Business

Weekly U.S. Jobless Aid Applications Dip to 370,000

Associated Press — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:53:10 +0000

WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits changed little last week, signaling modest job growth. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for benefits dipped by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 370,000. Applications have leveled off this month after declining from April’s five-month high of 392,000. The four-week average, a less volatile [...]

How to Be Happier at Work: 3 Tips

Minda Zetlin — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:48:18 +0000

Google's chief happiness officer shares some of the wisdom that has made the company's employees more content and productive.

Collaborating with Your Customers Can Lead to Success

Paul Shread — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:16:53 +0000

Your customers may well be your most important asset, and if you’re not listening to them, you’re likely limiting your company’s growth much more than you think. That’s one of the premises behind “Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works,” a new book by Ash Maurya that looks at customer collaboration [...]

HP’s Missteps Culminate in Loss of 27,000 Jobs

Associated Press — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:55:27 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman has quantified the painful price that must be paid for the missteps of her predecessors as she tries to turn around the Silicon Valley pioneer. The bungling will wipe out 27,000 jobs so HP can save enough money to lift its earnings and invest in the development of [...]

Use Social Media to Boost Your Job Search

Harvard Business Review — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:52:09 +0000

More and more people are finding jobs via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. These media aren’t changing how we look for jobs, they are simply rebooting the traditional habits of successful job hunters and making them easier. To boost your job search: Build a better network. You used to pester people for their business [...]

Are We Witnessing the Death of the Big-Box Store?

Christopher Matthews — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:43 +0000

Best Buy released its first-quarter 2012 earnings this week, and though the numbers beat Wall Street expectations, net income took a tumble — falling 25%, compared with last year. And more than just poor earnings have plagued the nation’s largest retailer of late. Six weeks ago, former CEO Brian Dunn left the company amid allegations [...]

Has Facebook Jinxed the IPO Market for Everyone?

David Futrelle — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:45:19 +0000

Facebook’s post-IPO meltdown has certainly been bad news for investors who got into the stock at its initial price—or higher. Is it also bad news for the IPO market at a whole? Facebook isn’t the first dot-com to see its IPO go blooey. Heck, it wasn’t that long ago we were talking about Groupon’s post-IPO [...]

Euro Crisis: Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed?

Michael Schuman — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:44:09 +0000

Since the start of Europe’s debt crisis in 2009, there has been a steady drumbeat of predictions that the euro is doomed. The problems were too intractable, the debts too large, the political will too feeble. So far, the doomsayers have been wrong. The leaders of Europe have managed to put a bandage here and [...]

Rocket Fuel: The Commercial Space Race Heats Up

Associated Press — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:45:02 +0000

WASHINGTON — A privately built space capsule that’s zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race. The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. [...]

Spain Calls for Help to Lower Borrowing Rates

Associated Press — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:40:20 +0000

BRUSSELS — Worries about Greece’s electoral turmoil and Spain’s spiraling borrowing costs are piling the pressure on European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Wednesday amid renewed market pressure to keep the region’s debt problems from getting worse. Spain’s prime minister warned that his country can’t continue much longer with its current high borrowing rates [...]

Facebook, Wall Street Banks Sued Over Pre-IPO Financial Forecasts

Sam Gustin — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:02:10 +0000

Just days after its controversial IPO, Facebook and its Wall Street bankers have been hit by shareholder lawsuits alleging that the social networking giant and its underwriters concealed the company’s decelerating revenue growth from investors. The lawsuits come amid a growing furor about whether Facebook’s banks selectively disclosed information that gave favored clients an unfair [...]

U.S. Sales of New Homes Rose 3.3 Percent in April

Associated Press — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:40:52 +0000

WASHINGTON — Americans bought more new homes in April, the latest signal that the U.S. housing market is steadily improving. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales increased 3.3 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000. Sales were up in all regions except the South. The median price rose [...]

Pinterest Can Drive Traffic and Sales to Your Website

Paul Shread — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:30:52 +0000

Small business owners have reported big jumps in website traffic and sales thanks to the Pinterest social networking site, so if your business isn’t on there, it probably should be. Businesses that cater to women and offer a visually appealing product are best suited to the fast-growing site, where users can share images, photos and [...]

Small Dairies Go Under as Milk Prices Sink Again

Associated Press — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:10:37 +0000

PLAINFIELD, Vt. — The MacLaren brothers are third-generation dairy farmers, but they will likely be the last in their family. After working all their lives on the hillside farm in Vermont that their grandfather bought in 1939, rising to milk cows at 3 a.m., even in blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, they decided to call it [...]

Turn Obstacles into Assets

Harvard Business Review — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:23:22 +0000

Successful people work with what they have to achieve their goals. This includes surprises, obstacles, and even disappointments. Next time you face a challenge, think about how it can help you.

The Term “Pink Collar” Is Silly And Outdated — Let’s Retire It

Amy Tennery — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:20:23 +0000

You can’t throw a stone around the internet today (if that’s even possible?) without running into the New York Times’ new study on so-called “pink-collar jobs.” The report found that over the last decade more and more men have flocked to traditionally female-dominated career fields like nursing and teaching. Fascinatingly, the study disproves the commonly held belief [...]

Why We’re So Bad At Teaching Entrepreneurship

Cathy Ashmore — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:00:54 +0000

Decades of research have shown that students are very interested in being their own bosses. Unfortunately, the same study found that more than 80% felt they had not learned anything about entrepreneurship in school.

Which Advanced Economy Has the Most Debt?

Christopher Matthews — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:45:54 +0000

The global economy is straining under the weight of more than just public sector debt. In the developed world, consumers, financial institutions, and other corporations have each accumulated unprecedented levels of debt -- and how that total debt is managed will ultimately determine the economic fate of the global economy going forward.

Facebook IPO Furor: Feds Probing Deal Over Insider Bank Warnings

Sam Gustin — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:45:34 +0000

Facebook's Wall Street investment banks warned top clients of new doubts about the social network's financial prospects just days before the company's IPO, according to a series of reports that emerged Tuesday.

Regulators Probe Bank’s Role in Facebook IPO

Associated Press — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:37:52 +0000

(WASHINGTON) — Regulators are examining whether Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that shepherded Facebook through its highly publicized stock offering last week, selectively informed clients of an analyst’s negative report about the company before the stock started trading. Rick Ketchum, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-policing body for the securities industry, [...]