Home Depot

Home Depot Inc. announced Monday that it was closing its 34 upscale Expo and other home specialty centers and laying off 7,000 people as a result of the crumbling U.S. housing market and worldwide economic downturn. The company said it would close its 34 sprawling Expo Design Center stores by April, including eight in Southern California, and 14 smaller stores. Some employees were stunned. "Shock. It was shock.

Chivas USA has undergone more alterations than Kirstie Alley's wardrobe in its eight seasons as a Major League Soccer franchise. Chivas got its latest new era off to a noteworthy start Saturday with a 1-0 win over the Galaxy before an announced crowd of 18,800 at the Home Depot Center. The win was noteworthy in part because it was the first for Chivas against its stadium roommate since 2007 and just the sixth in 23 meetings overall, vaulting Chivas over the defending MLS champions in the Western Conference standings.

Home improvement chain Home Depot Inc. is looking to fill 2,000 temporary jobs in the Los Angeles area and 70,000 positions nationwide in advance of the spring cleanup and gardening season, its busiest time of year. "Just as the Christmas rush and holiday hiring ends for many retailers, we begin recruiting for spring seasonal associates," Tim Crow, the company's executive vice president for human resources, said in a statement. Crow said a seasonal job at the Atlanta-based chain can lead to a regular position.

Galaxy tonight AT CHIVAS USA When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN 2, ESPN Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 3-5-2, Chivas USA 3-6-1. Record vs. Chivas USA: First meeting. Update: They call this matchup of Home Depot Center roommates the SuperClasico, but there's likely to be nothing either super or classic about a game between two losing teams languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

The Home Depot Inc. is paying new Chief Executive Frank Blake a fraction of what it paid his predecessor, Bob Nardelli, and has taken the unusual step of promising Blake no severance package if he leaves. But experts in executive compensation don't expect Wednesday's decision by the giant home improvement store chain to set a trend in corporate America, despite the ire that hefty compensation packages have drawn among investors.

The thousands of temporary workers who lost their jobs after the holidays dampened the weekly unemployment report. New jobless claims climbed to 399,000 in the week ending Jan. 7. That was 24,000 more than the previous week and the highest number in six weeks, the Labor Department said Thursday . Economists say claims need to drop to no more than 375,000 for a sustained period to make a dent in the unemployment rate, which fell to...

Home Depot says spending on home projects and storm-related repairs helped boost its third-quarter net income 12 percent. Home-improvement retailers are facing cautious consumer spending and a weak housing market. Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc.'s smaller rival Lowe's Cos. reported Monday its third-quarter net income fell 44 percent on restructuring costs. But Home Depot fared better. Its results beat expectations and the company raised its 2011 earnings outlook. The No. 1 U.S. home-improvement retailer says net income rose 12 percent to $934 million, or 60 cents per share.

Question: I am a customer and shareholder in Home Depot Inc. Despite the economy, are there good prospects ahead? Answer: The results of the world's largest home-improvement retailer are tied to consumers' willingness to buy for their homes and to the company's operating efficiency. The question for stock investors is whether both factors will be strong enough to provide robust returns. Despite a sales drop in its fiscal first quarter, which ended May 1, net income rose 12% to $812 million as costs fell, profit margins went up and the company bought back its shares.

Home improvement chain Home Depot Inc. is looking to fill 2,000 temporary jobs in the Los Angeles area and 70,000 positions nationwide in advance of spring, its busiest season. "Just as the Christmas rush and holiday hiring ends for many retailers, we begin recruiting for spring seasonal associates," Tim Crow, the company's executive vice president for human resources, said in a statement. Crow said a seasonal job at the Georgia-based chain can lead to a regular position. Last year, about half of the seasonal hires snagged permanent jobs as cashiers, sales associates and garden associates, among other positions.

Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday a tight lid on expenses helped the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer's third-quarter net income rise 21 percent, despite a lackluster 1 percent revenue increase as home owners continue to hold back on bigger renovation projects. The company trimmed its revenue guidance for the year but raised its expectations for earnings. Net income rose to $834 million, or 51 cents per share, from $689 million, or 41 cents per share. That is better than the 48 cents per share analysts expected, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

When: 8. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN Deportes. Records: Chivas USA 3-5, Fire 2-2-2. Record vs. Fire (2011): 0-1-1. Update: Chivas USA and embattled Coach Robin Fraser head into their fifth home match of the season still looking for their first score at the Home Depot Center. And this time Chivas will be challenged by a short-handed Chicago team that has lost defender Jalil Anibaba and Coach Frank Klopas to one-game suspensions for a post-match scuffle following last week's 2-1 loss to Seattle.

When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket, KWHY. Records: Chivas 3-3, Philadelphia 1-3-1. Record vs. Philadelphia: 0-1-1 (2011). Update: Not only is Chivas USA winless at home this season, in its three matches at the Home Depot Center it hasn't even scored. And the Union hasn't allowed a goal in its last 242 minutes. Something will have to give because Philadelphia is winless on the road. Chivas is riding a two-match winning streak, victories Coach Robin Fraser says have resulted in renewed confidence.

Remember all that talk about the dynasty the Galaxy was building? Never mind. The New York Yankees of soccer looked more like the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, bumbling, fumbling and stumbling in a 3-1 loss to the New England Revolution. "We were certainly beat tonight from the opening kickoff. It's that simple," said Coach Bruce Arena, whose team fell to 1-2 in MLS play and 1-3-1 overall. "We were very poor. " And there may have been some collateral damage in this latest loss after Arena, irate over his team's poor first half, took his anger out on David Beckham, pulling him in favor of Michael Stephens at the start of the second half.

When: 8. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: 1330 and 1220. Records: Galaxy 1-1, Revolution 1-2. Record vs. New England (2011): 1-0-1. Update: The Galaxy, whose far-flung players didn't come together as a team until just days before the season opener, used its two-week break to try to develop some much-needed chemistry on the training pitch, but it also may have lost captain and playmaker Landon Donovan, who will probably miss the game with tightness in his left quad.

--Springtime is Christmas for the home-improvement industry, and Home Depot is marking the season with its third annual "Spring Black Friday" promotion. With warmer-than-usual weather over much of the country, the chain is rolling out deals nationwide, instead of region by region as in previous years. The promotions, which include 50% off select patio furniture, are to continue through April 11. Balmy temperatures have showered good fortune on the industry at large. Retail sales for garden and outdoor-home-improvement merchants rose 18% in February compared with the same period a year ago, according to Global Hunter Securities.

So much for the vote of confidence. With Mexico needing no worse than a runner-up finish in the eight-team CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament to secure a place in this summer's London Games, Coach Luis Fernando Tena is already facing questions about his future should that fail to happen. And that was before his team took the field Friday. But Tena had reason to breathe easier after Mexico overcame a slow start, riding Marco Fabian's hat trick to a 7-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago in the first round of group play before a Home Depot Center crowd of 8,521.

As part of a crackdown on pollutants blamed for causing much of the region's smog, air regulators and several local governments have sued Home Depot Inc. for selling illegal paints and other products. Two related lawsuits filed Thursday allege that from 2007 to 2010, the nation's largest home improvement chain sold paints, wood lacquers and other coatings that contained excessive levels of smog-forming chemicals. According to the lawsuits, the illegal products were sold at more than two dozen stores across Southern California, even after the company was notified that it was breaking local air regulation laws.

The Treasury bond market just can't catch a break. Interest rates jumped again Wednesday, sending stock prices down moderately, after investors demanded a higher-than-expected yield at the government's auction of $19 billion in 10-year notes. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 24 points. The day's activity in the bond market is more troubling news for the housing market, because mortgage rates take their cue from longer-term Treasury yields.

No Major League Soccer team has ever won the recently revamped CONCACAF Champions League. And Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena thinks he knows why. "We probably don't schedule it as a priority," he says. "So there's things as a league that we have to make better for us to have the elite clubs in North America and Central America. We have to grow as a league on the field and off the field in order to achieve that goal. " The Galaxy has a chance to brush aside those obstacles, not to mention Toronto FC, when the two MLS clubs meet in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Home Depot Center in Carson (the game will be televised on Telefutura and Fox Soccer)