Finance & Capital Management

Mountain View, Calif. - A report released Tuesday by Intuit Inc. found that small business employment continued to show growth in November, although wages were down and hours worked remained flat.

According to Intuit’s Small Business Employment Index, small business employment grew by 0.24% in November, equating to an annual rate of about 3%. This translates to approximately 49,000 new jobs created nationwide. The Index is based on figures from the country’s smallest businesses that use Intuit Online Payroll.

Tokyo - A report released Tuesday said that Japanese prosecutors will launch an investigation into possible insider trading involving shares of Wal-Mart's Japanese subsidiary Seiyu.

According to Reuters, which cited the Nikkei business daily website, the trading is suspected to have occurred when Wal-Mart turned Seiyu into a fully owned unit in 2007.

In early November, Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission began an investigation into possible insider trading. Wal-Mart has said it would cooperate with authorities.

New York - Optimism about the U.S. economy grew in November, pushing the latest reading on consumer sentiment to the highest level since June. The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 54.1 in November, up from a negatively revised 49.9 in October, the Conference Board, a New York-based research group that compiles the index, said Tuesday. Economists were expecting the index to increase to 52.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - Kohl's Corp. announced Tuesday that it is promoting four of its executives as part of an ongoing succession planning process.

Don Brennan has been promoted from senior EVP to chief merchandising officer. John Worthington was promoted from senior executive VP to chief administrative officer. Peggy Eskenasi was promoted from executive VP of product development to senior EVP. And Wes McDonald was promoted from EVP and CFO to senior executive VP and CFO.

All the promotions are effective Dec. 1.

Atlanta - A report released Monday by payment solution provider First Data Corp. found that on Black Friday, card spending growth returned to pre-recession levels.

According to the First Data SpendTrend analysis for Black Friday 2010, which tracks same-store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards at U.S. merchant locations, year-over-year same-store dollar volume grew 12.3%.

Transaction growth was 10.1%.