Ceridian reports hacker attack: A hacker attack at Bloomington-based Ceridan Corp., a payroll processing firm, may have exposed private data for 27,000 employees from 1,900 companies nationwide. The hacker gained access to, and has potentially revealed, the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and bank accounts of the employees. In a letter to affected employees, Ceridian said the hacker broke into the Internet payroll system Dec. 22 and 23. Read full story

Target January sales increase 0.5 percent: Target Corp.’s same-store sales increased 0.5 percent in January and that its January results were in line with the company’s forecast. The Minneapolis-based discount retailer now has posted back-to-back monthly same-store sales increases, following declines in 16 of the previous 17 months. Read full story

Ameriprise’s Q4 beats estimates: Ameriprise Financial’s posted fourth-quarter earnings that were well above analysts’ expectations. The company reported after the market closed Wednesday that it had income attributable to Ameriprise of $237 million in the quarter, a swing from its loss of $369 million in the same quarter a year ago. Read full story

Polaris Industries acquires Swiss engine designer: Polaris Industries announced Wednesday that it bought a division of a Swiss engine design company. The Medina-based power sports equipment manufacturer bought the power sports division of Swissauto, which operates out of Burgdorf, Switzerland and has about 15 employees. Read full story