VOL. 38 | NO. 36 | Friday, September 5, 2014
REALTY CHECK
Hardly a day goes by that a residential real estate broker is not asked: “When will it end?”
REAL ESTATE
Top July 2014 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
TENNESSEE TITANS
What exactly does it say about the Tennessee Titans that, after they made their own cut to 53 players, they were still sifting through the scrap heap of other teams’ cuts and making five more moves?
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE – You had to be hiding under a rock not to hear the buzz this week about the University of Tennessee’s football team.
NEWSMAKERS
Edward D. Lanquist Jr., managing shareholder at Waddey Patterson, has been selected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Your brand is more than your logo. In fact, customers view brands through three distinct lenses – verbal, visual and experiential.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
Movements between the dollar, euro, and yen profoundly impact global flows of goods and capital. Given recent language and policy shifts from the US Federal Reserve (FED), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ), let’s re-examine global currency trends.
CAREER CORNER
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel as part of the Memphis Urban League Young Professional’s 2014 Empowerment Conference. We spoke on the topic of “Stand Out in the Crowd.”
I SWEAR
In the spring of 2002, I coded – for the first and, I hope, only time in my life. That’s my story and ... I was sticking to it, until I told it in the company of a med school cardiologist a few weeks afterward. He interrupted and said, “You died.”
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Warm weather, cool food. We are in the heat of the summer – one of the hottest on record for our little town – so other than ice cream and watermelon, here are a few recipes to keep you and the kitchen from heating up.
COURTS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam plans to preside over an investiture ceremony for Sharon Lee as chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court in Knoxville next week.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose slightly this week but remained near their lows for the year.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Home Depot's data breach could wind up being among the largest ever for a retailer, but that may not matter to its millions of customers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the trend in benefit applications in the past month remained low.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged lower as investors mulled the outlook for interest rates, the latest sanctions against Russia and volatile energy prices. Health care stocks, the year's biggest gainers, fell back. Lululemon, the high-end yoga apparel maker, surged after reporting income that beat expectations.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's highest court has thrown out an appeal by MasterCard against a decision by the bloc's antitrust authority to scrap some of its fees charged to merchants.
NEW YORK (AP) — RadioShack says it may need more capital to help complete its turnaround efforts.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
NASHVILLE AREA
Dollar General is going hostile with its $9.1 billion bid for Family Dollar after its rival repeatedly rejected previous offers.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A metals recycling facility near downtown Nashville has settled a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups who alleged polluted storm water drainage was draining into the Cumberland River.
AUTO INDUSTRY
MARANELLO, Italy (AP) — After more than two decades presiding over one of the biggest and most successful teams in Formula One, Luca Di Montezemolo is stepping down as president of Ferrari.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Brian Sandoval has ordered the Nevada Legislature into a special session to consider $1.3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives for electric car-maker Tesla Motors as part of "an extraordinary opportunity" to seal the deal for its $5 billion battery factory and tens of thousands of jobs he says are needed to recover from the worst economic crisis in state history.
DETROIT (AP) — Honda shared its vision of the hands-free highway commute Tuesday, a car that can safely drive itself on the freeway while the driver's hands are off the wheel.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple is betting that people want to pay with a tap of the phone rather than a swipe of the card.
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — As computerized wristwatches go, the upcoming Apple Watch looks impressive.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing slightly higher as the market breaks a two-day slump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rosemary Anderson could be 81 by the time she pays off her student loans. After struggling with divorce, health problems and an underwater home mortgage, the 57-year-old anticipates there could come a day when her Social Security benefits will be docked to make the payments.
DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday suspended Detroit's bankruptcy trial until next week to give lawyers time to work out the details of a settlement that would satisfy a major creditor that opposed the city's plan to get on its feet again.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Both sides in the gay marriage debate agree on one thing: It's time for the Supreme Court to settle the matter.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Mistakes in Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's office caused 79 bills to become law without his signature and another 67 measures to be backdated to meet constitutional deadlines.
NASHVILLE (AP) - A security audit will be performed on all three of the state's youth development centers after a recent breakout and violence at the facility in Middle Tennessee, according to a preliminary report sent to the governor.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Dan Howell has been sworn in as the new state representative of District 22.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state Court of Appeals on Monday reinstated a defamation lawsuit against Republican state Sen. Stacey Campfield for publishing false information on his blog about a Democratic candidate for the state House in 2008.
TECHNOLOGY
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — For the first time in years, Apple's iPhones weren't the star of the show. Apple unveiled a smartwatch on Tuesday, a wearable device that marks the company's first major entry in a new product category since the iPad's debut in 2010.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — With a thumb swipe on a smartphone, your car one day will be able to drive into a parking deck, find an open spot and back into a space — all by itself.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — In the world of currencies, the dollar is starting to look like a safe home in a tough neighborhood.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. job openings remained near the highest level in 13 years in July, and companies also stepped up hiring that month to the fastest pace in nearly seven years, two signs the job market is slowly healing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The good news is that Americans are saving more than ever for college. The bad news is that the average amount wouldn't come close to getting a person a degree.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell for a second straight day Tuesday as investors were left unimpressed by Apple's latest batch of product announcements.
NEW YORK (AP) — Home Depot confirmed on Monday that its payment systems have been hacked in a data breach that could affect millions of shoppers who used credit and debit cards at its more than 2,000 U.S. and Canadian stores.
NEW YORK (AP) — An Ivy League-educated ex-portfolio manager convicted of enabling his firm to earn more than a quarter-billion dollars through insider trading on a promising Alzheimer's drug trial was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison by a judge who said the "staggering" fraud deserved lengthy incarceration.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
TENNESSEE TITANS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As the final seconds ticked away on the big scoreboards at Arrowhead Stadium, and only a few hundred fans were left in the seats, Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt allowed himself to smile.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Supreme Court justices on Monday heard candidates make their case for the next eight-year term as state attorney general.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Four Tennessee National Guard soldiers have been given the Soldier's Medal for acts of heroism, three of them stemming from a shooting at the Millington Armory last year.
TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is poised to reveal its next big thing in a crucial attempt to prove its technological tastemakers still have the power to mesmerize the masses.
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter is taking its users shopping.
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is giving its MSN news service a crisper look, new lifestyle tools and seamless syncing across devices.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — A retreat in oil and energy stocks pulled the rest of the U.S. stock market mostly lower Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday the Obama administration will decide "in the very near future" what actions it can take to make it less profitable for U.S. companies to shift their legal addresses to other countries.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market has steadily improved by pretty much every gauge except the one Americans probably care about most: Pay.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The corporate executives who decide whether U.S. workers get meaningful raises have a message: Don't expect one anytime soon.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — A national survey says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has dropped 2 cents over the last two weeks, to $3.46, bringing the decline to 25 cents over the last 11 weeks.
ATLANTA (AP) — Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy died early Monday at 93. The billionaire rose from poverty by building a privately held restaurant chain that famously closes every Sunday but drew unwanted attention for the Cathy family's opposition to gay marriage.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's Electrolux is buying the appliances business of General Electric for $3.3 billion, boosting its presence on the North American market, the companies said Monday.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in eight months in August, snapping a streak of robust gains and surprising analysts because recent reports had suggested that the economy was steadily improving.
NEW YORK (AP) — A surge in dividend-rich utility stocks helped push the Standard & Poor's 500 index close to a record Friday.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Family Dollar is rejecting Dollar General's latest acquisition offer, and Dollar Tree says it will now divest as many stores as needed to get antitrust clearance for its deal to buy Family Dollar.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a week of mostly positive economic news, analysts have forecast that the August jobs report being released Friday will show a seventh straight month of solid gains.
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple plans to tighten its online security measures to reduce the chances of its users being victimized by intrusions like the ones that stole nude photos from actress Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Environmentalists, recreational fishermen and people who make their living on the Gulf of Mexico are hailing a federal judge's ruling that could mean $18 billion in additional fines for BP over the nation's worst offshore oil spill.
LONDON (AP) — Europe has gotten another dose of stimulus. But the latest medicine by itself will not bring life to an economy that over the past six years has slid from crisis to crisis.
STATEWIDE
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — The Department of Energy says it plans a probe into a possible security breach at the Y-12 nuclear plant in Oak Ridge.
OILVE BRANCH, Miss. (AP) — Southern Airways Express is expanding regional passenger service from Memphis, Tennessee.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Preliminary statistics show a decrease in the number of Labor Day holiday traffic fatalities in Tennessee this year compared with 2013.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Museum wants photographs of communities across the state and is asking Tennessee residents to submit pictures to be placed on display next month.
TECHNOLOGY
NEW YORK (AP) — Motorola rolled out a circular smartwatch Friday, counting on a more traditional design to win over consumers who have so far shunned other computerized wrist devices.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) — U.S. regulators have approved the first drug in a new class of cancer medicines that work by stimulating the immune system, a Merck drug developed for treating deadly skin cancer.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Borrowing a Republican idea, a group including former senior Obama and Clinton advisers is unveiling a novel proposal to let states take the lead in controlling health costs.
NEW YORK (AP) — A slump in oil prices weighed on the stock market Thursday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its third straight loss.
AUTO INDUSTRY
YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Your car soon will do more to help avoid a crash. As for one day leaving all the driving to the vehicle while you relax in back, don't get your hopes up.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — A collection of outlaw country singer Waylon Jennings' belongings will go on public auction this fall, including a rare 1958 motorcycle originally owned by Buddy Holly and locks of Willie Nelson's braided hair.
TECHNOLOGY
BERLIN (AP) — Visit any tourist destination, and you're bound to see individuals and groups taking photos of themselves for sharing on social media. It's a declaration to the world that they were there.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Police say they've captured one of the six teens that were still on the run after a mass breakout from a troubled Nashville detention center.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government ran a lower budget deficit this August than a year ago, remaining on track to record the lowest deficit for the entire year since 2008.