Category: Business

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Some investors have lost faith in Facebook whose shares are down more than 40 percent since their May stock market debut. But…

By Alex Pham and Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Hollywood and other content owners, whose relationship with Google is fitful at best, gave the Silicon Valley search company…

There is a new “drive-by” virus on the Internet, and it often carries a fake message—and fine—purportedly from the FBI. “We’re getting inundated with complaints,” said Donna Gregory of the Internet Crime…

By Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Complain all you want about full-body searches at the airports, but federal data show that the nation’s biggest airlines are doing a…

By Jeremy C. Owens, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Silicon Valley social network Pinterest is now open for all to join, with the fast-growing site ditching its invite-only…

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Google agreed to pay a record $22.5 million fine to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that it violated a pledge…

By Neela Banerjee, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON—Opening nearly all federal land to oil and gas drilling — including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—would bring modest revenue to the U.S. Treasury over the…

By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — A major fertilizer producer from California who pleaded guilty to fraud charges this week ran into what appears to be a newly aggressive federal…

By Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Microsoft Corp. is getting ready for the year-end holiday shopping season by preparing temporary retail stores around the country. The Redmond, Wash.,…

By Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Hiring picked up much faster in July than expected. Car sales remain solid. Home prices are climbing again in parts of the country….

By Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Two powerful U.S. senators want the Pentagon to consider suspending or blocking one of the nation’s largest defense contractors from government work because a…

WASHINGTON – Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to resolve an investigation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations,…

By Mark Davis, McClatchy Newspapers – KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cellphones — and their use — have come a long way in 16 years. But federal safety standards haven’t budged. Reason enough, according…

By Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press – Really, $1 trillion in student loans for a bunch of tuition, used books and Ramen noodles? But now that many college grads — and those who…

By Dee DePass, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — Two years ago, Calibur11 in Duluth, Minn., did what any other cash-strapped manufacturer looking to prune costs would do: Turn to China. But the…

By Chuck Myers, McClatchy-Tribune News Service – Imparting the importance of saving money to children, teens and even young adults is no small challenge. A few good websites, however, offer tips for parents…

By Jerry Siebenmark, McClatchy Newspapers – WICHITA, Kan. — While ATMs are now decades old, bankers and industry officials say the machines remain a key part of how banks and credit unions deliver…

By Claudia Buck, McClatchy Newspapers – Paying off the mortgage early. Saving for college. Those are two major personal finance areas addressed this week by Walt Romatowski, a certified financial planner in Roseville,…

By Claudia Buck, McClatchy Newspapers – Posting a resume to an online job application can be trickier than it sounds. Career expert Terri Carpenter of the Sacramento (Calif.) Employment & Training Agency offers…

By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times – YUEQING, China — A shipbuilding boom raised the fortunes of this hardscrabble industrial port. Five-star hotels sprouted along with machinery depots and metal shops. European luxury…

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — About 20,000 AT&T Inc. workers in the Northeast and West went on strike Tuesday even as the telecommunications giant reached tentative deals with…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — Government-controlled housing finance giant Freddie Mac on Tuesday reported a $3 billion profit for the second quarter of the year and said it would…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — As economic data points have gone recently, last week’s unemployment report was good news: 163,000 net new jobs created in July, exceeding analysts’ expectations….

By Richard Burnett, The Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — After decades in obscurity, the price that U.S. workers pay for the management of their employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans is about to be…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — As economic data points have gone recently, last week’s unemployment report was good news: 163,000 net new jobs created in July, exceeding analysts’ expectations….

By Alisa Priddle, Detroit Free Press – TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — By building vehicles the same way in every plant around the world, Ford expects to reduce its manufacturing investment costs by 8…

By Thomas Lee, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — Casting himself and his management team as the only ones who can rescue Best Buy Co. Inc., founder Richard Schulze said Monday that he…

By Andrew Tangel, Los Angeles Times – NEW YORK — Knight Capital Group Inc. on Monday confirmed it has entered into a $400 million deal to rescue the struggling brokerage after a trading…

By Anna Edgerton, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — Miami’s position as a hemispheric banking capital could be weakened as some foreign depositors close their accounts in U.S. banks to avoid new disclosure regulations….

Patrice Hill, The Washington Times – The labor market improved last month after a soft spell in the spring, with businesses creating 163,000 more jobs in a wide range of occupations from…

By David Lauter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The latest jobs report means the economic shape of the presidential battlefield is now largely set, with an economy that no longer appears…

By Andrew P. Morriss – TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the share of U.S. electricity generated from coal will fall from 42 percent in 2011 to 36.8 percent…

McClatchy-Tribune News Service – The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times: ——— The first line of defense against cybercriminals is to have the companies and individuals who connect to the…

By Gail MarksJarvis, Chicago Tribune – If the federal government would stop relying on bill collectors to go after people defaulting on student loans and, instead, focus borrowers on getting on a path…

By J. Scott Trubey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – ATLANTA —SunTrust Banks Inc. is under investigation by a federal agency over its practices in making mortgages that were guaranteed by the government. The U.S….

By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — On a cloudless morning, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden stood at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. — where the U.S. dominated…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — The growth of the U.S. service sector picked up in July, beating analyst expectations and providing another good — though not great — economic…

By Mark K. Matthews, The Orlando Sentinel – WASHINGTON — Space missions are never easy, but what NASA plans to do on Mars early Monday morning is bold even by agency standards. At…

By Monica Eng, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — As the Midwest crunches into sweet corn season, a new type will be appearing on grocery store shelves — even though shoppers have no way…