Business News Roundup, July 2

The federal government is seeking to stop Electrolux from buying General Electric’s appliance division, saying the combined company would dominate sales of ovens and other cooking-related kitchen appliances, especially to customers like home builders, property managers, hotels and governments.

The agency says the deal would eliminate a major competitor and leave Electrolux and Whirlpool as the only big companies in the U.S. selling cooking appliances such as ovens and ranges.

The Justice Department is particularly concerned about “contract channel” sales, where suppliers sell to home builders; to the builders and managers of apartment buildings and condominiums, hotels and motels; and to governments.

Samsung and LG have increased their market share to 20 percent of the large appliance market from almost nothing a decade ago, Sims said.

Businesses added jobs at a robust pace in June, a private survey found, evidence that rising consumer spending and a healthy housing market are supporting more hiring.

Americans have spent freely in recent months and home sales are running at their best pace in eight years.

Construction firms added 19,000 jobs last month, while retail, shipping and utility companies gained 50,000.

Economists forecast it will show that employers added 233,000 jobs, and that the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent.

The ADP survey covers only private businesses, however, and frequently diverges from the official figures.

Military personnel still recovering from brain damage told to sign on the dotted line.

In the two decades since trade schools started popping up on stock exchanges to boost their profits, allegations of misconduct have been rampant.

Graduates have to be able to earn enough money to repay their student loans, or a school risks losing access to financial aid.

Too many poor kids, mostly minorities, are reaching adulthood with little education, no prospect of attending a four-year college and not enough time, money or know-how to figure out an alternative path through a community college.

What these students do have is eligibility for government-backed student loans and grants, making them targets for predatory schemes that look much like tactics used by subprime lenders during the housing crisis.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that the seams on the floats, distributed by Otteroo Corp. of San Francisco, can leak air.

Construction spending posted a solid gain in May, pushing total activity to the highest point since the fall of 2008, with the strength led by a big jump in non-residential projects.

The gains pushed totaled activity to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.04 trillion, the highest level since October 2008.

All major categories showed increases in May, led by a 1.5 percent rise in non-residential building, which reflected increases in spending on hotels, manufacturing facilities and amusement parks.

U.S. manufacturing growth improved in June, helped by a jump in employment.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index rose to 53.5 last month from 52.8 in May.