Target earnings disappoint, retailer cuts full-year forecast

Target Corp., like many other retail rivals, was laid low in its first fiscal quarter by cold spring temperatures that discouraged seasonal shopping and caused the chain to underperform by even its own metrics.

Bernanke warns against scaling back Fed stimulus too soon

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Wednesday that the central bank could start scaling back its stimulus program in the next few months, but warned against acting too quickly and harming the still-weak economic recovery.

Fed's Dudley says decision on stimulus pullback still months away

WASHINGTON — A top Federal Reserve official said Wednesday that a decision on reducing the central bank's unprecedented economic stimulus efforts still is three to four months away as policymakers first must determine if the recovery is strong enough to handle such a pullback.

Top 10 biggest Southern California companies

Here are the biggest public companies in Southern California, based on revenue data from Bloomberg.

Airbnb rentals ruled illegal in New York City

A judge has ruled that Airbnb, the popular online service that allows homeowners and apartment dwellers to offer their residences as temporary rentals, is illegal in New York City.

Herbalife chooses PricewaterhouseCoopers as new auditor

Herbalife Ltd. has chosen PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent auditor, ending a nearly two-month effort to replace KPMG, which resigned after a senior partner was accused of insider trading.

JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon survives vote to strip him of chairmanship

A JPMorgan Chase & Co. shareholder proposal to split the bank's chairman and chief executive roles -- now both held by Jamie Dimon -- failed to win a majority's support Tuesday.

Home Depot boosts profit, sales as housing market improves

Spring was waiting in the wings longer than expected, but the recuperating housing market was enough to boost Home Depot Inc.’s first-quarter earnings above Wall Street’s expectations.

Best Buy earnings slump on turnaround costs, Super Bowl shift

Best Buy Co. reported a net loss and sliding sales for its first quarter, weakness that the electronics retailer blamed on the costs of its ongoing turnaround and calendar shifts that affected the key Super Bowl selling day.

$190-million mansion in Connecticut tops Realtor.com listings

The thing about "vanity pricing" is … it does provide exposure. There’s nothing quite like planting a for-sale sign at the top of the price spectrum to draw notice.

SACRAMENTO -- Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim is punching back at an advocacy group that's been criticizing him across the country and on the steps of the California Capitol building.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details

Baby boomers should be reviewing their retirement portfolios once a year and tweaking or re-balancing them, if necessary, says Delia Fernandez, a fee-only certified financial planner.

The first Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner to fly under the United Airlines name since a mass grounding ordered by the government earlier this year has landed at Chicago.

Because everyone loves a cool map, Point2 Homes has crunched some Credit Suisse data to show where the “property millionaires” are distributed across the state and nation.

Being a major retailer is a challenge, considering shoppers' fleeting attention spans, tight margins, complex supply chains, stiff competition and shifting regulations. But these companies encountered more than the average difficulties, including labeling faux pas, outspoken executives and bribery allegations.

A San Fernando Valley jeweler pleaded guilty Monday to a conspiracy charge in an insider-trading case and agreed to turn over $1.27 million in stock-trading gains made from tips allegedly provided by a then partner at accounting giant KPMG.

NEW YORK -- Wall Street will be watching Ben Bernanke's testimony before Congress on Wednesday, hoping the Federal Reserve chairman will offer clues as to when the central bank may begin turning off its spigot of easy money.

That deep dish pizza or juicy burger from the restaurant you’re just too busy (or lazy) to drive to yourself could be within reach, as major online takeout ordering services Seamless North America and GrubHub Inc. move to combine into a single company.

WASHINGTON -- Consumers will help keep economic growth on track this year, as new projections of their spending indicate it will offset the hit to the recovery from the federal government's automatic budget cuts, a panel of economists said Monday.

Sales of homes in foreclosure by Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. ground nearly to a halt after regulators revised their orders on treatment of troubled borrowers during the 60 days before they lose their homes.

Virgin America is making it easier to befriend other passengers at 35,000 feet.

The pressure continues to mount on the Transportation Security Administration to prohibit passengers from bringing small pocket knives into the cabins of commercial planes.

Most of us will put up with a cramped middle seat on a short flight. But on trips more than three hours long, we are ready to crack open our wallets and pay for a window or aisle seat. 

Wanted: one rock star.

Billionaire Larry Ellison has hired UC San Diego energy expert Byron Washom to help fulfill his vision of sustainable energy for the Hawaiian island of Lanai, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The owner of St. John’s Health Center intends to sell the storied Santa Monica hospital to Catholic chain Providence Health & Services.

State and federal authorities cleared the way Friday for Tesoro Corp. to buy BP's Carson refinery, the Arco brand and other assets, and the Texas oil giant agreed to California restrictions on prices, jobs and retrofits to protect the environment.

Across-the-board cuts in the federal budget will force the Department of Housing and Urban Development to close its offices on May 24 and possibly six other days.

The retirement crisis is deepening, with recent generations of Americans less financially prepared for their golden years than their parents or grandparents, according to a new study.

Hydraulic fracturing, the process that involves shooting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground to crack shale formations and unlock oil and gas, would become more difficult under new rules proposed by the Interior Department.

After a few robust months, the pace of hiring in California slowed in April as employers concerned about the economy cut back on adding new employees.

If you travel light, American Airlines will reward you by letting you board your flight early.

With community colleges turning students away for lack of available slots, Latinos are projected to face disproportionately higher workforce training gaps, a study released Friday found.

California’s pace of job creation slowed in April, as employers added 10,300 jobs in April, nevertheless pushing the state’s unemployment rate down to 9% from 9.4% the month before.

A white-and-black space plane, very much resembling the now-retired space shuttle, was trucked to a NASA flight center in the Mojave Desert to begin a round of testing to see if it has the right stuff to carry astronauts one day.

After two incidents in which engines shut down in mid-flight, Boeing Co. and General Electric Co. have warned 10 airlines of a possible mechanical problem with 777 passenger jets.

Airports will be crowded this summer and empty cabin seats extremely rare as Americans take to the skies in numbers that are expected to edge closer to the pre-recession peak.

Mortgage rates rose this week, with a widely watched survey reporting that lenders were offering 30-year fixed-rate loans at an average of 3.51%, up from a near-record low of 3.35% two weeks ago.

Abercrombie & Fitch Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries has finally addressed criticism regarding controversial comments he made during a 2006 interview that have resurfaced and gone viral over the last week.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported slight upticks in revenue and profit in its first quarter, but the retail behemoth still missed Wall Street’s expectations and watched its stock suffer in morning trading.

WASHINGTON --  Housing starts dropped 16.5% in April to the lowest level since November, but permits for future construction rose to a nearly five-year high, providing mixed signals for the red-hot real estate market.

WASHINGTON -- Initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to a six-week high of 360,000 last week after declining to a post-recession low this month, the Labor Department said Thursday.

A vast office park in Warner Center — the white-collar business hub of the San Fernando Valley — has sold for an estimated $80 million to investors who see it as central to an evolving and increasingly dense commercial and residential community.

Skincare giant Murad Inc. will relocate its global headquarters to another location in El Segundo in a $35-million move.

The government of Kuwait bought a modest but expensive office building in downtown Beverly Hills where the country is expected to move its local consulate.

California’s housing market surged last month as prices jumped from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The median home price in the San Francisco Bay Area moved above the half-million-dollar threshold last month — a sign of just how hot that market is getting.

Baggage fees are still a source of anger, but passengers are more accepting of them, according to a survey on airline satisfaction.

Home-builder confidence improved in May as the housing market showed signs of strength in spring.

Boeing Co. is working to regain confidence in its beleaguered 787 Dreamliner jet by giving people with safety concerns a chance to participate in a live video chat with the plane’s chief product engineer.

WASHINGTON -- Big drops in the cost of food and energy pushed wholesale prices down 0.7% in April, the largest monthly decline in more than three years, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

In the on-again, off-again world of real estate listings, a home once owned by crooner Frank Sinatra that surfaced five years ago is back – this time priced at $3.995 million. That's $1 million off the 2008 asking price.

WASHINGTON -- The Eurozone economy contracted 0.2% in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter, marking the region's longest recession since its single currency was created in 1999.

About 300 labor-union members and other activists staged a demonstration Tuesday to protest the potential sale of the Los Angeles Times to the billionaire politically conservative Koch brothers.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, having chastised bank regulators for failing to put Wall Street giants on trial, is demanding to see any analyses that the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission have conducted on the pros and cons of settlements that require no admissions of guilt.

A breakfast burrito is pretty humdrum these days, but do you have any interest in a waffle taco?

SACRAMENTO -- California's economy should grow at a slow but steady pace in the budget year that begins July 1, says an economic forecast contained in Gov. Jerry Brown's revised spending proposal.

Singing on a commercial flight is not illegal but apparently it can get you thrown off a plane if you refuse to stop.

The nation's airline industry continues to rebound from several years of financial calamity, with the top 10  carriers reporting a combined $5.3 billion in profit for 2012.

Home prices in the Southland surged last month and sales reached boom-era levels.

With the Paris Air Show just one month away, European plane-maker Airbus got one step closer to the first flight of its new A350 XWB passenger jet, rolling out one of the aircraft from its paint shop in Toulouse, France.