European Banks Fall as Prospect of Billion-Dollar Fines Loom and other top stories.

• European Banks Fall as Prospect of Billion-Dollar Fines Loom

  

  Investors in Europe’s biggest banks, frustrated with the problems of today, just got a reminder that the lenders still have to pay for the sins of the past.Shares in Credit Suisse Group AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Barclays Plc and UBS Group AG fell after Deutsche Bank AG disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking $14 billion to settle claims it sold faulty securities before the financial crisis. While U.S. rivals including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. have rea..

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• Consumer Prices in U.S. Increased More Than Forecast in August

  

  The cost of living in the U.S. rose more than projected in August on higher shelter and health-care prices, indicating that inflation continues to move closer to the Federal Reserve’s goal. The consumer-price index climbed 0.2 percent after being little changed the previous month, Labor Department figures showed Friday in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 0.1 percent advance. Excluding volatile food and fuel costs, the so-called core measure rose a b..

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• Boehner gets a smokin' new job

  

  Former House speaker and unrepentant smoker John Boehner has joined the board of tobacco giant Reynolds American Inc. WIBBITZIt’s a match made in heaven, or maybe made in a designated smoking area.Former House speaker and unrepentant smoker John Boehner has joined the board of tobacco giant Reynolds American Inc. The former GOP congressman from Ohio is widely known for his cigarette habit — he generally smokes Camel Ultra Lights, which are made by Reynolds — as well as his close ties to..

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• S&P 500 Gets Something It's Lacked as Consumer, Drug Shares Jump

  

  Today’s rebound in the S&P 500 Index highlights what’s lately been a missing ingredient for investors -- gains in a pair of industries whose fortunes are tied to the economy and politics.For all the blame lobbed at the Federal Reserve, an inconvenient truth for bulls is that the stocks hampering an advance in the U.S. market since it last reached a record are the consumer and health-care stocks that led the seven-year bull market. Both rallied Thursday, helping to push the S&P 500 up 1 percent ..

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• CMO Today: Jessica Alba's Honest Co. In Sale Talks With Unilever

  

  MAKE AN HONEST BUCK: Consumer goods giant Unilever is in talks to acquire Honest Co., the retailer co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, in a deal valued at more than $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. That’s a big figure, sure, but it’s significantly less than the $1.7 billion valuation Honest received in a fundraising round last year. The deal would give Unilever, a marketing behemoth with brands like Axe and Dove, access to the growing “green” cleaning market, as well as the diaper ..

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• Big splash for SJ River

  

  ENVIRONMENT Big splash for SJ River Plan to increase fish flows is widely criticized

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CDC Director: 'Essentially Out of Money' to Fight Zika .	Irish cabinet decides to fight EU on Apple tax .
Birth defects doubled in Brazil since Zika outbreak began, CDC says .	Vast doughnut-shaped reef found in Australia .