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Business Agenda

Business Agenda

Business Agenda reports on what's going on at businesses in Minnesota. Business Agenda provides brief, quick-reading items about important companies in Minnesota and the people who work at those firms.

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Why Steve Jobs idolized Robert Noyce

By David Clark Scott | 12/13/11
His role as co-inventor of the microchip and co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductors and Intel Corp. alone made him worthy of Monday's Google doodle homage. But Noyce was also a father figure to many key Silicon Valley startups, including Jobs.
Business Agenda

Can Europe's bold plan avert global recession?

By Mark Trumbull | 12/12/11
A move by European nations to more closely unite their fiscal policies raised hopes that attempts to address the continent's debt crisis won't devolve into chaos.
Business Agenda

Spam email hits three-year low – but targeted attacks up

By Mark Clayton | 12/09/11
Spam still accounted for 70 percent of the 48 billion e-mail messages sent each day. But overall spam levels hit a three-year low — well below the 90 percent rate reported in 2010.
Business Agenda

The euro zone's real crisis: weak leadership

By Ken Maguire | 12/08/11
If successful, the leaders of France and Germany will be hailed as saviors. But will this really be their finest hour? Many political observers are pessimistic.
Business Agenda

Investment capital: the rise of 'angel' investors

By Margaret Price | 12/07/11
While the venture-capital industry continues to consolidate, making it hard for some entrepreneurs to get investment capital, angel investments are on the rise.
Business Agenda

Germany's Merkel takes hard line on fixes for eurozone debt crisis

By Michael Steininger | 12/05/11
Some eurozone states are calling for the European Central Bank to be a strategic tool to save member states from defaulting — the U.S. position — while others, most notably Germany, are resisting such demands.
Business Agenda

A euro zone breakup: Will it wreck the global economy?

By Thomas Mucha | 11/30/11
If you're worried about the sturm und drang happening this week in Europe, you are not alone. The European Union, after all, is the world's largest economic bloc.
Business Agenda

As Cyber Monday approaches, Black Friday sets new records

By Brad Knickerbocker | 11/28/11
Black Friday this year appears to have set records for consumer frenzy — and not just in fisticuffs, pepper spray, and mall parking lot rage.
Business Agenda

Debt supercommittee: the Grinch that stole the Christmas stock rally

By Ron Scherer | 11/22/11
Europe’s continuing debt problemsand the inability of congressional leaders to reach an agreement on ways to cut the U.S. budget deficit are causing angst on Wall Street.
Business Agenda

Europe debt crisis spreads to stronger economies

By Jason Walsh | 11/18/11
Observers characterize the continued turmoil over the European debt crisis as a "contagion" that has now spread well beyond Europe's weaker economies.
Business Agenda

Is Black Friday becoming Black Thursday?

By Schuyler Velasco | 11/16/11
Move over, Walmart. Toys “R” Us just did you one hour better, opening even earlier on Thanksgiving night.
Business Agenda

Walmart's Black Friday ad out earlier than ever, launching shopping frenzy

By Schuyler Velasco | 11/14/11
The early Walmart announcement is just the latest in a trend of stores getting an earlier and earlier start to the Black Friday rush. Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic are first-timers.
Business Agenda

Greece debt crisis: Who is Lucas Papademos?

By Arthur Bright | 11/10/11
In an effort to right Greece's course amid the ongoing European debt crisis, former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos has been named interim prime minister.
Business Agenda

Why Congress is suddenly finding common ground on jobs bill

By Gail Russell Chaddock | 11/09/11
A divided Congress will attempt to shed its “do nothing” moniker by passing a small piece of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill this week.
Business Agenda

Greece cobbles together interim government; Italy teeters

By Robert Marquand | 11/08/11
At the top of today's agenda at a Brussels economic meeting, alongside the Greek bailout deal, is a set of measures to stem the euro crisis from spreading to Italy and Spain.
Business Agenda

Why Bank Transfer Day actually helped banks

By David Grant | 11/07/11
While consumers will benefit from moving funds to credit unions, banks, too, will be better off because they are getting rid of their least-profitable or not-profitable clients.
Business Agenda

Fed's Ben Bernanke 'dissatisfied' with economy, unemployment rate

By Ron Scherer | 11/03/11
By Ron Scherer, Christian Science Monitor | Thursday, Nov. 3 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Occupy Wall Street protesters: I’m as frustrated as you are about the economy.
Business Agenda

Solyndra probe widens as White House orders new review

By Brad Knickerbocker | 10/31/11
The Obama administration has ordered an independent review of loans made by the Energy Department to energy companies — a clear response to the controversial and now-bankrupt Solyndra Inc. solar energy company.
Business Agenda

Which GOP flat tax plan is fairest of them all?

By Ron Scherer | 10/27/11
Three Republican presidential candidates have put forward flat tax plans so far, each with its own twists. All, however, would probably lead to less revenue for the U.S. government and mean big spending cuts.
Business Agenda

McRib is back ... along with unicorns, Viking accountants

By Laurent Belsie | 10/26/11
It’s a digital game called “The Quest for the Golden McRib." Apparently, McDonald’s is trying to convince a new generation of youngsters to try the McRib.
Business Agenda

Forest 'roadless rule': Environmental victory or U.S. job-killer?

By Patrik Jonsson | 10/24/11
Critics see a Clinton-era executive rule protecting national forests from new roads — the 'roadless rule' — as a job-killing block on access to the country's natural resources.

 
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