On Wednesday February 2, 2011, 6:36 pm EST
DC, Dallas and Boston lead
US in job growth
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jobs are
hard to come by in every U.S. city, but you stand a better chance of getting
hired if you live in Washington, Dallas or Boston.
Those three metropolitan
areas topped the rest of the nation's cities in jobs added in 2010.
And all three are home to
industries that are poised to hire this year. Information technology companies,
biomedical research firms and government contractors are growing industries
that are likely to add to their payrolls in the coming months -- and the
federal government has plenty of jobs listed, too.
The unemployment rate fell
in 207 of the 372 largest metro areas, the most to report a decline since
September. It rose in 122 areas and was the same in 43, the Labor Department
said Wednesday.
Nationwide, the
unemployment rate dropped sharply in December to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent.
About half that decline was because more unemployed workers gave up on their
job searches. The government doesn't count people as unemployed when they stop
looking for work. The metro data lags behind the national data by several
weeks.
Boston, Dallas and
Washington are among the top 10 areas with the most online job ads in January,
according to the Conference Board's help wanted online index.
All three have benefited
from growth in the information technology sector, economists said. Companies
like Intel, which has a plant in the Boston region, are producing more
semiconductors, and computer makers have also boosted output. Corporations are
investing more in computer networking and data storage equipment.
Moody's downgrades 5
Egyptian banks
CAIRO (AP) -- Moody's
Investors Service downgraded the ratings for five Egyptian banks while Standard
& Poor's lowered its assessment on two of the institutions, in the latest
volley of bad news for the economy of a nation mired in violent protests.
Egypt's government,
meanwhile, moved to ensure that food supplies were adequate and reaching the
market as complaints mounted that the business closures stemming from more than
a week of protests could lead to food shortages.
Moody's cuts come just two
days after it lowered Egypt's sovereign rating, citing the unrest that has
gripped the Arab world's most populous nation. It warned that the ratings for
the five lenders -- Banque Misr, NBE, Commercial International Bank, Bank of
Alexandria and Banque du Caire -- remain on review for possible additional
downgrade. Analysts have grown increasingly concerned of a spillover effect,
worried that the chaos will begin to affect other countries in the oil-rich
Mideast.
Both international ratings
agencies cited the political turmoil in Egypt and its potential impact on the
country's economy, raising concerns that included a possible liquidity squeeze
and government's ability to support the banking sector.
S&P cuts Ireland credit
grade over bank debt fears
DUBLIN (AP) -- Ratings
agency Standard & Poor's cut its credit grade for Ireland on Wednesday and
warned it could fall further because of doubts about the true scale of
defaulting loans yet to surface in the country's largely state-owned banks.
S&P joined fellow
agencies Moody's and Fitch in dropping Ireland's credit score following the
nation's November negotiation of a potential euro67.5 billion ($93 billion)
credit line from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Ireland
already has drawn down euro8.4 billion ($11.6 billion) this year from that
rescue fund -- and plowed much of it straight into the cash-strapped coffers of
Dublin banks.
Still, S&P's reduction
Wednesday was just one notch to A minus, one step above the multi-grade cuts
imposed last month by Moody's and Fitch. Both dropped Ireland into the higher-risk
BBB tier in the immediate wake of the EU-IMF bailout deal. The BBB level is
considered the lowest investment-grade rating, whereas BB and lower indicate
"junk bond" status.
S&P senior analyst
Frank Gill warned the agency could also drop Ireland's rating somewhere into
the BBBs in April, once a new Irish government settles in and the impact of the
current infusion of EU-IMF cash into Dublin banks can be assessed.
Visa posts 16 percent jump
in fiscal 1Q profit
NEW YORK (AP) -- Visa Inc.
on Wednesday said its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 16 percent, as debit
card use continued to grow and consumers returned to using credit cards.
The San Francisco company
said net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to $884 million, or
$1.23 per share, from $763 million, or $1.02 per share, in the 2009 period.
Revenue rose across all of
the world's largest payments processing network's main businesses, gaining 14
percent to $2.24 billion, compared with $1.96 billion the prior year.
Visa said its growth was
driven by higher payments volume both in the U.S. and globally. The total
number of transactions handled in the quarter rose 15 percent to 13 billion.
The results topped Wall
Street expectations. Analysts were expecting profit of $1.20 per share on $2.22
billion revenue, according to data provided by FactSet.
Yum Brands reports strong
profit growth
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Yum
Brands Inc., owner of the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC fast-food brands, said
Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income rose 27 percent with robust growth
overseas.
The company's operating
profit in the U.S., where it has struggled as recession-weary consumers remain
at home more often to eat, rose 15 percent. And Pizza Hut's sales at U.S.
restaurants open at least a year -- a key barometer for restaurant performance
-- rose 10 percent. The figure also rose for Taco Bell and KFC.
Yum reported net income of
$274 million for the three months that ended Dec. 25, or 56 cents per share.
That compares with $216 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.
The Louisville-based
company's fourth-quarter revenue was $3.56 billion, up from $3.37 billion.
The results beat analysts'
expectations in some respects and fell short in others. Yum shares closed at
$47.73, up 31 cents, before the report was released. The stock rose another
$1.28, or 2.7 percent, to $49.01 after hours.
Barbie powers Mattel to
holiday sales spike
NEW YORK (AP) -- Barbie,
American Girl and new Monster High dolls all sold strongly for Mattel Inc.
during the fourth quarter, sending revenue up 9 percent.
The growth outpaced the
industry and likely its chief rival Hasbro, which earlier forecast a revenue
decline for the quarter.
The nation's largest toy
maker said Wednesday net income edged down to $325.2 million or 89 cents per
share, from $328.4 million, or 89 cents per share last year. Last year's
quarter included a one-time tax benefit of 8 cents per share, however.
Analysts expected 86 cents
per share, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 9 percent to
$2.12 billion. Analysts expected net income of $2.07 billion.
Barbie revenue rose 8
percent, and Fisher-Price revenue rose 6 percent.
Mattel has seen a
resurgence in its classic Barbie brand since it turned 50 in 2009, in part by garnering
buzz for unconventional versions of the dolls, such as Barbie Video Girl, a
Barbie with a video camera inside
AP source: Hedge boss'
brother cited in NY probe
NEW YORK (AP) -- The
government has identified the brother of one-time billionaire hedge fund
founder Raj Rajaratnam as a co-conspirator in what authorities have called the
biggest hedge fund insider trading case in history, a person familiar with the
probe said Wednesday.
The person told The
Associated Press that Ragakanthan Rajaratnam is the person identified in court
papers filed last week only as "CC-1." That means co-conspirator No.
1.
The person spoke on
condition of anonymity because the younger brother of the hedge fund founder is
not identified publicly by the government. The comments came after The Wall
Street Journal first reported the development.
The Galleon fund's founder
has pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges in a case that prosecutors
say has generated more than $50 million in profits. He remains free on $100
million bail.
His brother, who no longer
works at Galleon, did not immediately return a call for comment left at his
Oakland office at Clorox Co., where he has worked since September 2009. He
previously worked at Galleon as a portfolio manager.
Stop the presses: First
iPad newspaper debuts
NEW YORK (AP) -- A daily
newspaper designed by News Corp. exclusively for Apple's iPad is available for
$40 annually, comparable to what some big-city publishers charge monthly to
deliver their print editions.
The digital newspaper,
called The Daily, debuted Wednesday in Apple Inc.'s App Store. News Corp. CEO
Rupert Murdoch unveiled it in New York after weeks of anticipation.
The Daily is the latest
example of how media companies are trying to mine the iPad's popularity for new
streams of revenue. Last month, a company backed by The New York Times Co., The
Washington Post Co. and USA Today publisher Gannett Co. launched Ongo, a
website that, for $7 a month, pulls together stories from various outlets in
one place and lays them out in a clean, ad-free format.
Newspaper publishers are
especially desperate because the print advertising revenue they have
traditionally relied upon has been falling for the past four years.
News Corp. hasn't been as
hard hit as many publishers, mostly because it can fall back on revenue coming
from its ownership of the Fox television network and the 20th Century Fox movie
studio. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal, one of the few newspapers
able to sell a large number of digital subscriptions.
HP, Dell computers delayed
because of Intel flaw
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. are warning that some of their new computers
are affected by a technical flaw in an Intel Corp. chip.
The problems were expected
when Intel revealed the design error in one of its support chips on Monday.
HP, the biggest personal
computer maker, says only a "small fraction" of its PCs sold since
early January are affected, mostly consumer notebooks and desktops. One desktop
computer model sold to businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa was
also affected.
HP has stopped making
computers with the faulty Intel chip, and customers who bought the problem
machines can get a refund or exchange.
Dell says four of its
computer models are affected, along with several planned products.
By The Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 1.81 points to end the day at 12,041.97. That's the highest close
since June 19, 2008.
The Standard & Poor's
500 index lost 3.56 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,304.03. Nine of its 10 company
groups fell. Financial companies had the largest fall of any group, dropping
0.9 percent.
The Nasdaq composite lost
1.63 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,749.56.
West Texas Intermediate
crude for March delivery settled 9 cents higher at $90.86 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose as high as $91.78 and fell as low
as $90.10. Brent crude gained 60 cents to settle at $102.34 on the ICE Futures
Exchange in London.
In other Nymex trading for
March contracts, heating oil added 2.37 cents to settle at $2.7807 per gallon.
Gasoline futures fell 2.09 cents to settle at $2.4985 per gallon and natural
gas rose 8.2 cents to settle at $4.429 per 1,000 cubic feet.