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WALL STREET

Dow opens near post-crisis peak but ends lower

NEW YORK (AP) Investors yesterday lifted the Dow above its highest closing trading level since the financial crisis of 2008, but disappointing economic data tempered traders' optimism later session, prompting stocks to finish lower.

The Dow closed down 22 points, or 0.2 percent, at 12,735.

The Dow and other indexes are still up sharply for the year, and for about 45 minutes Thursday morning, the Dow traded above 12,810.54, its peak from last year and the highest close since the spring before the 2008 financial crisis.

The Standard & Poor's 500 closed down 8 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,318. Its post-crisis peak was 1,370.58, also set May 2, 2011.

The Nasdaq shed 13 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,805.

WORLD MARKETS

Asia stocks muted as Japan companies report losses

BANGKOK (AP) Asian stocks have failed to make much headway Friday after disappointing Japanese corporate earnings and U.S. home sales considered crucial to an economic recovery were weaker than expected. Benchmark oil hovered below $100 per barrel while the dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong, said profit-taking was the order of the day as investors remained unconvinced that the overall global economic scenario was changing for the better.

Some traders were in wait-and-see mode ahead of the release of fourth-quarter gross domestic product figures from the U.S. Commerce Department later Friday.

LOW RATES

Fed's low-rate pledge pressures savers

WASHINGTON (AP) Don't talk to retired nurse Marguerite Rece (Reece) of Atlanta about the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates low through late-2014. She says low savings rate are "devastating" for seniors.

Low rates of return are the rule in the savings game. The latest survey from Bankrate.com finds that yields on 1 year CDs are averaging one-third of one percent. For a 5 year CD, the average yield is barely more than 1 percent. During his news conference this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the stress low rates are causing savers, but said it is necessary to boost the overall economy. He said when the broader economy is doing well, that helps investors and savers alike.

ECONOMY-DAY AHEAD

Growth estimate due

WASHINGTON (AP) How did the economy fare in the last quarter of 2011? We'll get an idea about that this morning when the government issues its first estimate of fourth quarter GDP, or growth. Economists are looking for a growth rate of 3.2 percent. That would be up from the previous quarter's lackluster expansion rate of 1.8 percent.

JUSTICE-FINANCIAL PROBERS

Justice unit to probe mortgage-backed securities

WASHINGTON (AP) A new Justice Department fraud-fighting unit will bring together 55 prosecutors and federal and state investigators focusing on one of the contributing factors to the financial crisis the collapse of residential mortgage-backed securities.

Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials will unveil details about the new unit Friday. President Barack Obama disclosed the plan to create the unit in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, one of the co-chairs of the initiative, said it is an effort to pull together state and federal probes into the bubble of mortgage-backed securities that led to the market crash.

GULF OIL SPILL-LITIGATION

Judge: BP contract shielded Transocean in spill

NEW ORLEANS (AP) A federal judge has ruled that the rig owner involved in drilling the ill-fated well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico was shielded by its contract with BP from having to pay many pollution claims in the nation's largest offshore oil spill.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled that Transocean Ltd. is not exempt from paying punitive damages and civil penalties that arise from the April 20, 2010, blowout 100 miles off the Louisiana coast.

He also says Transocean is responsible for claims that are directly related to pollution caused by its rig.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange tells The Associated Press that the Justice Department is working with the states to create an outline for a settlement. A trial on the spill is set for next month.

RUSSELL SIMMONS-PREPAID

Russell Simmons to cut fees on his prepaid card

NEW YORK (AP) Celebrities are vying for a piece of your plastic, or in this case the prepaid card market.

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons says he plans to trim several fees on his prepaid card, which works like a debit card but isn't linked to a checking account. The announcement comes just weeks after financial guru Suze Orman introduced a prepaid card of her own.

Simmons said the fee cuts are the result of rapidly growing demand for his RushCard. He said the bigger profit margins have given him flexibility to cut fees and roll out new services.

But he noted that Orman's entry in to the market should only fuel that growth and push fees down further.

EARNS-STARBUCKS

Starbucks 1Q profit up 10 percent

SEATTLE (AP) Starbucks Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter profit increased 10 percent as the coffee company added stores, customers and new products.

The Seattle-based company reported after the market closed that it earned $382 million, or 50 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Jan. 1.

Revenue increased 16 percent to $3.4 billion.

The results topped analyst expectations.

Starbucks also delivered major gains in its consumer products business, which makes Via instant coffee, Starbucks ice cream and other items for sale in grocery stores and other retailers. Revenue from this segment increased 72 percent.

The company benefited from the addition of 241 new stores during the quarter. Starbucks now operates 17,244 stores worldwide.

Starbucks said that the company is still facing higher costs for coffee beans and other commodities, which cut into its margins during the period. But it expects those pressures to lessen in the second half of the year.

The company offered full-year guidance that was below forecasts and that weighed on shares in after-hours trading.

TACO BELL-BREAKFAST

Taco Bell enters crowded breakfast arena

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Taco Bell is hoping to capture business in the morning hours, having been a mainstay of late-night fast food cravers.

It has introduced a breakfast menu at nearly 800 restaurants in 14 states.

If the launch goes well, Taco Bell plans to begin selling breakfast burritos and hash browns in its 5,600 locations nationwide by 2014.

Breakfast has become the most important meal of the day for restaurants, accounting most of the industry's growth in the past five years. Subway started offering breakfast in 2010. Wendy's is starting to get into the breakfast game, too. And Burger King, Starbucks and McDonald's in recent years have been expanding their offerings of everything from breakfast sandwiches to oatmeal and smoothies.

The menu includes burritos stuffed with eggs and either sausage, bacon or steak; sausage and egg wraps; hash browns; hot or iced coffee; and orange juice.

Customers can buy the breakfast items in Taco Bell locations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. A limited number of stores in Texas, Ohio and Oklahoma also will have the breakfast menu.

TWITTER-CENSORSHIP

Twitter to censor tweets in individual countries

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.

The additional flexibility is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening. It comes as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or "tweets," remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a maze of different laws around the world.

Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweets containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed.

BATTERY MAKER

Parent of Obama-backed battery maker goes bankrupt

WASHINGTON (AP) The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received a $118 million grant from the Obama administration has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Ener1 said it has been affected by competition from China and other countries.

Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel received a $118 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department in 2009, and Vice President Biden visited the company's new battery plant in Indiana last year.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said EnerDel had received $55 million so far. Ener1 said the restructuring would not affect EnerDel's operations.

Ener1 is the third company to seek bankruptcy protection after receiving assistance from the Energy Department under the economic stimulus law. California solar panel maker Solyndra Inc. and Beacon Power, a Massachusetts energy-storage firm, declared bankruptcy last year.