Data & Analytics

New York City -- Schneider Electric and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are collaborating to enhance the current demand response credit for the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

New York City -- The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index rose last month, primarily due to higher energy costs and the biggest rise in food prices in 36 years, USA Today reported.

Food prices rose 3.9% last month, the highest increase since November 1974.

The steep rise was due, in large part, to higher vegetable costs, which were up nearly 50%.

Dallas -- Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, today announced the continuation of its relationship with Anna’s Linens through a full contract expansion. The value-priced home-furnishings retailer will continue to leverage Transplace’s managed services solution and logistics technology for all domestic transportation management activities.

New York City -- The Home Depot has streamlined its in-store hiring process by centralizing it at the corporate level, making the process more uniform across the chain. Potential store hires now go through two reviews at the corporate level before they are even granted an in-person store interview, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.

To read the full story, go to ajc.com/business/home-depot-centralizes-in-867327.html

Pittsburgh -- Teen retailer rue21 said that its fourth quarter net income increased 41% to $10.9 million from $7.7 million in the year-ago period. Net sales for the quarter increased 22.3% to $190.1 million, from $155.4 million. Same-store sales rose 1.5%.

San Francisco -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Google plans to start testing a mobile-payment service at stores in New York and San Francisco within four months.

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg said Google will pay to install thousands of special cash-register systems from VeriFone Systems at merchant locations. The plans haven’t yet been made public.

Anaheim, Calif. -- Pacific Sunwear of California announced that total sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 were $263 million, a decrease of 10% from total sales of $293 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Total company same-store sales decreased 7% during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

The company reported a net loss of $35 million, or 53 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 compared with a net loss of $36 million, or 56 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Pacific Sunwear of California announced that total sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 were $263 million, a decrease of 10% from total sales of $293 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Total company same-store sales decreased 7% during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

The company reported a net loss of $35 million, or 53 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 compared with a net loss of $36 million, or 56 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.