some of its campuses improperly reported student placement rates -- an...

Rates on 15-year mortgages drop to lowest level on record

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage has fallen to its lowest level in decades.

Mesirow to open Hong Kong office

Mesirow Financial will open a Hong Kong office in the fourth quarter, and will initially staff it with personnel from its hedge funds unit, Mesirow...

Index options drive CBOE 2Q profit up 32%

CBOE Holdings became the fifth U.S. exchange operator to beat analysts' second-quarter profit expectations, as it trimmed expenses and promised more...

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  CBOE to buy back $100 million in shares

Littelfuse Q2 results hurt by metal, oil costs

Chicago-based circuit protection products maker Littelfuse Inc. posted quarterly results below analysts' expectations, hurt by higher metal and oil...

Glenn Tilton selling off shares in United Continental

Glenn Tilton, UAL Corp.'s former CEO, has been quietly selling his stock in the parent of Chicago-based United Airlines.

French court orders investigation into IMF's Lagarde

A French court ordered an investigation on Thursday into the role of IMF head Christine Lagarde in a huge settlement paid to a businessman friend of...

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  Lagarde begins 1st day as head of IMF

Fortune Brands profit from continuing operations slips

 Consumer goods company Fortune Brands Inc reported lower earnings from continuing operations Thursday, hurt by a weaker-than-expected market for...

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  Fortune Brands completes $1.23B sale of golf unit

GM profit nearly doubles on stronger global sales

General Motors Co.'s quarterly profit nearly doubled, beating expectations, as the top U.S. automaker took a larger share of sales in its home...

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  US auto industry uneasy after weak July sales

Top Boeing customer Southwest makes overture to Airbus

Southwest Airlines and Airbus have begun a "warm" top-level exchange, prompting hope at the European planemaker that Boeing's top buyer may no...

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  American makes Boeing, Airbus share huge plane order

The day ahead in business

Reports: Initial jobless claims for week ended July 30, 7:30 a.m., Mortgage rates for week ended Aug. 4, 9 a.m.

Cargill recalls 36 million pounds of turkey over Salmonella

Cargill has begun the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey tied to a California death from Salmonella, Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation...

Source: Small crude unit at BP's Indiana refinery remains shuttered

One of three crude units at BP's oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., remains shuttered Wednesday for unplanned repairs that got underway sometime over...

State regulators in Texas approve Exelon-Constellation deal

State regulators in Texas approved Exelon's $7.9 billion acquisition of Constellation Energy on Wednesday.

Boeing 747-8 Freighter wraps certification flights

Boeing Co. on Wednesday said its new elongated 747-8 Freighter has completed its certification flight test program, a key milestone that paves the way...

Sun-Times lays off four employees

The Chicago Sun-Times has eliminated four newsroom positions, including Quick Hits columnist Elliot Harris and sports columnist Mike Mulligan.

Deal reached on Lincoln Park Hospital development

The company behind the controversial Lincoln Park Hospital site redevelopment has agreed to scale down its plans.

Clearwire posts wider quarterly loss

Clearwire Corp. posted a wider quarterly loss as it spent heavily to add new customers to its high-speed wireless service.

Canadian National to move 250 railway jobs from Illinois to Indiana

Montreal-based Canadian National Railway Co. said Wednesday that it will relocate part of its operations from Markham, Ill., to northwest Indiana.

Comcast delivers strong quarter; NBCUniversal revenue up 17%

Comcast Corp. on Wednesday delivered strong-second quarter earnings, led by the company's core businesses of providing cable television and high-speed...

Chicago to host 50 students at Ideas Week fest

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday announced the creation of a program to bring 50 college students from around the Midwest to Chicago during the...

Budweiser dresses up can in bid to boost sales

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch unveiled a new design for the nation's second best-selling beer Wednesday, which it will roll out in the U.S. this...

New BofA settlement talks could cut some mortgages

Bank of America Corp. is pursuing a settlement that could reduce loan balances for struggling homeowners in exchange for a release from legal claims...

Christie Hefner's husband settles insider trading charges

William Marovitz, a former state Senator who is married to Christie Hefner, has agreed to settle civil charges of insider trading in the stock of...

• 
  Playboy Clubs, then and now

Caterpillar seeks $28M in property tax reductions in 2 Ill. counties

Caterpillar Inc. is asking Illinois' property tax appeals board to reverse decisions by Peoria and Tazewell Counties and lower the value of the...

Molex guides Q1 below Wall Street view

Molex Inc. posted lower-than-expected quarterly results as a slowdown in consumer spending hurt orders, and the electronic connector maker forecast...

Sears names former FreshDirect exec as CMO

Hoffman Estates-based retailer Sears Holdings Corp. has named former FreshDirect executive Monica Woo as vice president and chief marketing officer,...

Walgreen Co. July same-store sales up 2.7%

Same-store sales for Deerfield-based drugstore giant Walgreen Co. rose 2.7 percent in July, slightly above analysts' estimates, as the company...

Gloomy 2011 on the radar for GPS giant Garmin

Garmin forecast a grim year ahead as it grapples with the relentless decline of its once popular personal navigation devices.

Giordano's franchisees now using proper ingredients

The bankruptcy trustee running the Giordano's pizza chain said Wednesday that all franchisees are now buying the approved ingredients to make the...

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  Suit against Giordano's franchisees lays bare a kitchen debate

SXC Health to acquire pharmacy benefits manager

Lisle-based SXC Health Solutions Corp., a provider of pharmacy benefits manager services, on Wednesday said it entered into a definitive agreement...

Westin O'Hare selling for half its 2006 sale price

A San Francisco hotel investor is paying about $53 million for the 525-room Westin O’Hare, one of the biggest casualties of the hotel crash...

Nicor 2Q profit falls 21% on higher costs

Natural gas distributor Nicor Inc. said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings fell 21 percent as higher costs offset an improvement in revenue. The...

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  AGL: Some Nicor jobs could be affected by merger

R.R. Donnelley profit drops 86%, takes stock down

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.'s second-quarter earnings tumbled 86 percent as the commercial printer saw one-time restructuring charges and higher...

Aeromexico, Boeing conduct first transcontinental flight using biofuel

Boeing Co. said one of its aircraft owned by Aeromexico conducted the first commercial transcontinental flight powered...

• 
  Boeing's recent bumpy ride is justified, not all bad

Navistar shifting RV work from Oregon to Indiana

Navistar International Corp. plans to shift some production work for its Monaco RV subsidiary from an Oregon factory to northern Indiana, where it...

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  Navistar closing plant in Canada, cutting 675 jobs

BlackBerry launching 5 new phones in battle with iPhone, Google

Research In Motion Ltd. plans to release a bevy of new BlackBerry devices, a delayed effort to...

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  Report: iPhone 5 coming in October, not September

U.S. rating maintained by Moody's and Fitch

The United States had its triple-A rating confirmed by two key ratings agencies on Tuesday after Washington struck a last-minute deal to avoid a...

Day ahead in business

Reports: MBA mortgage index for week ended July 30, 6 a.m.; Challenger job cuts for July, 6:30 a.m.; ADP employment change for July, 7:15 a.m.;...

1,100 Illinois workers to lose jobs by year's end

More than 1,100 workers at 10 companies learned last month that they'll lose their jobs in plant closings or mass layoffs before year-end, according...

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  U.S. planned layoffs surge in July, Challenger reports

Consumer bankruptcies fall despite soft economy

U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings fell 18 percent in July, the seventh year-over-year decline in 2011, and they are expected to stay in check as people...

General Growth shares tumble on mall spinoff, 2Q results

Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. shares fell 8.7 percent on Tuesday after the company reported lower-than-expected revenue in the second...

CDC links 1 death, 76 illnesses to ground turkey

Federal officials say one person has died from salmonella poisoning that appears to be linked to eating ground turkey, but the government is still...

U.S. employers report they're providing more health insurance

Nearly 18 months after passage of the national health care overhaul, American employers say they are providing health benefits for growing numbers...

FCC: Broadband service nearing advertised speeds

U.S. broadband speeds on average are within 80 percent of what major Internet service providers advertise, a big improvement from two years ago,...

Fewer Chicago area homes vacant in 2Q

Fewer homes in the Chicago area are sitting empty, a welcome if only temporary sign for the battered local housing market.

Fitch leaves U.S. rating at AAA, continues review

Fitch Ratings upheld its AAA rating on the United States Tuesday after lawmakers approved spending cuts that will help prevent a U.S. default, but the...

Senate moves to end partial FAA shutdown

The U.S. Senate looked Tuesday to end a partial shutdown of federal aviation programs that have held up airport construction projects and given...

U.S. gasoline demand drops sharply in latest week

U.S. retail gasoline demand fell sharply in the week to July 29 from year-earlier levels as price gains since the beginning of July weighed on...

Google+ hits 25M users in month, faster than Facebook

Google Inc.'s new social-networking service reached about 25 million visitors in less than a month, outpacing Facebook Inc. and MySpace in their early...

CME Group volume jumps 17% in July

CME Group Inc.'s July daily trading volume jumped 17 percent from a year earlier as the derivatives exchange operator saw soaring volume for interest-...

GM's July U.S. sales rise about 8%

General Motors Tuesday posted a 7.6 percent sales gain in July on stronger demand for compact vehicles including the Chevrolet Cruze car and Equinox...

Debt fight nears end; downgrade threat remains

Congress was poised on Tuesday to grant final approval to a deficit-cutting package that will avert a debt default but may not be enough to prevent...

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  Insight: Debt relief replaced with recession fear

Chicago architecture firm to design world's tallest tower

A tower designed by Chicago architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill and to be built in Saudi Arabia will be the world's tallest building if completed,...

• 
  Images of Kingdom Tower

Ally Financial profit down on mortgage loss

Ally Financial, an auto and mortgage lender majority-owned by the U.S. government, said second-quarter profit fell 80 percent as its home loan...

Hyatt posts 48 percent leap in 2Q profit

Hyatt Hotels Corp. on Tuesday said that its second-quarter profit rose 48 percent as it filled more hotel rooms and customers spent more per room.

Consumer spending falls for first time in 2 years

U.S. consumer spending dropped in June for the first time in nearly two years as incomes barely rose, suggesting economic growth could remain...

Archer Daniels 2Q profit falls 15% on taxes

U.S. agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co.'s quarterly earnings fell as a sharp jump in income tax expenses and soaring corn prices...

Toyota ekes out $14M profit, raises forecast

Toyota Motor Corp. blamed the massive March 11 earthquake that ravaged Japan for its 99 percent plunge in fiscal first-quarter earnings, but raised...

Consumer Reports: New Honda Civic is a loser

Honda recently rolled out a new, redesigned version of its ultra-popular Civic compact car, but according to Consumer Reports magazine it's actually...

Police arrest 'key figure' in News Corp. hacking probe

British police on Tuesday arrested a man, believed to be a “key figure” at Rupert Murdoch's News International group according to a...

OfficeMax blames economy for weak sales

Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc. reported a slight decline in second-quarter sales and forecast flat sales in the current quarter as businesses and...

The day ahead in business

Reports: Domestic auto sales for July, U.S. personal income for June

Caterpillar to expand remanufacturing facility in North Dakota

Peoria-based heavy machinery maker Caterpillar Inc. said it planned to expand its remanufacturing facility in West Fargo, North Dakota to meet the...

Chicago's HighTower lands Merrill private bankers

HighTower Advisors, a firm that is expanding by poaching financial advisers from the big brokerages, said on Monday it hired a private banking team...

Chicago debt settlement company fined $314K

A Chicago-based debt settlement company was fined $314,000 on Monday and was issued a cease-and-desist order of its unlicensed business by the...

Ross Dress for Less to open a dozen stores in Chicago, create 600 jobs

Ross Dress for Less, an off-price apparel and home goods chain, plans to enter the Chicago market this fall with a dozen stores.

Google buys daily deal aggregator The Dealmap

Google has bought The Dealmap, expanding further into a potentially lucrative daily deals market now dominated by the likes of Groupon and...

Ford recalls 1.2 million pickups for corrosion problem

Ford Motor Co. said on Monday it is recalling about 1.2 million pickup trucks in the United States and Canada to replace straps that hold fuel tanks...

Ozzie Guillen buys house in Bucktown, sells Near West Side home

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has paid $1.95 million to buy a 6,163-square-foot, newly built contemporary-style house in Bucktown, and he...

CBOE's July options volume jumps

CBOE Holdings said Monday it averaged 4.6 million options contracts per day in July, a 19 percent increase from the same month last year.

Congress focuses on ending FAA shutdown: LaHood

U.S. congressional leaders are trying to reach a deal to end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration now that an agreement to...

Sears names Huber to head Lands' End

Sears Holdings Inc.'s Lands' End unit has a new chief executive. Edgar O. Huber will take the post of president and CEO, the retailer announced...

Latest round of private investment pushes Twitter's value to $8B

Twitter doesn't seem to be in any hurry to offer its shares to the public. Instead it has raised another mega round of funding from some very deep-...

Boeing picks up new orders for 737-900 from Korean Air

Boeing Co. said Monday that it received an order from Korean Air for two additional 737-900 extended range jetliners worth $171.6 million at Boeing...

Hard-disk drive manufacturers feeling heat from flash drives

Slowing demand and the rising popularity of more power-efficient flash drives will hurt hard disk drive makers, led by Western Digital Corp. and...

Debt-ceiling debate cost U.S. $1.7B in higher T-bill interest rates

The debt ceiling debacle has just cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.7 billion.

Private-equity firm takes 10% stake in Talbots, lifting retailer's stock

Private equity firm Sycamore Partners reported a 9.90 percent stake in women's clothing retailer Talbots Inc., at a time when some investors are...

House bill seeks to remove resolved medical debts from credit reports

Medical debts that you paid off long ago can drag down your credit score for years after you've settled them. But recently proposed legislation...

Retailers poised for strong July sales but little bump to margins

U.S. retailers are poised to report higher sales for July, a discount-driven month that may do little to lift their margins.

Rue La La launches local deals in Chicago, challenging Groupon

Rue La La, an online flash-sales company partly owned by eBay Inc., is expanding its local offers business, stepping up competition with Groupon.

Susan Sher returns to University of Chicago Medical Center

Susan Sher, a Chicago attorney and former top aide to First Lady Michelle Obama, is returning to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

More homeowners unsatisfied with mortgage servicers

Consumers who bought homes between 2006 and 2008 are growing increasingly frustrated with their mortgage servicers because they can’t qualify...

NYSE-Deutsche Boerse to jump to top options spot

NYSE Euronext and Germany's Deutsche Boerse AG will soon become the market leader of the ultra-competitive U.S. options trading industry.

Health insurers must cover birth control with no copays

The Obama administration says health insurance plans must cover birth control for women with no copays.

Nissan recalls about 20,000 Altima sedans in U.S.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said it will recall about 20,000 Altima sedans to fix a potential problem that could lead to steering difficulties and cause...

CNA's catastrophe losses hurt Loew's results

Loews Corp.'s second-quarter earnings fell 31 percent as higher natural catastrophe losses contributed to a 55 percent drop in its CNA Financial...

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  Allstate's 2Q loss of $620M beats expectations