US FINANCIAL MARKET
- Japanese authorities have identified the causes of fuel leaks and other problems with Boeing’s 787 but are still investigating the more serious battery problem that forced an emergency landing in January.
- Nordstrom posted a 20 percent increase in fourth-quarter net income.
- Heinz reported a 5 percent drop in its fiscal third-quarter net income. Excluding one-time items, net income from continuing operations beat analysts’ forecasts.
- Hewlett-Packard’s latest quarterly results provided a glimmer of hope after months of gloomy news. HP earned $1.2 billion or 16 percent down from nearly $1.5 billion at the same time a year earlier. Results top analysts’ forecasts. Also, HP isn’t breaking up, Whitman reiterated.
- Volkswagen’s net profit increased 41 percent for 2012 to €21.7 billion ($28.7 billion) on a 21 percent rise in revenues. Revenues were up to €192.7 billion.
- 59-year-old CEO Zetsche, who wants Daimler to overtake BMW and Volkswagen to become the world’s biggest premium carmaker by the end of the decade gets only three years extension in his contract, instead of five years previously expected.
- GM will invest $7.3 billion in its South Korean unit over the next five years.
- Flawed F-35 fighter too big to kill as Lockheed hooks 45 States supporting 133,000 jobs more in nine other countries. “It’s got a lot of political protection,” said, a director at the Project on Government Oversight’s Center.
- The day after PepsiCo’s bottling deal in Thailand expired; its partner of 59 years launched its own soft drink that has knocked Pepsi off store shelves.
US ECONOMY & POLITICS
- U.S. Federal Reserve officials are likely to press on with their bond-buying stimulus program even though some harbor growing concerns the purchases could fuel an asset bubble or inflation if pushed too far. The Fed has more than tripled the size of its balance sheet since 2008 to around $3 trillion through a series of bond buying programs.
- Freshman applications to Harvard University for the 2013-2014 academic year climbed 2.1 percent to a record 35,022 as generous financial aid added to the lure of the U.S.’s oldest and richest college with an endowment valued at more than $30 billion. Applications have risen at other selective schools, including Tufts University and the UC—Berkeley, fueled in part by an interest from international students.
EUROPE & WORLD
- EU says that the economy of the 17 member countries that use the euro will shrink again in 2013. GDP will fall 0.3 percent as unemployment climbs to 12.2 percent.
- German business confidence rose more than economists forecast to a 10-month high in February.
- France is a “problem child” in EU and needs to implement more austerity measures and labor market reforms to regain competitiveness, a senior ally of Merkel said.
TODAY in HISTORY
- Spain ceded Florida to the United States (1819)
- Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store in Utica, NY (1879)
- Calvin Coolidge made the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House (1924)
- Airplanes were no longer permitted to fly over the White House (1935)
Sources: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Bloomberg, CNN Money.
This information has been prepared from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation is being made as to its accuracy or completeness. The information provided should be used only as general information and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. The economic forecasts set forth in the material may not develop as predicted. All indices, such as the S & P 500, are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.
