Thursday, January 22, 2015
American Express to cut 4,000+ jobs
NEW YORK
American Express said Wednesday it plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs this year, about 6 percent of its total workforce.
The New York-based charge-card company said the cuts are part of a companywide efficiency drive. The announcement came as it reported an 11 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.
The cuts will span the company’s U.S. and international operations and will take place over the course of the year, American Express spokeswoman Marina Norville said.
American Express last did mass job cuts in 2013, when it cut 5,400 jobs, mostly in its travel business.
Formaldehyde in e-cigarette vapor?
Using certain electronic cigarettes at high temperature settings could potentially release more formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical, than smoking traditional cigarettes does, new lab tests suggest.
The research does not prove a health risk — it involved limited testing on just one brand of e-cigarettes and was done in test tubes, not people. It also does not mean e-cigarettes are better or worse than regular ones; tobacco smoke contains dozens of things that can cause cancer.
But it does highlight how little is known about the safety of e-cigarettes — battery-powered devices that heat liquid to deliver nicotine in a vapor rather than from burning tobacco.
Tootsie Roll’s CEO Gordon dies at 95
CHICAGO
Melvin Gordon, who helped turn the enduring popularity of the humble Tootsie Roll into a candy empire, has died. He was 95.
The longtime Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. chairman and CEO died Tuesday in Boston after a brief illness, said Brooke Vane, a spokeswoman for the company’s public relations firm. Gordon ran the Chicago-based confectioner for 53 years, overseeing the manufacture of 64 million Tootsie Rolls a day and other sweets including Junior Mints, Charleston Chews and Tootsie Pops.
The penny candy patriarch worked a full schedule until last month, the company said. He was the oldest CEO of a company trading on a major U.S. stock exchange, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Standards target pathogens in poultry
WASHINGTON
A favorite staple of American diets — chicken breasts, legs and wings — could become safer to eat.
Standards proposed Wednesday by the Agriculture Department aim to reduce rates of salmonella and campylobacter, another pathogen that can cause symptoms similar to salmonella, in chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey. The standards would be voluntary but designed to pressure companies to take steps to reduce contamination. The USDA says the proposed standards could reduce raw poultry-related foodborne illnesses by about a quarter, or 50,000 illnesses a year.
Associated Press
Selected local stocks
STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE
Aqua America, .61, 27.38 0.18
Avalon Holdings,2.900.05
Clear Channel, .46 18.69 0.41
Cortland Bancorp, 15.57—0.08
Farmers Nat., .127.80 0.14
First Energy, 1.44, 41.350.39
Fifth/Third, .5217.54—0.54
FirstMerit Corp., .64,16.67 —0.16
First Niles Financial, .32,9.400
FNB Corp., .48,11.89—0.02
General Motors, 1.2033.90—0.03
General Electric, .88,24.050.2
Huntington Bank, .20, 9.76—0.02
JP Morgan Chase, 1.60,55.960.25
Key Corp, .26,12.330.07
LaFarge, 17.32 0.13
Macy’s, 1.25, 64.260.96
Parker Hannifin, 1.92, 122.181.06
PNC, 1.92,84.790.17
RTI Intl. Metals,21.17—0.06
Simon Prop. Grp.,5.20,200.310.68
Stoneridge 12.36 -0.08
Talmer Bank, 12.88—0.12
United Comm. Fin., .04 5.160.08
Selected prices at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Provided by Stifel. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.