Business and Finance news

LONDON

Workers at a Target store in New York voted against joining the country’s largest retail union Friday night, but the union said it would contest the results and demand a new election, alleging that the company illegally intimidated the workers.
Both sides said the workers at Target’s Valley Stream store voted 137-85 against unionization. A “yes” […]

Authorities in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai say they are easing fees that sparked trucker protests and disrupted the flow of goods through the country’s busiest port.
A government spokesman told official Xinhua News Agency on Saturday that authorities lowered some fees Friday and removed others that had been imposed without prior notice.
Hundreds of drivers parked […]

Inflation spooked the nation in the early 1980s. It surged and kept rising until it topped 13 percent.
These days, inflation is much lower. Yet to many Americans, it feels worse now. And for a good reason: Their income has been even flatter than inflation.
Back in the ’80’s, the money people made typically more than made […]

Shareholders of preppy clothing seller J.Crew Group Inc. have approved a $3 billion deal to be taken private by two investment firms.
The $43.50-per-share buyout by private-equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners is expected to close on or near next Monday. J. Crew CEO Millard (Mickey) Drexler, the former Gap Inc. chief credited […]

President Barack Obama’s budget plan would cut $100 billion from Pell Grants and other higher education programs over a decade through belt-tightening and use the savings to keep the maximum college financial aid award at $5,550, an administration official said.
Nearly $90 billion of the projected savings would be achieved through two changes, said the official, […]

European Central Bank Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell criticized governments for failing to fulfill their obligations in the monetary union, saying they must do a better job if the central bank is to guarantee the euro’s stability.
“The crisis is clear evidence that parts of the common foundation of the economic and monetary union have […]

Stocks held onto gains Wednesday afternoon, with the Dow and S&P finishing at their highest levels since the summer of 2008, after the Fed kept rates steady and left its bond-buying plan alone.
The Dow finished up 8 points, or 0.1%, at 11,985.44, the highest close since June 19, 2008. Earlier in the session, the […]

PARIS

The highest inflation-adjusted yields in the world’s most-developed bond markets are appeasing investors waiting for President Barack Obama to begin reducing the more than $1.2 trillion U.S. budget deficit.
Treasury 10-year notes pay 1.83 percent after subtracting consumer price increases, compared with 1.39 percent for German bunds and 1.1 percent for Japanese government bonds. Gilts […]