Headlines

Wall St. Jumps Almost 500 Points on Geithner Nomination

U.S. stocks surged on Friday to cap another volatile week as investors greeted with relief reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Tim Geithner to be point person at the U.S. Treasury.

Business

Commercial Loan Losses Hurting Insurers

A new wave of loan defaults, this time tied to commercial mortgages, is starting to hit insurance companies and may be contributing to the stock market's woes. Industry players say the insurers' predicament is being worsened by a rule requiring that mortgage assets be valued at current market prices -- a mandate that federal regulators are re-examining.

Auto Industry

Electricity Surrounding The Chevy Volt is Palpable, Even in Park

The Chevy Volt has a lot riding on it. Amid the chaos surrounding carmakers these days, the Volt represents a spark of hope. Buzz about the Volt has been building for years. Perhaps it will prove to be the smartly designed paradigm changer that can pull venerable GM out of the doldrums. Expectations are also high among car enthusiasts, futurists, and environmentally conscious consumers.

GM Scales Back Production, Cuts Corporate Jets

Suffering U.S. automaker General Motors Corp will again cut its production, the firm said Friday. GM also said Friday that it would cut its fleet of seven corporate jets by two aircraft. Automakers' executives came under harsh criticism from Congress for the use of private jets even as they asked for assistance from Washington

Finance

Deflation: An Issue the Fed Must Face

Deflation would be very damaging to the United States economy and with nominal interest rates already very low, quantitative easing may be needed to keep it at bay, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday.

Hispanic Arts & Entertainment

TV Ratings: Election Coverage Thrives in Both English and Spanish

Politics ruled in both the Nielsen's English and Spanish-language television ratings among Hispanic viewers during the week of November 3. Not surprisingly, the election night coverage toped the English-language chart, and flooded the Spanish-language chart. Three of the top ten English-language shows for the week were election-related, and special election coverage garnered five of the top ten spots on the Spanish-language ranking.

HB Entrepreneur of the Year
eoy

More than 700 Hispanic entrepreneurs and business luminaries filled the Millennium Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 6 for Hispanic Business Media's 2008 EOY awards celebration. It was an exciting night, so be sure to check out our coverage of the gala event and photos of the winners.

HB Rankings

Top 15 Hispanic-owned Companies in Illinois

The Hispanic Business 500 has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy for more than 25 years. We believe that applying our criteria on a statewide level can yield interesting results for our readers. Here's a look at the Illinois-based companies on the list.

Technology

Microsoft Cuts Prices of Zune

Microsoft Corp. slashed the prices of several of its Zune music players Tuesday, hoping to drive holiday sales despite the weak economic environment.