Local earnings: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Boeing Co., Exelon Corp., GATX Corp., Packaging Corp. of America, RC2 Corp., RLI Corp., Stepan Co., USG Corp., W.W. Grainger Inc.
Other major earnings: Citigroup, Delta Air Lines, Eli Lilly and Co., Gannett Co., Halliburton Co., Hanesbrands Inc., Hershey Co., Manpower Inc., Netflix Inc., Reynolds American Inc., Snap On Inc.
From USA Today | When documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock first began asking big brands such as Nike, Volkswagen and Seven-Eleven to help bankroll “Pom Wonderful Presents The World’s Greatest Movie Ever Sold” — his take on the ubiquity of branded content and the age-old practice of product placement — he had a hard time.
Ban Deodorant eventually signed on, but Spurlock said that higher-profile companies only joined in after Chciago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. said yes. Hyatt, he said recently at a screening in Washington, was the first “blue chip” brand that he landed, which “made a difference” when they approached other companies. Get the full story>>
On Sunday, Target will give away 1 million reusable bags in celebration of Earth Day. The 100 percent recyclable Tyvek totes will be in Target stores nationwide while supplies last, which is not expected to be very long. Get the full story »
Union nurses at University of Chicago Medical Center have voted to authorize a strike, but an interim contract will keep them on the job until at least the end of June. Get the full story »
The Obama administration urged the private sector Friday to develop methods that consumers can use instead of passwords to identify themselves online and, in some cases, in brick and mortar stores.
“The Internet has transformed how we communicate and do business,” said President Barack Obama in a statement accompanying release of a national strategy to safeguard identity on the Internet. Get the full story »
The owners of three of the largest Internet poker companies operating in the United States were accused on Friday of tricking regulators and banks into processing billions of dollars of illegal Internet gambling proceeds. Get the full story »
Italy’s Fiat SpA is looking to pay around $1.5 billion for an additional 16 percent in Chrysler, which it hopes to purchase in the coming months, three sources familiar with the matter said. Get the full story »
Pfizer Inc. said on Friday its experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug met most of the main goals of a late-stage clinical trial.
If approved, it would compete with injectable treatments such as Humira, made by Abbott Laboratories, Amgen Inc.’s Enbrel, and Remicade, made by Johnson & Johnson. Get the full story »
U.S. heavy machinery maker Caterpillar will buy Balfour Beatty Plc.’s trackwork manufacturing business that makes rail switches and crossings, Balfour said on Friday. Get the full story »
Device maker Novocure said Friday the Food and Drug Administration approved its first-of-a-kind treatment which fights cancerous brain tumors using electrical energy fields. Get the full story »
President Barack Obama wears a Chicago Bulls cap at last night's Navy Pier fundraiser. Obama said Friday that there is little he can do about high oil prices. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama said there are no quick fixes to bring down rising gasoline prices and urged caution about being too quick to tap U.S. emergency oil reserves amid uncertainty in the Middle East.
“There aren’t going to be a lot of great short-term solutions to this problem,” Obama said in an ABC interview aired Friday. Get the full story »
The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all over formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week. Get the full story »
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Sales tax receipts throughout the metropolitan area increased in 2010, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, signaling the first rise in retail spending since 2008. Overall, sales tax revenue in the six-county area advanced 3.4 percent to $7.46 billion last year. Get the full story>>
