The Department of Commerce said Wednesday that seasonally adjusted new housing starts in December came in at 529,000. That is compared to 553,000 starts a month earlier and was worse that the 550,000 predicted by economists. Building permit applications came in at 635,000 in December 2010, a big increase from the revised figure of 544,000 [...]

Yum Brands said Tuesday that it hopes to sell two of its well-known food businesses, A&W All-American Food and Long John Silver’s. The company has been performing well overseas and the two fast-food properties are focused in the domestic U.S. market. Yum, which also owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, has recently focused its [...]

After years of financial difficulties, major airlines were finally flush with cash in 2010, and 2011 is shaping up to continue its path to profitability for the industry. Earlier this week Delta Air Lines and United Airlines increased fares on flights within the United States. Delta raised prices on roundtrip domestic tickets by as much [...]

A record number of homes in the U.S. went into foreclosure in 2010, a sign that the nation’s real estate market is not in the clear despite other signs that the nation’s economy is improving. In 2010, almost 2.9 million properties were sent foreclosure notices, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate market research firm that [...]

Hourly workers at General Motors and Ford are reportedly getting large profit-sharing checks later this month, a gesture that hints at the direction of planned contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers Union. The payouts could surpass $5,000 at Ford. The bonuses underscore the dramatic turnaround of the big three domestic car manufacturers during the [...]

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday he would immediately sign the personal income and business tax increases approved by the state’s General Assembly in the early morning the same day. Democrats in control of the state legislature voted to temporarily increase personal income taxes from 3 percent to 5 percent, a 66-percent increase. Business taxes [...]

Its official, Verizon announces it will begin selling iPhones in early February. COO Tim Cook of Apple was on-hand for the announcement, joined by Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead. Verizon, the nation’s largest cell phone company announced Tuesday, that the Apple iPhone will soon be available to its customers. It will be the first time [...]

This could be the year that many Americans say good-bye to their free checking account. Experts, however, say most people will be able to avoid the fees by altering their banking habits or switching banks. Last week Bank of America announced a new line of checking account programs, including ones with new strings and new [...]

The last unemployment report of 2010 brought mixed signals for how the economy might perform in 2011, but economist seemed to agree that while improvements will be slow more people would be working in 2011 than they did in 2010. The report released Friday indicated the unemployment fell to 9.4 percent in December 2010, its lowest [...]

Job openings have nearly doubled in the past year, an increase of an estimated 2 million job postings from December 1, 2009 to December 1, 2010. Various sources including the Wall Street Journal are reporting a significant increase in job postings, numbers jumped from 2.7 million to 4.7 million jobs in just one year. Automatic [...]

The Starbucks logo and its signature siren are getting a makeover. The largest coffee company in the world revealed its new logo Wednesday. It drops the company brand name that surrounds the sea maiden icon and incorporates a few other small changes, including a milder green tone, removing the black background. The makeover gives her [...]

Taxpayers will have an extra three days to file their taxes due to Emancipation Day. This year, April 15 falls on Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in Washington, D. C. Taxes for 2010 should be filed by April 18, 2011 to avoid penalty. According to law, holidays observed by the District of Columbia impacts tax deadlines [...]