MEDIA
STAT wins science journalism award
STAT, an online news source focused on health care, medicine, and biotechnology that shares ownership with the Boston Globe, won a global science journalism award Wednesday. The website was granted the top prize for online journalism in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual science reporting awards. STAT was recognized for an investigation that found researchers at prestigious institutions had ignored federal requirements to report study results, putting patients at risk. STAT’s Charles Piller and Natalia Bronshtein received the award. The gold award pays the winner $5,000, according to the AAAS. — ADAM VACCARO
RETAIL
Lowe’s stock decline may foreshadow drop in consumer spending
Lowe’s Cos. suffered its worst stock decline in three months after the retailer posted disappointing third-quarter profit and cut its full-year forecast, renewing concerns that Americans are curtailing spending on their homes. Earnings rose to 88 cents a share in the quarter, the Mooresville, N.C.-based company said on Wednesday. Analysts estimated 96 cents on average. The results are stoking fears that the housing market may be slowing down after years of robust growth. On Tuesday, larger rival Home Depot boosted its annual profit forecast, but didn’t raise its guidance for sales. Lowe’s, the second-largest home-improvement chain in the United States, now expects full-year earnings of $3.52 a share, compared with a previous forecast of about $4.06. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
FINANCE
JPMorgan Chase reportedly will settle case over hiring children of Chinese leaders
US authorities are preparing to announce as soon as Thursday that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay about $200 million to settle allegations that it hired children of Chinese decision makers to win business, according to people familiar with the matter. The agreement would end a nearly three-year investigation into whether the hires violated US anti-bribery laws. The highly publicized probe set off a debate on Wall Street over whether US business standards should be applied in foreign countries and whether favors to influential officials amounted to criminal activity. Neither JPMorgan nor individual employees are being prosecuted, the people said. Such leniency reflects the bank’s willingness to quickly turn over records and change global policies to eliminate questionable hiring practices at the start of the inquiry, several people familiar with the matter have said. The bank will pay about $130 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and about $70 million to the Justice Department, the people said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Target raises profit outlook in advance of holiday season
With help from a solid back-to-school season, Target breezed past Wall Street expectations for the third quarter and raised a key sales outlook for the critical holiday season. The cheap-chic retailer still saw declines in store traffic and in its central sales measure, but they were less than expected and better than the previous quarter, and Target raised its annual profit outlook. Its shares rose more than 7 percent. Target has been trying to get back on track with the second part of its ‘‘Expect More, Pay Less’’ slogan and address the issues that dragged down its business this summer. It’s still working on the grocery and electronics departments, which are key areas to attract shoppers. For the holiday shopping season, Target is hoping to lure shoppers with a Broadway-style marketing campaign and more exclusive toys. But it’s also focusing on value. About 60 percent of Target’s marketing messages this holiday season will be about value, up about 20 percent from the last year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOME CONSTRUCTION
Builders’ confidence holds steady
US homebuilders’ confidence held steady this month, though their expectations for sales into next year dimmed slightly. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Wednesday was unchanged at 63. That’s two points below September’s reading, which was the highest in nearly a year, and up one point from a year ago. Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good rather than poor. The index has been above 60 the past three months after hovering in the high 50s much of this year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FACTORIES
Output up slightly in October
US factory output rose slightly in October, aided by greater production of automobiles, home electronics, and appliances. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that manufacturing production improved 0.2 percent last month, matching the gain in September. The broader industrial production category, which includes mining and utilities, was flat as warmer weather reduced the demand for heating. Manufacturers have endured a brutal year that crimped sales and hiring. The relatively strong dollar made US goods more expensive overseas, hurting exports, while low energy prices dried up demand for drilling equipment and pipelines. Businesses became cautious about investing in machinery. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENERGY
BP plant to lay off up to 80 amid oil slump
One of northwest Indiana’s largest and most stable industrial employers is planning to lay off up to 80 employees amid a global slump in the oil business. BP Whiting Refinery spokesman Michael Abendhoff says the refinery expects a workforce reduction of 50 to 80 employees. Analysts say falling crude oil prices and BP expenses from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 are at least partly to blame for the Whiting plant’s layoffs. The refinery is the main source of gasoline for the Midwest. It employs about 1,850 workers and hundreds of maintenance contractors. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
RETAIL
Neiman Marcus welcomes Rent the Runway into stores
Neiman Marcus, facing an industrywide slowdown in department store traffic, is taking a new approach to getting customers in the door: devoting part of its floor space to e-commerce startup Rent the Runway. The first in-store boutique will open in Neiman Marcus’s San Francisco branch Friday, with a few more to follow in 2017, the Dallas-based luxury retailer said in a statement Wednesday. The 3,000-square-foot space will showcase a rotating selection of clothes and accessories that shoppers can rent, along with items from Neiman Marcus that customers can buy to complete their looks. Rent the Runway has raised $126 million in venture capital since it was founded by in 2009 by two Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss. It began as an online-only clothing rental service, then moved into physical space. By the end of the year, the company will have seven brick-and-mortar stores where shoppers can try on dresses and get styling help. The stores attract thousands of walk-in visitors each per week, the company said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
Univision to lay off as many as 250 as it combines digital acquisitions
Univision Holdings Inc., the largest Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States, is firing as many as 250 employees as it combines recent digital media acquisitions, according to a person familiar with the matter. The layoffs will include cuts at Fusion, which targets millennial audiences in English and Spanish on cable TV and online, said the person, who asked not to be identified disclosing the scope of the cuts. Univision employed about 4,000 people as of March 31, according to filings. The company is digesting several acquisitions of online businesses at the same time it’s trying to go public, and struggling with shrinking sales and profit. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
