Retail and Business

In the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Gas Utility Business Customer
Satisfaction Study released today, Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy Co. ranked first out of 21 Midwestern companies for highest natural gas customer satisfaction, the third …

Wholesale prices rose in February at the fastest pace in 1 1/2 years, indicating a build-up in inflation pressures from rising food and energy costs, Reuters reported.
The seasonally adjusted index for prices paid to …

Japan, the largest importer of U.S. corn, may need to purchase more to guarantee food supplies following last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. Corn, wheat and soybean futures rose on speculation that Japan will ratchet …

A 22.5 percent slump in housing starts during February has cut short economists’ expectations of first-quarter economic growth, MarketWatch reported. Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc cut their forecast for an increase …

The board of the Greater Newton Area Chamber of Commerce has voted to join the
Greater Des Moines Partnership as an affiliate, the Partnership said today. The new affiliation, which was formally announced this morning …

Principal Financial Group Inc. has been named to the 2011 National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) Top 50 Companies and 10 Nonprofits for Executive Women. The list, which recognizes organizations whose policies and practices encourage …

Wall Street exchanges tumbled at Tuesday’s opening bell, following Japan’s stock market downward as the earthquake-shattered country faces an unfolding nuclear crisis, MSNBC reported.

At 9:08 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down by …

Gage Kent, chairman and CEO of Muscatine Foods Corp. in Muscatine, has accepted an invitation to join the Iowa Business Council (IBC). Council membership consists of the top executives of 21 of Iowa’s largest employers, …

Seventy-one percent of U.S. workers said their workloads have increased as a result of layoffs at their companies. An online survey of 443 U.S. workers by Right Management Inc. found that 54 percent of them …

The Nationwide Insurance Foundation has committed $400,000 to Children & Families of Iowa (CFI), the first major gift to that organization’s Building Futures capital campaign. The money will help pay for improvements to the nonprofit’s …