The IMF “Fiscal Monitor” and ratings agencies have both warned Japan and the US on their growing debt loads (Reuters)

Ford Motor’s (NYSE: F) annual profit may be its largest since 2000 (Reuters)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) may pay a higher percent of its bonuses in cash (WSJ)

Oil fell on weak economic data and signs that OPEC output may be up (Reuters)

Sales of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows were weak due to slow PC sales (Reuters)

IDC says that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and China’s ZTE posted strong cellphone sales last quarter (Reuters)

LinkedIn’s IPO will test the public market interest in social networks (Reuters)

Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) plans to split itself into coffee and meat companies in a tax-free distribution (Reuters)

India’s Infosys is seeking M&A prospects (Reuters)

Hedge fund manager John Paulson made a $5 billion profit last year (WSJ)

Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) costs hurt fourth quarter profits, disappointing investors (WSJ)

Lawyers with clients who have sued BP  plc(NYSE: BP) have told many of them to settle with the $20 billion fund set up for compensation (WSJ)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) sales were helped by the Kinect (WSJ)

The Financial Crisis Inquiry report says that 13 large financial firms were close to failure at the beginning of the credit crisis in 2008. About 50 hedge funds tried to profit from their woes  (WSJ)

The video and music services of retailers including Best Buy (NASDAQ: BBY) Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) and Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) have made little progress (WSJ)

Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) has set up funds for a possible bankruptcy (WSJ)

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) said its sales in the developing world have become critically important (WSJ)

Sony (NYSE: SNE) released it NGP portable handheld game device (WSJ)

Euro-zone nations said they would make access to the bailout fund more liberal (WSJ)

Citigroup (NYSE: C) will try to find a buyer for EMI (WSJ)

GM (NYSE: GM) ended its request for $14.4 billion in loans from the Department of Energy. The money was to be used to make its cars more fuel-efficient (WSJ)

P&G (NYSE: PG) sales margins have shrunk due to rising costs of goods (WSJ)

AT&T’s (NYSE: T) growth slowed despite Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone sales. (WSJ)

The head of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) suggested he may restructure the company after poor earnings (WSJ)

The US approved the sale of genetically modified Alfalfa (NYT)

Governments have begun to stockpile food to quell concerns about lack of supply and inflation (FT)

Angela Merkel and the head of Deutsche Bank fought over how to handle the European financial crisis (Bloomberg)

Moody’s (NYSE: MDO) said it may have to put a “negative” outlook on the US Aaa debt rating (Bloomberg)

Lenovo will launch LePads and LePhones to counter Apple’s advances in tablets and smartphones (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

 

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