ALSO

J.C. Penney Co. said it’s offering voluntary early retirement to 1,500, or about 5%, of its management employees and expects to take a $200-million pretax charge later this year to pay for the program. It said it will save about $120 million annually if all 1,500 accept. . . . The AFL-CIO said it is planning to launch a five-city, $5-million TV advertising campaign to win new members and wider public support. . . . Limited Inc. named Robert Bernard president and chief executive of Limited Stores, its chain of women’s clothing stores. Bernard, 46, joined Limited earlier this year as president and chief executive of Cacique, a division of its Intimate Brands unit. Before that, he was president and chief operating officer at closely held J. Crew Group Inc. . . . GS Capital Partners II, an investment fund managed by New York-based Goldman, Sachs & Co., said it agreed to buy Amscan Holdings Inc. for about $315 million in cash and assumed debt. . . . Nordstrom Inc. reported second-quarter net income of $58.6 million, or 76 cents per share, up 30.8% from net income of $44.8 million, or 55 cents, a year ago. . . . Comcast Corp. reported a second-quarter loss from operations of $14.6 million, or 5 cents a share, before a charge, compared with a profit of $17.8 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier.