Utah companies

get DOE grants

Two Salt Lake City companies have been awarded $1 million grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. Materials and Systems Research Inc. will conduct research on enhancing performance of solid oxide fuel cells. Oscilla Power will research ocean wave energy and build a prototype of a generating system.

Trampoline park

eyes milestone

Jump On It, a trampoline park in Lindon about to celebrate its fifth birthday, will give its 250,000th customer and his or her family lifetime memberships to celebrate. Owner Carl Alger said based on "fairly precise calculations of the past five years," the park should see the winning customer soon.

MGIS sells

retail unit

The MGIS Companies, a Salt Lake City-based provider of physician insurance products, has sold its medical liability insurance brokerage unit, MGIS P&C. The unit's accounts and in-force policies were purchased by separate buyers, Doctors First Inc. and Hub International Limited.

JPMorgan loss

may reach $9B

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. tumbled after a published report said that the bank's losses on a bad trade may reach as much as $9 billion — far higher than the estimated $2 billion loss disclosed last month. The company's shares closed Thursday at $35.88, down 90 cents or 2.5 percent.

Split up coming

News Corp says

Calling it the next logical step in a near six-decade evolution, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said it plans to split into two publicly traded companies. Under the proposal, one company will operate as a newspaper and book publisher, while the other will be an entertainment company.

Bank price fixing

probe widens

British Treasury Chief George Osborne said more global banks are being investigated for the alleged financial market manipulation that led to fines of $453 million against Barclays Bank. He said there are investigations in several countries involving Citigroup, UBS, as well as Britain's HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Jobless benefit

claims fall

The number of people seeking U.S. and Utah unemployment benefits fell last week, but the level of applications remains too high to signal a pickup in hiring. The Labor Department said weekly applications fell to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, down from 392,000 the previous week, In Utah, weekly applications fell to 1,620, down from 1,736 in the previous week, according to the state's Department of Workforce Services.