TRAVEL
Three firms bid to manage Logan Airport concessions
The Massachusetts Port Authority has received bids from three companies to manage Logan Airport’s commercial real estate, a deal that eventually could lead to dramatic changes to the airport’s mix of shops and restaurants. The bidders are Airmall, which currently manages Terminals B and E; MarketPlace Development, an affiliate of Boston-based New England Development; and ASUR, a Mexican airport operator. Massport plans to combine management of all four terminals under one concessions contract. Westfield, which manages Terminals A and C, recently said it would not bid for the new contract. Massport officials declined to discuss details of the bids. The agency’s staff is evaluating them and will make a recommendation for a winner to the agency’s board this spring. — JON CHESTO
BIOTECH
Ovid opens Cambridge office
Ovid Therapeutics Inc., a biotech startup in New York, said Wednesday it will open an office in Cambridge next month in conjunction with a collaboration deal it is striking with Japanese drug giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Three-year-old Ovid plans to hire 15 to 30 employees this year for an office at One Broadway in Kendall Square, roughly doubling the size of the company. Ovid, which is working to develop drugs to treat rare neurological diseases, is led by chief executive Jeremy Levin, a former president of Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Ovid and Takeda, which operates a large Cambridge research center, will work together on an experimental drug to treat rare pediatric epilepsies. — ROBERT WEISMAN
ECONOMY
Inflation ticks up
US consumer prices, driven up by rising energy costs, rose moderately in December, closing out a year in which consumer inflation rose at the fastest pace in five years. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its consumer price index increased 0.3 percent last month, up from a 0.2 percent gain in November. Energy prices, which have been rebounding, were up 1.5 percent, led by another jump in gasoline pump prices. Food costs were unchanged for the fifth straight month. For all of 2016, prices were up 2.1 percent, compared to a 0.7 percent rise in 2015. It was the largest annual increase since a 3 percent jump in 2011. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was up 0.2 percent in December and 2.2 percent for the year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
AIRLINES
Cheap flight, small bags
Getting the cheapest fare on American Airlines will soon mean leaving that rolling carry-on bag at home. Fort Worth-based American said that it will soon unveil its version of a ‘‘basic economy’’ fare that will presumably cost less than other coach tickets, but come with fewer comforts. Buyers will only be allowed to carry a personal item that fits under their seat; no wheeled carry-on bags will be allowed. Tickets will be nonrefundable and can’t be changed; prices weren’t disclosed. Delta Air Lines already offers a basic-economy ticket on about 40 percent of its US routes and plans to cover them all by year-end and expand it to international flights. United Airlines says it will begin selling a similar ticket by the end of March for travel starting in late spring or early summer. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANKING
JPMorgan in discrimination lawsuits
The Obama administration took two last-minute swipes at JPMorgan Chase, accusing the lender in separate lawsuits of discriminating against minorities in home lending and against its own female employees by paying them less than their male counterparts. In one of the cases filed Wednesday, the government said the lender’s practices cost at least 53,000 black and Hispanic borrowers tens of millions of dollars between 2006 and 2009. In the other, the government said JPMorgan paid at least 93 women less than men in the same position. The bank disputed both sets of claims and pledged to fight the gender lawsuit, while agreeing to pay $55 million to settle the race case, according to a person familiar with the matter. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ECONOMY
Industrial production rises
US industrial production increased in December at the strongest pace in two years, as auto factories cranked out more vehicles and power plants helped heat homes and businesses. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that output at America’s factories, mines, and utilities rose 0.8 percent last month, the largest percentage gain since November 2014. The report suggests that the US industrial sector is recovering from a prolonged slump. The combination of falling energy prices and a strong dollar hurt manufacturers, who saw orders for pipeline and drilling equipment canceled as their goods became more expensive abroad. The Fed measure of industrial output began to slump at the start of 2015 and only began to show signs of rebounding in the middle of last year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHING
Pearson puts stake in Penguin Random House up for sale
The crisis engulfing Pearson deepened after the education company cut its profit forecast and predicted years of gloom in the US market, forcing it to slash its dividend and put its stake in the iconic Penguin Random House book business up for sale to raise cash. Pearson projected operating profit this year as much as 19 percent below analysts’ average estimates, after missing half-year estimates in six of the last eight reports. Pearson’s partner in Penguin Random House, majority owner Bertelsmann SE, said it would consider raising its stake in the venture. Pearson recently sold off the Financial Times and a 50 percent stake in the Economist. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
BIOTECH
Merrimack Pharma names new CEO
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. named Richard Peters as chief executive, filling a role that’s been vacant at the Cambridge biotech since the October resignation of Robert Mulroy. Merrimack board chairman Gary Crocker has been serving as interim chief executive. Peters is a veteran health care and biopharma executive who most recently was senior vice president and head of global rare diseases at Sanofi Genzyme in Cambridge. He will take over Feb. 6, and will join Merrimack’s board. Merrimack recently agreed to sell its pancreatic cancer drug and other assets to France’s Ipsen SA for $575 million. Last month, the company halted a clinical trial of a breast cancer drug candidate when an independent panel found that the treatment probably wouldn’t work better than those already available. — ROBERT WEISMAN
