BY ALICE TRUONG
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Fellow Medill Money Maven Graydon Gordian spoke with me recently about his article exploring the business of boxing and how the boxers are viewed and treated as commodities. Hear how he came upon this story and the role boxing has played on his professional and personal life. To read his [...]

Gov. Quinn has announced spending cuts and a tax increase to fix the budget crisis, but has failed to mention immediate pension reform.

Some gloomy numbers loomed over the real estate market this week when national home sales and prices dropped, while mortgage rates creeped up.

“Demand to buy homes is really weak,” said Patrick Newport, economist at IHS Global Insight.

The RevPAR rate for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.’s North America properties, which boasts such swanky spots as the W and St. Regis, dropped 20.5 percent in the year ended Dec. 31.

Derivatives exchange behemoth CME Group Inc. could face a federal antitrust probe if it does not accept trades from startup futures exchange ELX Futures LP, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said Thursday.

The horse racing industry in Illinois is struggling to keep up with other states.

Like most other industries across the country, gambling took a big hit during the recession.  However, there are signs it is on the way back. 

Present-day and next-generation investment industry leaders debated future of funds at the Kellogg School of Management’s private equity and venture capital conference in Chicago, with the conversation returning to value creation.

The high unemployment rate has actually benefited one industry– private-sector education. For-profit education has seen an increase in enrollments across the board and Chicago-based DeVry Inc. is no exception. It has seen a boost in enrollment numbers that has generated extra cash to continue to invest in the company, making it appealing to investors.

With bank earnings season just passed, we now have a wealth of information to gauge the financial health of banks for the fourth-quarter of 2009. So pulling information from the income and cash-flow statements, we can see see how several bank holding companies in the Chicago area stack up. We’ll focus on JP Morgan Chase & Co., which is a New York-based megabank with a large Chicago presence; Lake Forest-based Wintrust Financial Corp.; Itasca-based First Midwest Banc Holdings Inc; and Melrose Park-based Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. (The reason Chase is thrown in the mix is to see how the smaller- and medium-sized bank holding companies compare.)

Andrew Ross Sorkin speaks to Chicago audience Feb. 9. Photo by Chris Guillen

It was Tuesday evening in Chicago, and though you may have watched him co-host CNBC’s Squawk Box from New York that same morning, there was Andrew Ross Sorkin giving a talk about Wall Street and his new book, “Too [...]