Daily Herald business

Stocks ended mixed Friday after the Commerce Department reported that personal spending, incomes and savings all rose in May. What troubled investors was that the savings rate soared to 6.9 percent, a 15-year high, while spending rose by a more modest 0.3 percent.

Rising commodity prices pushed European markets higher on Friday, but gains were trimmed ahead of an expected weak opening on Wall Street.

Fans eager to attend the Cubs-White Sox games at U.S. Cellular this weekend are likely surfing the online ticket re-sellers, where thousands of tickets are still available and at lower prices compared to last year.

A federal magistrate judge set bond at $500,000 Thursday for Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford but delayed her order until Friday to give prosecutors time to appeal her decision.

U.S. safety officials said Thursday they are investigating two incidents in which airspeed and altitude indications in the cockpits of Airbus A330 planes may have malfunctioned.

LaGuardia Airport is the smallest of the three major airports in the New York area, with just two main runways. Planes often sit in long lines on the tarmac, waiting their turn to take off.

Michigan has won the high-stakes competition with two other states to build General Motors Corp.'s next-generation subcompact car, a person briefed on the decision said Thursday.

OfficeMax, a provider of office supplies and services, Thursday announced that it has been named the 2009 Corporate Partner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. NAWBO recognized OfficeMax for advancing women-owned businesses.

Buying sports tickets from an individual is risky. Buying tickets online through a re-seller can provide some level of security for consumers, especially if the re-seller is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers, which is managed in Wheaton. Here are some do's and don'ts when buying online:

Zurich, a leading property and casualty insurance provider and Mike Foley, CEO of Zurich North America Commercial, will receive the 2009 Jane Addams Legacy Award from Jane Addams Hull House Association.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Julius Genachowski as head of the Federal Communications Commission and Robert McDowell for a second FCC term.

The Bank of England warned Friday that Britain's banks are far from getting a clean bill of health despite signs of improvement in the economy and in financial markets -- and said that no bank should be too big to fail.

Swiss bank UBS AG said Thursday it expects to raise 3.8 billion Swiss francs ($3.5 billion) through a new share issue.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. said operations at its Lemont refinery were unaffected by a fire on a conveyor belt that carries petroleum coke to Oxbow Corp.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the world's fourth-largest insurance broker, acquired Nourse Insurance Brokers Inc. to expand sales of coverage to businesses and wealthy individuals on the U.S. West Coast.

Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, "repositioned" itself to compete for government work in anticipation that some programs would be reduced or eliminated.

Abbott Laboratories lost its appeals court bid to stop generic-drug makers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Novartis AG's Sandoz unit and Lupin Ltd. from selling copies of the antibiotic Omnicef.

Sixty-eight U.S. congressmen, including St. Charles Democrat Bill Foster, and Illinois Republicans Aaron Schock and John Shimkus, released a letter Monday to the Treasury Department's Auto Task Force, asking the group to help reverse the closing of GM and Chrysler auto dealerships.

A group representing Chrysler dealers says it's in talks with the automaker it hopes of getting it to scale back its plans to terminate the franchise agreements of about a quarter of its dealers.

Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. auto insurer, and Warren Buffett's Geico Corp. are re-entering the Massachusetts car market after the state deregulated pricing for the coverage.