business
Chicago area home sales soar to highest level since July 2007
Updated: 2012-09-20 02:28:51
Home sales in the Chicago metropolitan area jumped 28.5 percent last month from a year earlier reaching the highest level in more than five years, according to a report from the Illinois Association of Realtors released Wednesday. But the median price fell 3.8 percent to $170,000. In Chicago, sales and the median price increased.
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Your best chances for getting an iPhone 5 this weekend
IHNATKO: You can always buy an iPhone 5 through Apple’s online store. They’re currently reporting a shipping delay of 3 to 4 weeks. You should that time to congratulate yourself on your mastery of the whole “deferred gratification” thing. You are clearly an elevated being, unafraid to spend three weeks staring at your own soul without the distraction of material goods. Your reward is an elevated awareness.
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ComEd rate-hike issue delayed; customers keep switching
The Illinois Commerce Commission on Wednesday delayed until Oct. 3 reconsidering a Commonwealth Edison rate-hike request centered on how ComEd accounts for its pension assets. The ICC previously approved a rate that ComEd claimed was inadequate, ruling that ComEd can’t earn a rate of return on a pension asset that isn’t fully funded.
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Tot tablets, retro brands are Toys R Us ‘hot toys’
It’s still technically summer, but Toys R Us has come out with its annual “hot toy” list, which includes tablets for kids, fashion dolls in the likeness of boy-band sensation One Direction, and even retro hits like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Furby.
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KPMG to hire 500 people in its Chicago office
KPMG will add 500 jobs in Chicago over the next five years, which will expand its workforce here from 1,800 to 2,300, the audit, tax and advisory firm will announce today as it unveils its new Chicago headquarters in the Aon building downtown.
Gates tops Forbes’ billionaires list; Groupon co-founder drops off
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates remains the nation’s richest man by far, as the tech and philanthropy giant took the top spot on the Forbes 400 list for the 19th year running, with a net worth of $66 billion. Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky dropped off the list only a year after making his debut.
Groupon relies on Chicago startup technology to launch payment services
Groupon on Wednesday jumped into a crowded field of competitors offering small merchants lower fees when the retailers swipe credit cards. Groupon is using technology it acquired earlier this year from Chicago-based startup FeeFighters.
‘Mid box’ retailers having hard time finding spots in Chicago
DAVID ROEDER: “Big box” is a common term in the retail industry, used for years. But have you heard of “mid box” retailers? You and I might think of it as plus-sized stores going on a diet. Retailers that used to be defined by aisles that stretched to the horizon are learning the secrets of downsizing. They have found that smaller stores can be an efficient way to get closer to more people. But a report by Mid-America Real Estate Corp. concludes that Chicago needs more places to put them.
The ‘milkman,’ dead at 64, provided dairy products to Chicago’s public schools
Around Chicago, Frank J. McMahon was known as “the milkman.” His family’s McMahon Food Corp. is one of the area’s largest dairy-distribution companies. Mr. McMahon, who lived on the near West Side, died Sunday at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. He was 64.
Macy’s flagship getting controversial $400 million makeover
A $400 million makeover is giving New York’s iconic Macy’s store a sleek, new 21st-century style. And some preservationists aren’t happy about it. They see the overhaul of America’s biggest department store as scrapping classic Beaux Arts and Art Deco touches in favor of the latest trend in retail design — something like an Apple computer store.
Encouraging reports about housing lift stocks
A pair of encouraging reports about the housing market gave U.S. stocks a little boost Wednesday. Home sales jumped to the highest level in more than two years in August, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales rose 7.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million, the most since May 2010.
U.S. housing starts rose 2.3 percent in August
U.S. builders started construction on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.
Entrepreneurs to offer advice to women at business conference
Women entrepreneurs, who generate nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues nationally and employ nearly 7.7 million people, will be the focus at the Women’s Business Development Center’s 26th Annual Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference on Thursday.
Chicago brokerage to pay $1 million for misleading investors
A Chicago-based investment firm and its co-founders will pay more than $1 million in fines to settle accusations by federal regulators of misleading investors in private equity offerings.
Apple shares close above $701 a share
Apple’s stock has reached $700 for the first time, setting a record for the company the day after it announced that orders for its iPhone 5 topped 2 million in the first 24 hours.
Groupon Works targets small businesses with its ‘secret sauce’
Groupon has run into a challenge figuring out how much hand-holding to do when it shows mom-and-pop Chicago businesses such essential steps as seeing where customers are coming from and tracking Groupon deals so they don’t get overwhelmed by them, a Groupon executive said Tuesday.
