Monday, August 15, 2016

Business Briefs

PORTLAND, Ore.--()--Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM) welcomed an August 10 ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Oregon that Seirus Innovative Accessories infringes one of Columbia’s design patents. Columbia alleges that Seirus created its HeatWave products by copying Columbia’s patented Omni-Heat® Reflective products, which have earned industry-wide acclaim.

Columbia filed the suit against Seirus in Oregon in January 2015 accusing it of willfully infringing three patents relating to Columbia’s revolutionary Omni-Heat® Reflective technology. One of the three Columbia patents covers a particular design of a heat reflective material.
In his decision, Judge Hernandez found that “The overall visual effect of the Columbia and Seirus designs are nearly identical,” and that “The striking visual similarity between Seirus’s design and Columbia’s patented design is likely to confuse an ordinary observer, and therefore, Columbia’s motion is granted.”



 FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--()--Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is hosting a special Teacher Appreciation Day across the country to help teachers save while they prepare for the new school year. The first 100 teachers at each Staples store on Teacher Appreciation Day, Wednesday, August 17, will receive a free sample kit with special coupons; plus every teacher with a valid teacher ID will receive 10% off of their purchase.


ANN ARBOR, Mich.--()--National health spending in June 2016 was 5.2% higher than in June 2015, totaling $3.36 trillion (seasonally adjusted annual rate). For the first 6 months of 2016, health spending grew at a rate of 5.3%, slightly below the 2015 estimate of 5.5% made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), but modestly above the 4.8% rate that CMS projects for all of 2016. The health spending share of gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 18.2% in June, tied for the all-time high in our series, first hit in February 2016.



Wednesday, August 3, 2016

CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report: Average card APR remains locked at 15.18 percent

AUSTIN, TX - (PRNewswire) The average APR on new card offers held steady this week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report.
The average is comprised of 100 of the most popular credit cards in the country, including cards from dozens of leading U.S. issuers and representing every card category. Introductory (teaser) rates are not included in the calculation.
Rates for card categories tracked by CreditCards.com are listed below:
Credit Card Rate Averages

Avg. APR
Last week
6 months ago
National Average
15.18%
15.18%
15.18%
11.98%
11.98%
11.96%
14.38%
14.38%
14.35%
13.12%
13.12%
13.12%
13.42%
13.42%
13.42%
15.32%
15.32%
15.26%
15.08%
15.08%
15.17%
15.29%
15.29%
15.28%
18.04%
18.04%
18.21%
22.56%
22.56%
22.88%

Updated: 8-03-2016

For the eighth week in a row, the national average APR has remained fixed at 15.18 percent.
Interest rates on new credit card offers are currently near record highs and show few signs of dropping anytime soon. After increasing steadily earlier this year in response to the Federal Reserve's December 2015 rate increase, minimum rates on new credit card offers have largely remained unchanged. Since March 1, for example, the national average has changed just three times. It has increased twice and fallen just once.
A number of card issuers have increased maximum interest rates on new card offers; but the increases aren't reflected in the national average because CreditCards.com only considers a card's lowest available rate when calculating average interest rates.
The CreditCards.com credit card rate survey (permalink: http://www.creditcards.com/rate-report) is conducted weekly, using offer data from leading U.S. card issuers' websites. Introductory offer periods and regular interest rates will vary with applicants' credit quality and issuer risk-based pricing policies.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Business Updates


WICHITA, KS -Aug 1, 2016 (PRNewswire) - Spirit AeroSystems Inc. [NYSE: SPR] President & Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile will speak at the Jefferies Industrial conference in New York, N.Y., on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, at 1:20 p.m. (EDT).

Remarks from Gentile will be webcast and will be available at http://www.spiritaero.com/investor.aspx
Individuals are advised to check the website ahead of time to ensure their computers are configured for the webcast.
On the web: www.spiritaero.com
On Twitter: @SpiritAero





NEW YORK, NY - Aug. 1, 2016 (PRNewswire) - Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) ("we," "us," "our" or "Avon") announced today that it has commenced cash tender offers (each offer, a "Tender Offer" and, collectively, the "Tender Offers"), subject to certain terms and conditions, to purchase up to a total of $650 million aggregate principal amount of its outstanding (i) 5.750% Notes due 2018 (the "5.750% 2018 Notes"), (ii) 4.200% Notes due 2018 (the "4.200% 2018 Notes"), (iii)  6.500% Notes due 2019 (the"2019 Notes") and (iv) 4.600% Notes due 2020 (the "2020 Notes" and, together with the 5.750% 2018 Notes, the 4.200% 2018 Notes and the 2019 Notes, the "Securities"), subject to the Series Maximum Tender Amount (as defined below) for both the 2019 Notes and the 2020 Notes (together, the "Capped Securities").
The Tender Offers are scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on August 26, 2016 (such date and time, as it may be extended by us, the "Expiration Date"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offers are described in an Offer to Purchase dated August 1, 2016 (the "Offer to Purchase") and a related Letter of Transmittal (together, the "Tender Offer Materials"). Holders of the Securities are urged to carefully read the Tender Offer Materials before making any decision with respect to the Tender Offers.





NEW YORK, NY - July 25, 2016 (PRNewswire) - Nadeem Faruqi, founding partner at Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities firm headquartered in New York City, is investigating the Board of Directors of Joy Global, Inc. ("Joy" or the "Company") (NYSE:JOY) for potential breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the sale of the Company to Komatsu America Corp. for approximately $3.7 billion
The Company's stockholders will only receive $28.30 in cash for each share of Joy common stock they own.
Click here for more information: www.faruqilaw.com/JOY.  There is no cost or obligation to you.
The investigation focuses on whether Joy's Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to the Company's stockholders by failing to conduct a fair sales process and whether and by how much this proposed transaction undervalues the Company to the detriment of Joy's shareholders.