Stocks finish higher; Phil Knight stepping down from Nike; ruling against Apple upheld: P.M. Business News Links

Terry Semel, Phil Knight

Yahoo Inc. chairman Terry Semel, left, and Nike chairman Phil Knight arrive at the annual Allen and Co.'s media conference Thursday, July 12, 2007, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Knight on Tuesday announced plans to step away from Nike.

(Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press)

Stock market news:

Stocks ended slightly higher on Wall Street in volatile trade today. The Dow industrials rose 23.16 points to 17,619.51, the Nasdaq Composite added 28.40 points to 4,986.87 and the S&P 500 gained 5.48 points to 2,063.12. (Reuters)

European stock indexes widened their losses as investors fretted the debt crisis in Greece could spread to other countries in the region. (Associated Press)

Oil futures today ended the first half of the year with a hefty gain, settling higher for the session with the deadline for a final agreement over Iran's nuclear program extended by a week. (MarketWatch)

Business news:

Phil Knight, who more than 50 years ago co-founded the sports footwear and apparel company that became the world's largest, on Tuesday announced plans to step away from Nike. (The Oregonian)

A petition on MoveOn.org calling for Macy's department stores to drop Donald Trump's merchandise, which includes among other things, pinatas, had gathered close to a million signatures by Tuesday afternoon. (CBS News)

Apollo Education Group, owner of the University of Phoenix, fell the most in three months after it lowered profit and revenue forecasts and said enrollment will fall by 50,000 next year. (Bloomberg News)

Celgene will pay Juno Therapeutics about $1 billion as part of a 10-year partnership to study cures for cancer and autoimmune diseases, the largest payment in a biotechnology licensing agreement ever. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Now that JetBlue started charging for bags today, Southwest Airlines will be the only major U.S. airline not tacking on additional luggage fees. (CNN News)

The Walt Disney Co. today named its long time treasurer, Christine McCarthy, as new chief financial officer and promoted Kevin Mayer to chief strategy officer. (Orange County Register)

After Greece made a last-ditch effort to extend its bailout, eurozone finance ministers decided in a teleconference late today there was no way they could reach a deal before the deadline. (Belfast Telegraph)

Technology news:

A divided federal appeals court today upheld a judge's ruling that Apple had conspired with five publishers to increase e-book prices, in a win for the U.S. Justice Department. (Reuters)

Sprint today revealed a new "All-In" plan that bundles monthly service and phone lease charges into one bill, starting at $80. (PC Magazine)

Cisco Systems is adding to its newly announced Security Everywhere initiative through the planned $635 million acquisition of OpenDNS, a company that provides cloud-based security capabilities to a broad array of devices. (eWeek)

After asking Apple's trusty virtual personal assistant, Siri, "What's zero divided by zero?" she delivered a scathing response that got personal. (ABC News)

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