BUSINESS NEWS
iStockphoto/Thinkstock)(WASHINGTON) -- The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it won't be changing its $85 billion a month bond purchasing stimulus program, though labor market conditions have improved in recent months. It will keep its target interest near zero while unemployment remains above 6.5 percent.
The Fed, which has been injected trillions of dollars into the slowly recovering American economy, made an announcement on its intentions in three parts on Wednesday. This is the Fed's most closely watched announcement since a third round of its bond purchasing program, or "quantitative easing" in September last year.
Federal Reserve
...Read more
Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Retailer Men's Wearhouse announced Wednesday that it "terminated" founder and executive chairman George Zimmer, best known to consumers for his hundreds of TV commercials pitching suits.
The company said that "in light of Mr. Zimmer's termination," it is postponing its annual shareholders' meeting, which had been scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday in California.
Men's Wearhouse, based in Fremont, Calif., was founded in 1973 by Zimmer. It is one of the country's largest specialty men's retailers with 1,143 stores across the country. The company operates Moores and K&G Stores in addition
...Read more
ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Beloved cereal icon Cap’n Crunch is involved in a soggy controversy.
It turns out the so-called Cap’n is not actually a captain at all. By the looks of his uniform, he may only be a commander. (Gasp!)
An eagle-eyed cereal eater and blogger on Foodbeast.com first spotted that the spokes-pirate, whose full name is Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch, has only three stripes on his sleeve, which, in naval terms, means he is a commander, not a Cap’n. It takes four stripes to become a captain, which is one rank above commander.
The news led to outcry across social media this week with cereal fans decrying
...Read more
Fuse/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Consumer Reports revisited its toilet paper ratings after testing more than two dozen products, naming the worst and best brands. The results may be a surprise those who think the top national brands are always preferred.
Two Walmart products were named in Consumer Reports’ top-five winner’s circle: White Cloud, which is sold only in its stores, and Walmart’s Great Value Ultra Strong. The toilet papers rated highly in softness, though the top-rated White Cloud 3-Ply Ultra Soft and Thick “combines softness with superior strength and disintegration,” said Consumer Reports’
...Read more
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SEATTLE) -- Cary Collings of Puyallup, Wash., won two separate lottery jackpots last week just over 24 hours, according to the Washington Lottery.
Collings, 61, hit his first jackpot on June 13 after buying a few “Red Hot 5′s” scratch tickets at a local gas station. One of them was a top prize winner that made him $55,555 richer.
The next morning, Collings drove to the Washington Lottery’s regional office to claim his prize. On his way, he stopped at a local Fred Meyer grocery store and bought three “Bring on the Ben’s” scratch tickets.
On the first of those three
...Read more
United Continental Holdings(CHICAGO) -- United Airlines has made a significant change to its frequent-flier program, MileagePlus.
The change requires, in addition to miles flown, a minimum amount of money spent in order to earn status in the MileagePlus program.
The program previously required a minimum of 25,000 miles flown in one year to qualify for its lowest-level status, Premier Silver. Now the program will also require a minimum spend of $2,500 in addition to the 25,000 miles.
Higher levels of status require a higher minimum spend: Premier Gold, 50,000 and $5,000; Premier Platinum, 75,000 and $7,500; and Premier 1K, 100,000 and $10,000.
...Read more
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Your Instagram feed of photos of your friends and their food might soon include video too.
According to various reports, Instagram will add video to its popular photo-sharing service. The announcement is expected at the Facebook event being held on Thursday.
Facebook, which bought Instagram for $1 billion in April 2012, sent mysterious invites to an event late last week via snail mail.
"A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product," the press invitation read.
Technology websites All Things D and TechCrunch have both independently
...Read more
Duncan Chard/Bloomberg via Getty Images(SEATTLE) -- A month after returning to the skies, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner had to be diverted on Tuesday for repairs.
United flight 139, which was en route to Tokyo from Denver, was forced to land in Seattle over "an indication of a problem with an oil filter," United Airlines said in a statement.
The plane landed normally and without incident, the carrier added.
In a statement, Boeing said it was aware of the incident and "we are engaged with United to provide any support required. We are aware that this is an engine issue and we are coordinating with GE."
Read more
AT&T(NEW YORK) -- In the days following Superstorm Sandy, Starbucks and other restaurants in the New York City region had lines out the door. The customers were not in line to get coffee or food, but instead to use the electric outlets to charge their dead cellphones.
The administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, AT&T and other organizations are now looking to cut down on those lines by erecting solar charging stations across New York City’s five boroughs.
“After Hurricane Sandy, I asked our private sector partners to step up and help improve the resiliency of New York City. AT&T is doing just that,
...Read more
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- For the average student graduating in 2011, college debt amounts to 60 percent of their annual income, according to a report released Tuesday by the Joint Economic Committee.
At around $1.1 trillion, student debt now exceeds auto loans and credit cards as the largest source of household debt, not including home mortgages.
The committee predicts that a doubling of loan rates would cost students, who borrow an average amount of about $27,000 to finance their education, an additional $2,600.
Congress is now locked in a fight over how to prevent student loan rates from doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent
Digital Vision/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) tops this year's list of the best employers for Baby Boomers, according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
The list, co-sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), ranks 50 employers on such elder-friendly features as flex-time, benefits for retirees, and health and pension plans.
The rest of the top five are Scripps Health of San Diego; Atlantic Health Systems of Morristown, N.J.; the MD Anderson Cancer
...Read more
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The number of millionaires on the planet surged by 9.2 percent in 2012 to 12 million -- an increase of one million -- according to the 17th annual World Wealth Report
That overall figure also includes people who are billionaires, which last numbered around 1,426 back in May.
It means that the collective wealth of all these rich people is now $46.2 trillion in high net worth assets. North America leads the way with $12.7 trillion, followed by Asia-Pacific with $12 trillion.
Much of their very good fortune has to do with increased GDP growth as well as the equity and real estate markets bouncing back after
PRNewsFoto/Chrysler Group LLC(NEW YORK) -- Chrysler said Tuesday that due to customers’ “raised concerns” it would add or replace trailer hitches on some older-model Jeeps now at the center of a safety debate between the automaker and the U.S. government.
Mike Palese, a Chrysler spokesman, told ABC News Tuesday that the trailer hitch would “provide more ability to absorb some crash forces” in rear-impact accidents.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had been seeking a recall of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, model years 1993 to 2004, and Jeep Liberty, model years 2002 to 2007.
In its initial findings, the NHTSA
...Read more
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images(SAN JOSE, Calif.) -- The city of San Jose filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday against Major League Baseball, accusing the league of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to limit competition by blocking the Oakland Athletics from moving to San Jose.
The San Francisco Giants own territorial rights to San Jose and have objected to the potential move. The A’s claim those territorial rights were temporarily given to the Giants when they were trying to build a ballpark in San Jose in the early '90s. The lawsuit claims that territorial rights reduce competition and harm consumers.
“The lawsuit is an unfounded attack
...Read more
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Ahead of Wednesday's big quarterly news conference from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its second triple-digit surge of the week. The Dow finished the day up 138 points, closing at 15,318 -- a gain of 238 points in the last two days.
The Nasdaq Composite added 30 points for the day to finish at 3,482. The S&P 500 rose 13 points, closing at 1,652.
This week’s rally is a bit puzzling in that the markets are moving so strongly higher ahead of the Fed’s decision on rates and Wednesday’s presser with Ben Bernanke. Most analysts expected investors would
...Read more
Advertisement
