21% of Gap stores in North America to closeGap Inc., the long-struggling apparel giant, plans to close stores in the U.S. while expanding its international and online business. The Gap will reduce its North American namesake stores to about 700 by the end of 2013, a 21 percent decrease from the count in the first half of this year and a 34 percent drop from the end of 2007, Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Simmons said. The Gap will also expand the presence of its namesake and Banana Republic stores in China, South America and Italy, said Stephen Sunnucks, president of international operations.
Preorders for iPhone 4S sell out at carriersApple Inc.'s newest iPhone sold out for preorder at AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. a day before the device officially goes on sale, according to the carriers' websites. Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless operator, and Sprint, the third-biggest, showed no immediate stock of iPhone 4S 16-gigabyte models for preorder on their websites. AT&T, the No. 2 carrier, is giving buyers on its site a delivery estimate of three to four weeks, up from one to two days when preorders began Oct. 7.
Initial jobless claims held steady last weekThe number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits was little changed last week, showing the labor market is making scant progress. Applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased 1,000 in the week ended Saturday to 404,000, Labor Department figures showed. Economists forecast 405,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls dropped to the lowest level in six months.
Trade deficit steady; gap with China growsThe U.S. trade deficit remained virtually unchanged in August but the U.S. still managed to post a record monthly trade gap with China, government data showed. The nation's trade deficit held steady at $45.6 billion in August from the prior month, the Commerce Department said. The trade gap in July was revised up from the initial estimate of $44.8 billion. The deficit in August was close to the consensus of analysts.
Video hub Hulu won't be sold after allHulu's owners, including News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners, have decided not to sell the online video hub, the consortium announced late Thursday. In a short statement, the owner group said that each of its members found value in holding on to the Web video company instead of selling it to any of a number of potential bidders. "Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success," the consortium said.
Google said to plan expanded music serviceFive months after it introduced a cloud music service with limited capabilities, Google is in negotiations with the major record labels to expand that service and open an MP3 store that would compete with Apple and Amazon, the New York Times reported. According to numerous music executives, Google is eager to open the store in the next several weeks. It would most likely be connected to Google's cloud service, Music Beta, which lets people back up their songs on remote servers and stream them to mobile phones and other devices, said these executives, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private and continuing. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.
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