Stocks Start the Month Higher; Toyota Begins Fixing Pedals

Market News

• Toyota Motors (TM) has been the subject of headlines for weeks now, but for all the wrong reasons. The company’s massive recall has many owners worried about unintended acceleration, but it looks like the automaker has finally figured out how to fix the problem. The problem is that it may take months to get all the vehicles fixed that are included in the recall.
• Toyota Recall: Five Critical Lessons
• Lending Standards Remain Tight – Banks continued to tighten the terms for loans to consumers and companies last quarter, according to the Fed’s quarterly survey of senior loan officers.
• A report from the Commerce Department showed that spending by US consumers increased in December for a third consecutive month. However, the increase in spending was not as much as analysts had expected. Consumer spending increased by just 0.2%, after growth of 0.7% in November. Economists had expected growth of 0.3%.
• Some longstanding patent disputes between Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Boston Scientific (BSX) have been settled. Boston Scientific Corp. said Monday it would pay J & J $1.73 billion to resolve disputes over cardiac stent products.
• Manufacturing Improves in January – The nation’s factory sector continued to show an expansion in January. The Institute for Supply Management index rose to 58.4% from 54.9%, above the 56.0% expected by economists.
• Exxon Mobil Q4 Profit Falls 23% – Exxon Mobil (XOM), the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said it earned $6.05 billion in the last three months of 2009, down 23% from $7.82 billion a year earlier. This is a far cry from 2008, when Exxon had the highest profit ever for a U.S. company with earnings of $45.2 billion.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is disputing reports that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein could see a bonus of up to $100 million. The Times reported that Mr. Blankfein and other top Goldman bankers outside Britain are set to receive some of the biggest payouts in the firm’s history.
• Does Lloyd Blankfein Have a Death Wish?

Other Interesting Tidbits

• A World of Connections – Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better.
• Why the Rally Stalled as Data Improved – The recovery is here, but it could’ve fooled the market.
• Tax Breaks You Don’t Want to Miss – As tax proposal talk swirls, keep focused on current law for your 2009 filing.
• 25 top-paying companies
• 5 reasons you won’t be able to buy an iPad