Business and Finance news

Republicans won a smashing victory in this month’s U.S. national elections; no issue resonated more with the party’s base than President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation.
The House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” vowed “to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care with common sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.” The […]

Consumers in the U.S. gained confidence in November for the first time in three months, raising the odds that an improving job market and increasing wages and stock prices will lift spending.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sentiment index rose to 69.3, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News […]

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 […]

Gerald Pace, who has been general counsel at North Milwaukee State Bank for three years, will become the chief financial officer of Milwaukee Public Schools.
Pace previously was a public finance associate with a Milwaukee law firm and served as CFO with a large Ohio school district, the bank said Friday.
North Milwaukee State Bank president and […]

Once upon a time, there was job security in a government job.
That’s no longer the case. The layoff ax has hit public sector payrolls with force as states wrestle with massive budget shortfalls. Since August 2008, some 231,000 state and local government jobs have disappeared — 22,000 last month alone, according to federal data. […]

In the middle of the 2001 debt crisis, Argentines stormed their nation’s banks to get their money out. To stop the stampede, the government imposed controls that allowed them to take out only $250 at a time and limited withdrawals for overseas trips to $1,000.
Greece, in the middle of its own financial crisis, is […]

Fitch Ratings has assigned its AAA rating to Mecklenburg County’s $116 million in general obligation refunding bonds, series 2010.
The debt is slated for sale on Feb. 23.
The outlook is stable.
Fitch cites the county’s broad, diverse economic base, solid reserve levels and debt policies business card.
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Durham medical device company TransEnterix has named a medical device industry veteran chief financial officer.
David Gill's experience includes work as CFO of several companies, including NxStage Medical (Nasdaq: NXTM), CTI Molecular Imaging, and Novoste Corp. (Nasdaq: NOVT). CTI Molecular Imaging was acquired in 2005 by Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. for $1 billion.
Gill has led […]

Alcoa Inc. on Monday reported a smaller net loss for the fourth quarter, though revenue shrank without improvement in its aerospace, commercial building and gas turbine businesses.
The company, based in Pittsburgh, reported a net loss of $277 million, or 28 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.19 billion, or $1.49, […]

Stifel Financial Co. will speed up its repurchase of auction rate securities under a settlement reached with Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. The settlement will bring earlier relief for hundreds of Stifel customers who have been stuck with securities that they can’t sell.
The settlement also ends a nasty, public spat between St. […]