The Opening Bell

The jobs report that was released last Friday was surprisingly low, so Steve Grzanich took the opportunity to briefly discuss it with Andrew Challenger (Vice President at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc) before touching on the new report from the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that older job candidates are not protected by age bias laws. The two chatted about what that means for potential employees/employers and what older candidates should do if they are faced with these biased situations. […]

The health of the Chicago River has gotten much better over the years as businesses and activities continue to grow around it, but there is still plenty to do according to Margaret Frisbe (Executive Director of Friends of The Chicago River). She discussed the continuing efforts with Steve Grzanich to help keep the river clean from litter with the backing of the Mars Wrigley Foundation.  

The Steppenwolf Theater is one of the most iconic theaters in the city and they announced last week that they are building themselves out to continue their legacy. Steve Grzanich sat down with David Schmitz (Executive Director of The Steppenwolf Theater) to discuss the $54 million dollar expansion project to build out a youth program, better theater experiences, along with the lineup for this year. Margaret Frisbe (Executive Director of Friends of The Chicago River) then explained how our river […]

On March 11th, 2019 Steve Grzanich shares today’s potential market drivers: A report on January Retail Sales are out today along with December Business Inventories Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak today

Steve Grzanich and Paul Nolte jump back in studio on “jobs report Friday” to recap some of the biggest takeaways from the report. The estimate was for 180,000 jobs added in the month of February, but the report showed only 20,000 were added. They questioned the biggest factors to this miss, and pumped the brakes a bit to remind people that the government shut down likely played a big role in this.  

The world was operating on all cylinders this last week but Paul Nolte (SVP & Sr. Portfolio Manager at Kingsview Asset Management) pointed out to Steve Grzanich that there might be some performance changes on the horizon. The two touched on the recent comments from the EU’s Mario Draghi, traders aren’t reacting as quickly to headlines about China anymore, and of course the jobs report that is expected today. Brian Sumers (Sr. Aviation Business Editor at Skift.com) kept tabs on […]

For the last few weeks, Brian Sumers (Sr. Aviation Business Editor at Skift.com) has been keeping tabs on the relationship developments between airline’s mechanics union and Steve Grzanich are learning about details that may be resulting in delays for flyers. However they aren’t the only airline experiencing these kinds of issues as Brian explained American Airlines is seeing similar issues.  

On March 8th, 2019 Steve Grzanich shares today’s potential market drivers: The February Jobs Report is out today A report on housing starts will be out today as well Jerome Powell and other Federal Reserve voices will be out speaking

Millions of Americans are dependent on their 401k’s for retirement, but imagine if that account got hacked…Steve Grzanich sat down with the weekly Associated Bank Thought Leader to talk about how (like many other online accounts) 401ks can be hacked if proper precautions aren’t taken. Bret McKitrick (SVP & Sr. HR Consultant at Associated Benefits and Risk Consulting – Part of Associated Bank) explained how we could all be more aware about the security surrounding our retirement accounts.  

In Illinois, many consumers struggle between the decision to buy or rent, but Scott Greenberg (President and CEO of SMASHotels) might have created the solution at 444 Social. Steve Grzanich introduced the newest segment called, “Building Business Around Town with Associated Bank” where Producer Bennett Wakenight travels around the Chicago area to sit down with businesses rooted in Illinois, that are are also making waves in their industry. The first conversation features Scott Greenberg (President and CEO of SMASHotels) and […]