To ensure you receive your Boston.com e-mails, please add newsletters@boston.com to your address book. If you have trouble reading this e-mail, go to http://www.boston.com/business/ticker_headlines
Daily Business Update Get up-to-the-minute Business Updates More Business News »
Tue. Jun. 26, 2012 Island Creek Oyster Bar ranks high in TripAdvisor survey of US restaurants TripAdvisor, a Newton-based travel review website, said it has bestowed one of its inaugural Travelers’ Choice Restaurants awards on the Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston. The awards are based on the millions of traveler reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor, and winners range from casual chains to fine dining restaurants, TripAdvisor said. All told, 576 restaurants from around the world were honored. The Island Creek Oyster Bar was ranked eighth on a top 10 list of US restaurants, the only local bistro to crack the US top 10.	Advertisement
State Street: Investor confidence is up in June An index for investor confidence posted a 93.5 reading in June, its highest level so far this year and 7 points higher than the reading in May, State Street Global Markets said Tuesday. According to a State Street Global Markets press release, investors “have tempered their bearishness a little,” and that accounted for the increase. State Street Global Markets, which maintains the index, is the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corp., a financial services company headquartered in Boston.
Liberty Mutual joint venture gets OK to sell insurance in India Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance Group said Tuesday said that a company joint venture has gotten a license to sell insurance products in India. The company said that Liberty Videocon General Insurance Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Liberty Mutual and Videocon Industries Ltd., has received the necessary license from India’s insurance regulatory authority to commence operations. The parties entered into the joint venture agreement in December 2010.
Staples: ‘Locker chandeliers’ and locker shag rags could be hot back-to-school items Binders in candy colored hues and “locker chandeliers” are among items that Staples Inc. expects to be popular during the upcoming back-to-school shopping season. Staples, an office-supply giant headquartered in Framingham, typically caters to small businesses and folks with home offices. But the chain also gets a nice lift from consumers buying back-to-school products. Sales could get an extra boost this year from the impending release of Windows 8, the next-generation operating system from Microsoft Corp.
Dunsire joins Takeda Pharma board as first female director Deborah Dunsire, named Woman of the Year by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in 2009, was elected to the board of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., making her the second female director of a top-10 Japanese company. Shareholders of Takeda, Asia’s largest drugmaker, approved Dunsire’s nomination at their annual meeting in Osaka today, Takeda spokesman Mitsuo Oguri said. Dunsire, 50, heads the company’s cancer drug unit Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass. Dunsire, a Zimbabwe-born doctor, joined Takeda in 2008, when the Japanese drugmaker agreed to buy Millennium for $8.9 billion.
Mass. home sales jump sharply in May The number of single-family homes sold in Massachusetts last month was the largest monthly total in nearly two years, the Warren Group said Tuesday. Last month, 4,510 single-family homes were sold, up from 3,350 during the same month a year ago, an increase of nearly 35 percent. The median price for single-family homes sold in May dropped about 3 percent to $289,950 from $300,000 a year ago. But the May 2012 median was the highest median sale prices recorded so far this year.
Budget cuts imperil growth in defense economy The Bay State’s economy has benefited from a decade-long surge in defense spending, but that sector’s labor force is now threatened by potentially massive military budget cuts that are set for next year, the author of a new study warned Monday.
MassHousing closes financing for affordable rental housing in Tyngsborough MassHousing, the state’s affordable housing bank, said that it has closed on $5.8 million in financing for 72 affordable rental units at the Maple Ridge Apartments in Tyngsborough. Dakota Partners Inc. of Waltham developed Maple Ridge on the site of a vacant lot bordered by Longfellow Lane and Melville Drive. The two-bedroom apartments are contained in three garden style three-story buildings, which have been completed and occupied.
Bud LaCava to lead KPMG’s Boston office Bud LaCava has been named managing partner for the Boston office of KPMG, an audit, tax and advisory services firm. KPMG, which recently announced a new office in Cambridge to serve emerging technologies and life-science companies, has roughly 700 employees in Greater Boston. LaCava succeeds Pat Canning, who was named managing partner of KPMG’s Chicago office.
Supreme Court won’t hear Madoff investor appeal on payment The US Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal by Bernard Madoff’s investors over whether they can recover lost profit, an action that lets stand the Madoff trustee’s calculation that investors lost $17 billion. The investors asked the top court for a hearing after federal appeals judges in New York said in August it would be “absurd” to treat fictitious paper profits as real, upholding a lower court ruling.
Mass. gas prices fall another 6 cents a gallon The average price for gas in Massachusetts is $3.379 a gallon in the latest weekly AAA survey, down 6 cents from the previous week’s average, AAA Southern New England said Monday. It’s the 10th consecutive week of decreases. Prices locally are now 52 cents less than the those recorded in mid April. The national average for gas is $3.41 a gallon. A year ago at this time, the Massachusetts average price was $3.64.
ADVERTISEMENT Looking to catch the next big game in town? Search from a wide range of Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics and Patriots seats in our exclusive ticket section powered by Ace Ticket. For the best seats to any sporting event in Boston, go to Boston.com Tickets.