Business Beat for Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014

Amazon to open brick-and-mortar store

Online retailer Amazon will open its first traditional store in Manhattan ahead of the holiday shopping season.

eBay brands itself as a place to ‘shop the world’

E-commerce site eBay is kicking off a global branding ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Dow suffers worst lost of the year

Dow average closes 334 points lower, worst drop of the year, led by a slump in energy stocks.

Is nothing off limits?

Dairy Queen says hackers may have gained access to customer names, credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates.

Symantec says it will split into two companies

Symantec says separating its businesses will create greater growth opportunities and more value for its shareholders.

Airline delays, cancellations rise from last year

Flights on the nation’s largest airlines arrived on time 77.7 percent of the time in August. That is down from 78.8 percent in the same month last year, although it is better than July.

UofC’s Booth School MBA program tops list by The Economist

The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business tops The Economist’s ranking of full-time MBA programs for the fourth time in five years. [The Economist]

Schlafly’s beers headed for Chicago

Saint Louis Brewery is expanding distribution of its Schlafly’s brand to the Chicago area. [St. Louis Business Journal]

Southwest’s Wichita-Chicago route is a loser

Southwest Airlines lost nearly $7 million in its first eight months of offering flights from Wichita to Dallas and Chicago.

American adjusts course on serving meals

First-class meals will return to some American Airlines flights that lost them just last month. [Bloomberg]

Boeing jobs shifts don’t fly with Washington state leaders

Boeing Co.’s decision to shift production away from plants in Washington state have leaders there fuming after they granted billions of dollars in incentives last year. [Washington Post]

Stone Brewing going coast to coast

Stone Brewing Co., one of the nation’s top 10 craft breweries, is tapping Virginia for its East Coast operations, an official says.

Icahn wants more Apple buybacks, sees $203 stock

Activist investor Carl Icahn is taking another swing at getting Apple to buy back more of its stock and improve the relative value of the shares.

Applications for US unemployment aid fall to 287K

Slightly fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, pushing the average number of applications in the past month to an eight-year low.

Mexico’s junk food tax hitting Pepsi, Coke

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola say a new tax in Mexico on junk food and sugary drinks is hurting sales.

Some 300 on strike at Schneider Electric plant in northern Indiana

About 300 workers have gone on strike at a Schneider Electric factory in northern Indiana after rejecting a proposed contract.

Kindred Healthcare buying Gentiva in $719.6M deal

Kindred Healthcare Inc. is buying home health and hospice care provider Gentiva Health Services Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $719.6 million, sealing a deal after previous rejections by Gentiva.