Business News at a Glance

HNA of China, in Need of Money, Raises Funds From Employees

Just before payday, an email went out to employees from top executives: Give us your money, and we’ll make it worth your while. HNA Group, the big Chinese conglomerate struggling under an estimated $90 billion in debt, advertised an “employee treasure” product with an 8.5 percent return if workers handed over $1,500. A similar one dangled 9 percent. A third mentioned a return as high as 40 percent if employees ponied up $15,000. HNA is among a group of large Chinese firms chastened by the government for making splashy overseas purchases of hotels, movie theaters and film production companies.

A Wristband to Track Workers’ Hand Movements? (Amazon Has Patents for It)

What if your employer made you wear a wristband that tracked your every move, and even nudged you via vibrations when it judged that you were doing something wrong? What may sound like dystopian fiction could become a reality for Amazon warehouse workers. The company has won two patents for such a wristband, though it was unclear if Amazon planned to actually manufacture the tracking device. The aim, Amazon says in the patent, is to streamline the “time consuming” task of responding to orders and packaging them for delivery. With guidance from a wristband, workers could fill orders faster.

Alibaba’s Online Growth Surges, Even as It Looks Offline

The Alibaba Group, the Chinese online shopping giant, has become so big that it is looking for growth by forging into new territory: the offline world. Alibaba has snapped up stakes in grocers and in an electronics chain during the past three years, a perhaps counterintuitive series of moves for a company that helps consumers in China buy products with their smartphones. In part, the push is driven by the eventual maturation of its online business. For now, however, online shopping still rules the roost.

Settlements for 3 Wall Street Banks Hold a Silver Lining

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission reached settlements on Monday with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and UBS Group for a type of market manipulation called spoofing. The banks collectively paid just under $47 million to settle the civil charges without admitting any wrongdoing. But while the commission and Justice Department trumpeted their crackdown on market manipulation, the settlements included language that gave all three banks an automatic waiver from the bad actor rule, which was created to make legal settlements with regulators riskier and more financially painful for banks — an incentive for them to avoid the conduct that precipitates such settlements.

Car Navigation Systems Plot a Course Forward Against Phone Apps

How do you get someone to pay hundreds of dollars for an inferior product when most people already have a better one in their pocket? That is the problem facing carmakers trying to sell built-in navigation systems when superior alternatives such as Apple’s Maps, Google Maps and Waze are available for free to anyone with a smartphone. But in-dash navigation systems will be getting smarter, not just learning your preferences and using data connections for timely updates, but crowdsourcing sensor information from connected vehicles to assess traffic problems and road conditions — even guiding you around a newly formed pothole.

Lowe’s Joins Other Big Employers in Offering Paid Parental Leave

The 20 largest employers in the United States now offer paid parental leave to at least some workers. Lowe’s, which had been the only one on that list that gave no employees paid time off after they had a baby, announced a new leave policy for new parents on Thursday. Under the policy, birth mothers will have 10 weeks of paid leave, and all other parents — including fathers and adoptive, foster and same-sex parents — will have two weeks. All salaried and full-time hourly employees, like those who work in Lowe’s stores and distribution centers, will receive the benefit.

In Days After Grammys, a #MeToo Spark Comes to Music

For months, the question made its way through the music industry: When will the #MeToo movement finally come to music? The answer was in the aftermath of Sunday night's Grammy Awards. A high-ranking record executive, Charlie Walk, was accused of sexual misconduct. And a coalition of female music executives has called for the president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, to resign over comments he made after the awards. The drumbeat began Monday, when a blog post appeared on the website of a women’s wellness studio. It accused Walk, president of the Republic Group, of persistent harassment.