Business and Finance news

New home sales remain near record lows, coming in unchanged in August.
Sales of new homes were flat in August at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 288,000, the second lowest level since the Commerce Department started tracking new home sales in 1963.
Last month, the Commerce Department had reported that sales plunged to a […]

Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies, has agreed to buy ResortQuest for $56 million in a deal that is expected to close in the coming weeks.
In Hawaii, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Wyndham Worldwide’s time share division, has 13 resorts.
With the ResortQuest purchase announced Friday, Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) is expected […]

President Obama announced Friday that he’s appointing Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to a key role crafting the consumer financial protection bureau that was her idea in the first place.
"Getting the agency off the ground is a task that can’t wait," Obama said. Warren "is the best person to stand this agency up…it only […]

Todd Mansfield has resigned as chairman and CEO at real estate firm Crosland and will be replaced by Steve Mauldin, formerly the company’s chief financial officer.
“Todd Mansfield has been an invaluable leader for our company over the last 11 years,” says John Crosland Jr., chairman-emeritus of Crosland. “He successfully led Crosland’s transition from family management […]

Cell Therapeutics Inc. said it plans to appeal the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision regarding the Seattle biotech's pixantrone drug for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).
Earlier this year, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously recommended against approval of Cell Therapeutics' lymphoma drug pixantrone and recommended that the company conduct another trial of pixantrone […]

The former head of Quellos Group LLC hedge fund and his tax attorney have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and both face up to eight years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.
Under the terms of their plea agreements, former Quellos CEO Jeffrey I. Greenstein, 48, and former Quellos tax attorney Charles H. Wilk, 51, […]

National Fuel Gas Co. said it has sold off its landfill gas business and has raised its anticipated earnings guidance for 2010.
The completion of the sale to Toro Energy GP II LLC, Toro Energy Holdings II LLC and an undisclosed buyer is expected by Sept 30. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Williamsville-based national Fuel […]

An independent report commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission finds that PG&E smart meters are "accurately recording electric usage" and are being "accureately utilized in customer billing."
The report, by Structure Consulting Group, was commissioned in response to thousands of complaints from PG&E customers who blamed smart meters for higher bills.
The report echoed previous findings […]