The Rich Are Different Back in the Gilded Age, an ambitious social climber and noted toady named Ward McAllister coined the phrase "the Four Hundred," named for the number of people that Manhattan heiress Caroline Astor could fit in her Fifth Avenue ballroom. In 1982, Forbes magazine borrowed that same number [...]

In The Headlines High Yield Debt Market Woes: Echoes of 2008? A day after a prominent Wall Street firm shocked investors by freezing withdrawals from a credit mutual fund, things only got nastier in the junk-bond market. Prices on the high-risk securities sank to levels not seen in six years and, [...]

In The Headlines Amazon’s Prime Threatens Walmart and Target According to a new survey, there are now nearly 41 million members of Amazon.com’s Prime. The program keeps attracting more and more members, and new data from Wall Street firm Cowen & Co suggests the subscription service is getting stickier, posing a [...]

Uncle Sam, Knowing When to Hold'em Last month, millions of fans across America sat down in front of their televisions to watch the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets, 4 games to 1 in baseball's World Series. But few of those fans would ever dream they could suit up [...]

In The Headlines Are Robots Taking American Jobs? One central bank has some frightening predictions when it comes to job stability in the future. A Bank of England (BoE) official warned that 80 million jobs in the United States are at risk of being taken over by robots in the next [...]

In The Headlines Men’s Wearhouse Discovers Customers Don’t Forget a Good Deal Shoppers will not part easily with their beloved deals, as countless retailers have found out the hard way. Men’s Wearhouse is the latest to learn that painful lesson. The clothier recently reported that comparable sales at its Jos. A. [...]

In The Headlines Will the JOBS Act Disrupt the Venture Capital Markets? The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to vote on Title III Crowdfunding regulations, designed to open up investments in private companies to all investors—rather than just the accredited investors (mostly high net worth individuals) who are legally allowed [...]

In The Headlines Businesses in the Crossfire: The Growing Threat of Cyber Warfare While the Cold War never turned hot between the major world powers, throughout Asia there were a number of border disputes and other regional small wars. For instance, India and Pakistan engaged in several border disputes, and China [...]

In The Headlines Ulta’s Formula for Success in a Competitive Cosmetics Market A tight focus on cosmetics and fragrances has given beauty products retailer Ulta an edge over drugstores and department stores. Offer a broad assortment of beauty products, cosmetics, and fragrances across the price spectrum. Add low-pressure but high-touch customer [...]

In The Headlines J.C. Penney’s 3-Pronged Strategy for Survival Following J.C. Penney's brush with death during the past decade, the 113-year-old company's future boils down to a three-part turnaround strategy overseen by president and CEO-designee Marvin Ellison. The challenge that lies ahead for the chain of department stores cannot be overstated. [...]