Peer-to-peer lending sees exponential growth

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service

In the past few years, consumers disillusioned with tight-fisted banks have jumped on the peer-to-peer lending bandwagon.

When the Great Recession hit, banks suffered big losses as borrowers defaulted on loans they had taken out during the economy’s long upturn. In response, lenders have drastically tightened their lending requirements. As a result, many borrowers with anything less than stellar credit now can’t qualify for traditional bank loans.

But non-wealthy Americans still need loans from time to time. And as bankers have turned stingy, borrowers have increasingly turned to alternative online lending platforms, such as Lending Club and Prosper Marketplace.

directlending — Third quarter lending more than doubled at Lending Club and Prosper from a year-ago period, up 37-fold from 2010.

Caterpillar tries to dig out as global challenges pile up

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service Manufacturing giant Caterpillar Inc. is trying to dig out as headwinds from slowing global markets and falling oil prices pile up. The company is forecasting flat sales for the coming year. Shares of the Peoria-based company have been under pressure since mid-July when key overseas markets reported slower […]

Sagging offshore sales pinch Cisco earnings

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service Cisco Systems Inc., reported a fiscal first quarter profit decline in line with expectations and reiterated a flat outlook, as emerging markets — which earlier fueled the Internet-equipment maker’s growth — continue to soften. For the quarter ended on October 25, net income of the router maker declined 8.4 […]

SpotHero shifts into high gear with parking app

By Penny Yi Wang

Parking in the city is never easy, but SpotHero, a Chicago-based technology company, has found a way to help commuters. The start-up’s mobile apps find discounted parking spots in real time and allow users to pay online or in the app. The company, which launched in 2011 with three co-founders, now has 30 employees. SpotHero has just added four new cities to its roster of seven.

Shot on an iPhone 6. Music: Batty McFaddin by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Strong earnings push stock market into the green

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service The U.S. stock market posted strong gains Tuesday with most indices rising for a fourth consecutive session as quarterly earnings reports drove investors’ confidence.

Not an average business

Illinois will gain $17.5 million in the process once business operations start next year. The Illinois River was quiet on June 15th, 2006, until a speedboat slammed into a barge. Tammy Warnke, 30 at the time, she lost her ability to talk and forgot how to walk, because of severe brain injuries as a result […]

CAT earnings bulldoze past forecasts

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service Shares of Caterpillar Inc. jumped after the manufacturing giant, helped by a surge in North American sales that more than offset a slowdown in international market, reported third-quarter earnings that dramatically surpassed Wall Street expectations. Net income for the Peoria-based heavy equipment maker inched up less than one […]

Illinois Tool Works shares surge as 3Q earnings beat expectations

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service Illinois Tool Works Inc. shares soared 3.8 percent on Tuesday after reporting third-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations, as the company sheds unprofitable product lines. For the quarter ended September 14th, the company’s net income rose 17.5 percent, to $531 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, from the […]

Hedge funds hope for better days

By Penny Yi Wang for Medill News Service Hedge funds finally regained a shred of dignity in September: after a long stretch of frequently underperforming the broad stock market, the investment funds – which charge their clients hefty management fees – were able to do a bit better than the Standard & Poor 500 Index. A […]

ISM manufacturing index slipped in September

The nation’s manufacturing sector showed softer-than-expected growth in September, according to a trade report on Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index slipped to 56.6 in September from 59 percent in August, indicating slowing expansion. The actual reading came below the economists’ estimate of 58.5, according to Bloomberg L.P.