VOL. 38 | NO. 18 | Friday, May 2, 2014
NEWSMAKERS
Four Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorneys have been recognized by Managing Intellectual Property magazine as 2014 “IP Stars.” The star attorneys are nominated by their peers and in-house counsel.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
While reports of the death of corporate websites have been exaggerated, there’s no denying traditional sites are experiencing significant traffic declines.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
There is no better propellant for a market than low expectations. The S&P 500 has gained roughly 3.5 percent during this earnings season as expectations recalibrated with reality.
I SWEAR
Dear Judge Vic, Do you believe in hiding messages in a crossword puzzle – like for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and such? Curious.”
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
The Easter Bunny has come and gone for another year. I hope all of you had as wonderful an Easter as my family and I did.
HEALTH CARE
Patients who use medical marijuana for pain and other chronic symptoms can take an unwanted hit: Insurers don't cover the treatment, which costs as much as $1,000 a month.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota chalked up a record annual profit and sales above 10 million vehicles for the first time, but forecast Thursday a slower year ahead as the momentum from a weak yen fades.
DETROIT (AP) — Nine million parts. That's what General Motors needs to repair millions of cars it has recalled since Feb. 7.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Snapchat has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived customers about the disappearing nature of messages sent through its service and collected users' contacts without telling them or asking permission.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the Fed's bond holdings will likely remain at high levels for up to eight years after it starts raising short-term interest rates.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 26,000 last week to 319,000, the latest sign that the job market is slowly improving.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged higher Thursday as investors assessed the latest batch of company earnings reports. There was also encouraging news on hiring as the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits is in decline.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government-controlled mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted solid earnings for the January-March period as the U.S. housing market continued to recover. Gains over recent quarters have enabled the companies to fully repay their taxpayer aid after being rescued by the government in 2008.
The price of oil declined Thursday but remained above $100 a barrel after China's monthly trade data showed subdued imports by the world's largest crude consumer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages this week fell for a second straight week as the spring home-buying season has gotten off to a slow start.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is expanding its Sunday package delivery service to 15 more cities across the country, including Philadelphia, New Orleans and Dallas.
BEIJING (AP) — Alibaba, the e-commerce giant planning a blockbuster share sale in the U.S., shook up China's vast but sleepy retailing industry by popularizing online shopping. Now it and China's other Internet companies are mounting challenges in areas from banking to broadcasting.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon pleas for flexibility in keeping the military ready to fight with less money were largely ignored as a Republican-led House panel kept older weapons alive and preserved generous personnel benefits.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam says he's concerned that an effort by some fellow Republicans to oust three incumbent state Supreme Court justices in August could hurt the prospects of a separate constitutional amendment on judicial selection that goes before voters two months later.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman said Wednesday that a report showing the state's high school seniors' below-average performance in math and reading is partially due to them not being exposed to recent education changes that have more rigorous standards.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A coalition that advocated for supermarket wine sales in Tennessee is now shifting its focus to passing local referendums to make the law change a reality for communities around Tennessee.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top health insurance companies told members of Congress Wednesday that more than 80 percent of people who've signed up under the president's new health care law have gone on to pay their premiums — a necessary step for the enrollment figures touted by the Obama administration to hold up.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says hospitals are becoming safer for patients due to a quality improvement partnership between industry and federal agencies.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Alibaba Group, the king of e-commerce in China, is dangling a deal that could turn into one of the biggest IPOs in history.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says there's no need to tell owners of recalled General Motors cars to stop driving them.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Soothing words from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen helped pull the stock market out of a morning slump Wednesday. But Internet companies and Whole Foods Market plunged, taking the Nasdaq down.
The price of oil rose above $100 a barrel on Wednesday on a surprise decline in U.S. supplies and the continuing conflict in Ukraine.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nancy Strumwasser, a high school teacher from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, always thought she'd have two children. But the layoffs that swept over the U.S. economy around the time her son was born six years ago helped change her mind. Though she and her husband, a market researcher, managed to keep their jobs, she fears they won't be so fortunate next time.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that the U.S. economy is improving but noted that the job market remains "far from satisfactory" and inflation is still below the Fed's target rate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. productivity fell in the first quarter while labor costs rose, reflecting the economic slowdown caused at the start of the year by harsh winter weather.
TUESDAY, MAY 6
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Tennessee state senator who compared the federal health care law to the forced transportation of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust appeared to make light of the firestorm about his comments this week in a blog post on Tuesday.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Distilling Co. is selling its brands including Collier and McKeel Tennessee Whiskey to California-based North Coast Spirits.
NASHVILLE (AP) — If you're considering donating money to a special cause this year, now may be one of the easiest times to do it.
AUTO INDUSTRY
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Chrysler Group wants to expand its sales with new vehicles — including a plug-in hybrid minivan and a new small Jeep SUV — and a more aggressive effort to differentiate its brands.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 60,000 Saturn Aura midsize cars because the automatic transmission shift levers can show the wrong gear, and says it has known about the problem for at least a year.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The University of Michigan says General Motors, Ford and Toyota are among industry partners for an automated vehicle testing site that's designed to simulate a cityscape.
TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a dozen media organizations challenged the government's ban on the use of drones by journalists Tuesday, saying the Federal Aviation Administration's position violates First Amendment protections for news gathering.
NEW YORK (AP) — Add hackers to the long list of things that give CEOs insomnia.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing lower following weaker earnings from U.S. companies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rebounded to the second highest level on record, led by strong gains in sales of aircraft, autos and farm goods.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose at a slightly slower pace in the 12 months that ended in March, a sign that weak sales have begun to restrain the housing market's sharp price gains.
The price of oil held below $100 a barrel amid concern over clashes between pro-Russian insurgents and Ukrainian government troops and expectations of another rise in U.S. crude stockpiles.
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Office Depot is planning to close at least 400 U.S. stores, as its merger with OfficeMax resulted in an overlap of retail locations that can be consolidated.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook wants to increase its advertising and get more clicks on all kinds of ads. It believes tapping into the lucrative small business market will help it achieve those goals.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — When a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $119 million for copying features of the iPhone, it was latest chapter in the worldwide legal fighting between the top two smartphone companies.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans controlling the House unveiled legislation on Tuesday that proposes a huge cut to a transportation grant program championed by President Barack Obama that funds road and bridge projects, light rail networks, port construction and bike paths.
MONDAY, MAY 5
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A state Senator's blog post likening the insurance requirement under President Barack Obama's health care law to the forced deportation of Jews during the Holocaust drew swift condemnation Monday from leaders of both parties in Tennessee.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Thanks to her friends in country music, Miranda Lambert leads the Country Music Television nominations by pairing with her husband Blake Shelton, her girl group Pistol Annies and good friend Keith Urban.
STATEWIDE
MURFREESBORO (AP) — State Rep. Joe Carr describes himself on his campaign website as a farmer and small businessman, but a financial disclosure form filed on Friday shows most of Carr's income last year came from his salary and per diem allowances as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has clarified how restitution must be computed in mortgage fraud cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute over what kind of explanation local officials must provide when denying an application to build a cell phone tower.
AUTO INDUSTRY
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett says General Motors' new CEO would do a great job running any business, and she is the best person to handle the company's recall problems.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. service firms grew last month at the fastest pace since August as new orders and sales grew, adding to evidence that the economy is picking up after a slow start to the year.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing slightly higher as enthusiasm about an improving U.S. service sector outweighed concerns about China.
The price of oil fell slightly Monday, after a report showed a fourth month of contraction in China's manufacturing sector.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target's massive data breach has now cost the company's CEO his job.
FRIDAY, MAY 2
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The number of Tennesseans signing up under the federal health insurance exchange nearly doubled in March, the last month of open enrollment for coverage.
Blue or red, a majority of states have exceeded their health care sign-up targets under President Barack Obama's law — something that would have been hard to imagine after last fall's botched rollout of insurance markets.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LORDSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — General Motors says it is investing $50 million at the northeast Ohio plant that builds the popular Chevrolet Cruze.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. car buyers came out of hibernation in April to spend on pickup trucks and SUVs, fueling an auto sales rebound that analysts expect to last the rest of the year.
TECHNOLOGY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft is releasing a security update for Internet Explorer that closes a gap that allowed attackers to take complete control of a computer. It also issued the update to Windows XP users, despite dropping support for the older operating system last month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday settled a lawsuit against eBay that accused the company of anticompetitive practices in the recruitment and hiring of skilled employees.
COURTS
ST. LOUIS (AP) — From male-only corporate jets to guys' golf outings and hunting trips, Francine Katz says her time in the Anheuser-Busch executive suite was rife with exclusion, intentional slights and outright discrimination. But it wasn't until the King of Beers' 2008 sale to Belgian brewer InBev in a hostile takeover that she says she realized the boy's club atmosphere was costing her millions in salary and bonuses.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a robust 288,000 jobs in April, the most in two years, the strongest evidence to date that the economy is picking up after a brutal winter slowed growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories advanced strongly in March for a second month while demand in a key category that signals business investment plans increased by the largest amount in more than a year. The strength was further evidence that the economy was rebounding after a harsh winter.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ending slightly lower as corporate earnings come in mixed, overcoming enthusiasm about a pickup in hiring last month.
The price of oil rose Friday as a report showed a big gain in new jobs in the U.S. But gains were tempered by ongoing concerns about record oil supplies.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate supporters of the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline have introduced legislation authorizing its immediate construction and say they expect the measure will come to a vote in the coming days.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is asking Congress to pass new privacy laws that would add more safeguards for Americans' data and provide more protections for emails sought in the course of a law enforcement investigation.