Tesla's 800-mile cross-country detour

Tesla recently completed its supercharger network along a cross-country route. Click on map to see where superchargers are planned next.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In a publicity move, two teams of Tesla employees left L.A. late Wednesday and hope to make it to New York in three days.

But they won't be taking the most direct route. Tesla's transcontinental network of "superchargers" is spread across about 3,600 miles, according to Google maps. More than 600 of those miles are on smaller highways, not interstates.

Tesla says the route along its network is closer to 3,400 miles long. Either way, that's longer than the most direct way across the country -- about 2,800 miles.

Related: Elon Musk's Tesla family road trip

The Tesla path detours much farther north, taking drivers near Mt. Rushmore but adding hundreds of miles.

Even after it joins up with a more direct northern route, Tesla's trip then swings down to superchargers in Maryland and Delaware, before heading up the New Jersey Turnpike, a frequently congested road that more direct routes essentially avoid.

The superchargers provide enough juice in 30 minutes to take a Tesla about 170 miles. There are 32 stations on the route between downtown Los Angeles and New York City, and more than 40 others mostly up and down both coasts.

The Model S, which starts at about $69,000, needs to be charged every 244 to 306 miles, depending on the battery size.

Tesla says it is adding about one supercharger station a day and by late this year drivers will be able to take more direct routes. It is investing in the superchargers, which are free for Tesla owners, as a selling point.

Tesla owner John Glenney of Lexington, Ky., and his daughter Jill reported in an online forum that they were the first to make a cross-country trip using nothing but the superchargers, completing the trip last weekend.

And Tesla will get more publicity for the route later this spring when CEO Elon Musk plans to hit the road with his five sons.

Musk has joked the journey will be like fictional dad Clark Griswold's road trips in the "Vacation" movies.

Of course, there's an even quicker way to get from Los Angeles to JFK Airport in New York, the East Coast end point of the cross-country network. It's called flying.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 10:55 AM ET

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Stocks: Investors hoping for a rebound

Click on chart to track premarkets

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

U.S. stock futures were edging slightly higher ahead of the opening bell, though global markets were predominantly in the red.

Investors are watching international developments closely, after a reduced flow of cheap money from the Federal Reserve accelerated a sell-off in some emerging market currencies.

U.S. stocks fell more than 1% Wednesday after the Fed said it was cutting another $10 billion per month from its economic stimulus program. Investors were disappointed the central bank didn't address the recent turmoil in emerging markets.

The turmoil has prompted a flight from riskier assets, including stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen on six out of the last seven trading days and is down 5% so far this year. The S&P 500 index has dropped by 4% since the start of 2014, with the bulk of the losses sustained over the past few days.

Related: Fear & Greed Index slides back into extreme fear

Investors will get their first reading of U.S. fourth-quarter GDP from the Commerce Department Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Briefing.com's consensus forecast is calling for annual growth of 3% for the broadest measure of the economy.

Also at 8:30, the government will release its weekly report on initial jobless claims.

Beyond economic data, it's another day chock full of earnings reports.

"Today is one of the busiest days on the corporate reporting calendar with 10% of the S&P 500 provid[ing] earnings updates, including Exxon Mobile and Google which are the second and third largest companies by market cap," Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid wrote in a market note.

UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) are on deck to report ahead of the opening bell, while. Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) are set to report in the afternoon.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

There have been some bright spots. Facebook (FB, Fortune 500) shares surged more than 13% in premarket trading following strong quarterly sales and earnings results.

Google shares also rose after the company announced it was selling its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to China's Lenovo for $2.9 billion.

Related: Asia stocks battered by emerging market fears

European markets were in negative territory in morning trading, and Asian markets also took a knock.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5% and Australia ASX All Ordinaries lost 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite, which often diverges from other Asian markets, advanced 0.6%.

The HSBC report on Chinese manufacturing showed a retraction, coming in at 49.5 for January, down slightly from the flash reading of 49.6. Any reading below 50 signals contraction.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 5:14 AM ET

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Economy grew solidly in fourth quarter

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Gross domestic product -- the broadest measure of economic activity -- grew at a 3.2% annual pace in the fourth quarter, according to a Commerce Department report. That figure beat economists' expectations, and although it's not indicative of gangbusters growth, the data seems to show the economy is moving forward modestly. GDP rose at a 4.1% clip in the third quarter.

"We've got a good balance, and that's a positive for job growth going forward," said John Silvia, Wells Fargo chief economist.

Consumer spending picked up at a 3.3% annual pace, its highest level of growth in three years. The strongest area for spending was food services and accommodation, a category that includes restaurants, bars and hotels. Spending on these services alone grew at a 10.2% annual rate in the fourth quarter, its fastest pace since 1992.

Spending also picked up in almost every other category, including clothing, autos and health care.

Meanwhile, international trade was a large driver of economic growth, as exports grew at a faster clip than imports from other countries.

But cuts in federal government spending continued to weigh on the economy. GDP would have grown at a 4.2% pace in the quarter, if it weren't for federal spending cuts, according to the report.

For the whole year, the economy grew 1.9%, down from a 2.8% growth rate in 2012.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 8:59 AM ET

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Why Lenovo was hot for Motorola

Chinese tech company Lenovo has announced two major purchases in recent weeks.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

The acquisition -- from Google -- is the largest ever by a Chinese tech company, and represents an ambitious departure for Lenovo. The firm is best known as a PC maker, but there are plenty of signs suggesting that is about to change.

In Motorola, Lenovo gets a brand that is one of the most respected in the business. Motorola is also strong where Lenovo is weak -- in western markets and especially the United States.

And Lenovo gains mobile expertise, which should help it improve on its lackluster early smartphone offerings.

The Chinese company is the world's fourth biggest smartphone maker after Samsung (SSNLF), Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Huawei. But Lenovo is clearly looking to gain market share, and was reportedly interested in buying BlackBerry (BBRY) before the Canadian firm took itself off the market.

Related story: Can Lenovo do it?

In a conference call with reporters, Lenovo executives said they were hoping to sell more than 100 million smartphones a year soon, challenging Apple and Samsung.

So what makes Lenovo think it can succeed in a sector that is among the most competitive in the world? Well, they've done it before.

Lenovo bought IBM's (IBM, Fortune 500) ThinkPad division in 2005 and was able to turn it into a dominant force. The lessons learned over the past decade could now provide the basis for an aggressive expansion into mobile.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) CEO Larry Page may have said it best himself.

"Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola into a major player within the Android ecosystem," he wrote in a blog post. "They have a lot of experience in hardware, and they have global reach."

"Lenovo intends to keep Motorola's distinct brand identity—just as they did when they acquired ThinkPad from IBM," he added.

Related: China Mobile kicks off Apple iPhone bonanza

More than anything, the deal is just the latest indication of Lenovo's growing ambition.

Lenovo announced another big transaction with an American company last week, agreeing to pay $2.3 billion for IBM's low-end x86 server business.

Both deals require regulatory approval, including from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which reviews purchases of U.S. companies to make sure they don't undermine national security.

"I am confident we will be successful with this process, and that our companies will not only maintain our current momentum in the market, but also build a strong foundation for the future," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said of the Motorola deal.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 4:50 AM ET

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Stocks rebound as earnings back into focus

Click the chart for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all gained in early trading.

The government announced Thursday that the economy grew at a solid 3.2% pace in the third quarter, driven by strong consumer spending and exports. That figure beat economists' expectations, and although it's not indicative of gangbusters growth, the data seems to show the economy is moving forward modestly.

U.S. stocks fell more than 1% Wednesday after the Fed said it was cutting another $10 billion per month from its economic stimulus program. Investors were disappointed the central bank didn't address the recent trouble in emerging markets.

Stocks around the world have been rattled in this week as investors worry about an emerging markets currencies sell-off sparked by a reduced flow of cheap money.

Related: Fear & Greed Index remains in extreme fear

But a healthy batch of corporate earnings helped lift sentiment.

Visa (V, Fortune 500) shares rose on better-than-expected results. The credit and debit card processing company has the biggest weighting in the Dow.

Facebook (FB, Fortune 500) shares soared 14% to a new all-time high following strong quarterly sales and earnings. The social media giant's results showed the company has made huge strides in mobile advertising. Shares of rival Twitter (TWTR), which reports its results next week, also soared. The two stocks the biggest gainers in CNNMoney's Tech 30 index.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) jumped after the company announced it was selling its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to China's Lenovo for $2.9 billion. Google will report its fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell. So will Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500).

Shares of Under Armour (UA) surged its earnings blew past Wall Street expectations.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30

European markets moved mostly higher in afternoon trading, but Asian markets ended in the red. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5%.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 9:49 AM ET

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U.S. seeks $2.1 billion from Bank of America

The federal government is seeking $2.1 billion in fines from Bank of America.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The amount is a significant increase from the previous request for $863 million.

The case involved mortgages sold in 2007 and early 2008 to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-backed mortgage finance companies. The loans were made under a Countrywide program known as the "High-Speed Swim Lane" but were known internally at the lender as "the Hustle" according to the Justice Department.

A jury found Bank of America guilty of fraud last October in a civil case involving Countrywide's actions. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) acquired Countrywide in 2008.

Related: Bank of America warns of fresh U.S. lawsuit

In the motion filed late Wednesday, the government argues that Countrywide's gross proceeds from the sale of mortgage loans involved in the case topped $5 billion and that experts have determined 43% of those loans were "defective and sold with misrepresentations."

The case was originally brought by Edward O'Donnell, a former Countrywide executive who claims to have complained repeatedly about loan quality standards at the firm. O'Donnell, who could be awarded up to $1.6 million in the case, filed the suit under federal whistleblower laws and the Justice Department later joined.

Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson said the gross loss on the loans was only the $863 million that the government had previously requested and that the net loss after the foreclosed properties were sold by the lenders was only $130 million.

"This claim bears no relation to a limited Countrywide program that lasted several months and ended before Bank of America's acquisition of Countrywide," said Grayson. "We will present the relevant facts in a detailed response soon."

A hearing on the fines is set for March 13.

Early last year Bank of America reached a separate $10.3 billion settlement with Fannie Mae to deal with questionable home loans it sold to Fannie.

-- CNNMoney's James O'Toole contributed to this report

First Published: January 30, 2014: 10:46 AM ET

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World markets recover after U.S. GDP

European markets recovered after the latest U.S. GDP data was released.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

European markets were in negative territory for much of the day but rallied after the U.S. Commerce Department reported strong economic growth in the final three months of 2013.

Meanwhile Asian markets dropped Thursday, closing before the U.S. growth data was released.

The falls in Asia followed a sharp decline in U.S. equities Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it would continue cutting back on its stimulus measures.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.8%. The Australia ASX All Ordinaries also lost 0.8%.

The move down in Asian markets may have been exaggerated by low volumes, said ETX Capital market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi, noting that the Chinese lunar new year likely distracted many traders.

World markets have been rattled in recent weeks by growing fragility in Turkey, India, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa as the Fed rolls back the bond-buying program that has supported economic growth and flows of cash into emerging markets.

Weakness in China's all-important manufacturing sector has only added to worries.

Related story: Google to sell Motorola Mobility unit to Lenovo

Emerging market currencies have suffered a broad decline, and even drastic efforts to control the situation appear to be falling short.

On Tuesday, Turkey's central bank increased its key overnight lending rate to 12% from 7.75%.The Turkish lira fell further Wednesday.

India and South Africa have also raised rates this week to stabilize shaky currencies. The Argentinian peso has been in free fall since Argentina's government moved to devalue the currency last week.

Many emerging markets have benefited over the past few years as the Fed and other central banks have pumped money into the global economy.

But investors have been pulling out of emerging markets this year now that the Fed has begun to scale back its bond buying. The central bank said Wednesday that it would reduce its bond-buying program to $65 billion a month from $75 billion.

The bet is that higher rates in the U.S. and a stronger dollar will make emerging market investments far less attractive.

First Published: January 29, 2014: 9:56 PM ET

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Obamacare deadbeats: Some don't pay up

Those who didn't pay their Obamacare premiums will see their policy selection canceled.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Around one in five people who picked health insurance policies on the state and federal exchanges last year haven't paid their first month's premiums, according to insurers polled by CNNMoney. These folks will likely see their policy selection canceled and they'll be left uninsured.

Some 2.1 million people signed up for a plan in time for their coverage to start January 1, according to the Obama administration. But with the payment deadlines stretching until January 31 at the latest, anywhere between 12% and 30% of those folks still haven't paid up, insurers say.

Most consumers were given until the middle or the end of January to pay their first premium, a necessary step to actually activating enrollment. Exchange officials and insurers repeatedly stressed the importance of sending in that first payment, with some following up with the slackers by phone or letter.

The true enrollment figure likely won't be known for a few weeks.

Share your story: Have you begun using your Obamacare benefits?

Scott & White Health Plan reached out 10 times to each person who hadn't paid and delayed the deadline to Jan. 30, said Allan Einboden, chief executive. Early on, people said there were confused about what they needed to do to activate their policies. Others, however, said they were looking at alternative options or were considering forgoing coverage.

The Texas-based insurer expected its payment rate to be in the high 80% range by its deadline, Einboden said, noting that about 450 people had signed up for coverage starting Jan. 1.

Other insurers cited figures in a similar range. More than 70% of those who signed up for Aetna (AET, Fortune 500) plans sent in payments by its mid-month deadline, while 88% of Medical Mutual of Ohio's 6,500 applicants paid their bill by the Jan. 15 cutoff. That was more than Medical Mutual had projected.

A majority of WellPoint's would-be members have paid, said WellPoint's chief financial officer, but not a "vast majority." WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500), a major player in the exchanges with 500,000 applications, has given folks until Jan. 31 to pay.

I signed up for Obamacare!

Those who don't pay are receiving termination letters. CoOportunity Health said about 18% of the 11,000 Nebraska and Iowa residents who had signed up missed its Jan. 24 payment deadline and would receive cancellation notices this week. But even this final notice told recipients to call if they had intended to pay the premium.

The insurer had projected up to 20% wouldn't activate their enrollment.

"We figure either those people had a change of heart or thought it was too expensive," said Cliff Gold, CoOportunity's chief operating officer. "Or maybe some people decided to keep what they had."

Insurers are generally pleased with the payment rates, though they are grousing about having to weed out the deadbeats, said Paul Tiede, an executive vice president at SunGard, which works with insurers on billing. There's been a huge uptick in payments in recent weeks.

"Money is flowing in the door," Tiede said.

Now insurers have to start tallying the next wave of payments. Most of those who signed up this month for coverage to start Feb. 1 have until Friday to pay and activate their enrollment.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 10:49 AM ET

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Worst is yet to come for Fragile Five

The Fragile Five have seen currencies plummet 15% to 20% over the past year

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Among the hardest hit are Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa -- dubbed the 'Fragile Five' by Morgan Stanley last August.

Those countries have seen their currencies tumble 15% to 20% over the past year. And that plunge has continued this month, despite a series of aggressive and, in some cases, unexpected interest rate rises aimed at stopping the rot.

So after years of rapid expansion, and relative calm, what's going wrong?

For one, economic growth has slowed. As a group, emerging and developing economies grew on average by 6.4% over the past decade. Last year, that number was 4.5% and it's forecast to rise only modestly in 2014.

And signs of instability in China's huge shadow banking system have raised fears of a credit crunch that would make it hard for Beijing to deliver its 7.5% growth target. The first decline in factory activity in six months has only made matters worse.

Cheap money is also drying up. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it would continue pulling back on its stimulus, to the tune of $10 billion.

That means the U.S. central bank will pump $65 billion a month into the U.S. economy, down $20 billion from December. And the flow of cash is likely to cease completely by the end of this year.

But that doesn't entirely explain the dramatic moves seen in some markets. Take India, for example. "The (Fed) decision was expected and should not in any way surprise or affect the Indian markets," the Indian finance ministry said Thursday. That country's central bank surprised investors with an interest rate hike this week, in an effort to calm the turmoil.

Related: Is this an emerging markets crisis or not?

Still, the gradual normalization of monetary policy and rising U.S. interest rates make it less attractive to invest in emerging markets, particularly those which have failed to tackle deep-rooted problems during the years of plenty, or where other risks abound.

And that's where the Fragile Five come in. Over the past year or two, all have experienced slower growth, along with a heavy dependence on foreign capital, and stubbornly high inflation of between 6% and 11%.

"Several of the most vulnerable emerging markets in terms of external balances -- Turkey, South Africa and Brazil -- have not yet seen their currencies fall to fair value," UBS noted this week.

HSBC Chief Economist Stephen King said some of the weakest were experiencing a loss of competitiveness similar to that seen in countries of the eurozone periphery before the euro crisis.

Political upheaval is another thing they have in common, and may be the single factor that determines whether they can bounce back or not.

The Fragile Five all face elections at some point in 2014, making painful reforms even less likely.

In Turkey, where the lira fell to a record low this week despite interest rates almost doubling overnight, the prime minister has faced calls to resign over a wide-ranging probe into corruption. Local and presidential elections are due later this year.

Related: Buckle up! 2014 will be a bumpy ride

The African National Congress may well lose ground in parliamentary elections this year but are still likely to form the next South African government. That will reduce the chances of major reform.

India's finance minister was talking up his country's prospects at last week's World Economic Forum ahead of national elections, but a weak coalition and continued policy stagnation remains the most likely outcome.

Brazil may catch a break from hosting the soccer World Cup in June, and in Indonesia, the popular governor of Jakarta is a clear front-runner for July's presidential election. But the biggest economies in Latin America and southeast Asia are not out of the woods.

"There is a risk of the problems spreading to other countries. Brazil and Indonesia, for example, have current account deficits, exposure to China and lofty inflation," noted BNP Paribas economist Dominic Bryant.

-- Charles Riley in Hong Kong contributed to this article

First Published: January 30, 2014: 9:59 AM ET

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Stretched food pantry runs out of food

A donor poses with Rev. Alex Dyer, who runs Loaves & Fishes, a food pantry in New Haven, Conn.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)

Run by the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, the pantry has been pushed to the brink from recent decisions in Washington that resulted in cuts to food stamps and jobless benefits for the unemployed.

For most of last year, the little food pantry was feeding an average of 225 families a week. Then, starting in November, more families started showing up. That's when Congress failed to extend a recession-era bump in food stamps, which cut $11 less from each recipient's monthly grocery money.

The pantry is now feeding 300 families. And things could get worse.

This week, Congress is poised to pass a farm bill that would again trim food stamp benefits for 850,000 beneficiaries in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

It's a tough situation for Loaves & Fishes, which has been juggling between canned food and a dwindling supply of fruits and vegetables for the families.

"We had to get creative. . . we dipped into our reserves for next week," said Rev. Alex Dyer, director of the food pantry. "Our need has increased dramatically, but we're now describing it as the 'new' normal."

Related: 850,000 may have $90 less in food stamps

Dyer's situation is becoming an all too common story at food pantries that are reporting spikes nationwide.

All told, the farm bill cut will affect less than 2% of food stamp beneficiaries. They were eligible for more generous food stamps if they applied for federal help to heat or cool their homes.

Some received more food stamps, even though they may have received as little as $1 for heating. Lawmakers say they are closing that loophole.

The cuts aren't small. It could slice an average of $90 a month from their food stamps allotment. Those affected include people living in states along the North East coast (north of Maryland) as well as Wisconsin, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Washington and California.

Related: The Super Rich are mad as hell - and doing great

Food banks in states facing the cut, like Loaves & Fishes, say they're bracing for the worst.

"It's frustrating to see children and hardworking people go through our lines, and a lot of them are here for the first time," said Dyer. "You can talk all you want in Washington about this and that, but when you're in the trenches, it's just a different emotion."

New York food stamp recipients are among the worst hit, with some 300,000 facing cuts, according to congressional data.

Already, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens have been under tremendous strain, with 85% of them reporting an increase in hungry families in November compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a recent survey by the major food supplier for the area, the Food Bank For New York City.

Related: How to feed your family from a food bank

More people are in need now than when Hurricane Sandy hit, said Margarette Purvis, president and CEO of the nonprofit which supplies 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens.

The situation is so severe, the survey found, that half of New York City's food pantries said they've run out of food at some point, and a quarter have had to turn away hungry families.

"Demand is higher now with this man-made disaster, than it was during the national disaster, it's very upsetting," Purvis said. "We're sad today," she added, about the news that the House had passed the farm bill, portending deeper cuts in New York City.

Enrollment in the anti-hunger program soared during the Great Recession and remain at historically high levels. In October, nearly 15% of Americans received food benefits, according to the most recent federal data, with the average monthly benefit at $134 per person.

Often overlooked in the food stamp political debate is that about half of all beneficiaries are children and another quarter of them are elderly.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 10:39 AM ET

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Hardest part of being the boss: Firing people

Binfire cofounder David Robins (center) with members of his team and the office dog Yoyo.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Robins speaks from experience. Cofounder of Binfire, which makes collaborative project-management software, Robins has let three key employees go since 2010 -- all within six months of their start dates.

Delivering the bad news that an employee isn't working out is like ripping off a Band-Aid: It's best done quickly.

"As soon as you know that someone is damaging the productivity of the team or preventing the company from reaching its goals, you must act, because the longer you wait, the harder it gets," Robins said.

At Binfire, one of the departed was the chief technical officer, whose wife was also starting a company -- and depending on him to run crucial parts of it.

"I told him we would need 100% of his time, and he assured me he was totally with us," recalled Robins. As it turned out, that wasn't so: The CTO missed crucial meetings, often showed up late, and "was always very tired."

Related: How to successfully launch a second startup

When Robins questioned him, the CTO admitted he was putting in long hours with his wife's company "as a fallback, in case Binfire didn't work out," Robins said. "I thought for two minutes, consulted one of our directors, and fired him. It was one of the most difficult things I ever did. But we couldn't afford less than his full attention."

Nor could Binfire, like most start-ups, make do with employees who couldn't get along with coworkers and constantly disrupted their teams -- a description that fit Robins' other two fired employees.

The trauma of firing the wrong employees made Robins change his approach to finding the right ones.

First, he says, the erstwhile CTO made him cautious about hiring friends.

"Knowing someone outside of business makes you drop your guard, so that you don't dig hard enough," Robins said. "If I had not known him socially, I would have asked tougher questions -- and probably realized how involved he was in his wife's start-up."

Related: How I emerged from bankruptcy to grow a thriving company

Robins has also changed how he evaluates candidates. He no longer interviews people by himself. Now, he wants to see potential hires in a group setting with prospective teammates, which he usually does over lunch.

"People talk about work but also about all kinds of other things," Robins said. He pays close attention to how carefully the candidates listen. "Someone who is willing to listen to others, even if they disagree, tends to be a better team player."

Robins also instituted a three- to six-month probationary period before hiring anyone full-time, with the understanding that the candidate and the company will try each other out and see how they get along.

So far, his new three-part strategy is working. Of five candidates on probation in the past year, "everyone has 'passed'," Robins said. "I haven't had to fire anyone."

First Published: January 23, 2014: 7:10 AM ET

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Stocks: Dow poised for more losses

Click on chart for more premarket data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

U.S. stock futures were broadly weaker.

That follows Wednesday's mixed markets close. The Dow fell, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both ended with small gains.

Stocks have been off to a rocky start in 2014 while bonds have outperformed. After last year's big rally, investors are looking for signs the economy will be strong enough to keep the bull market going.

Related: Fear & Greed Index swings back towards 'greed'

Things got rolling Thursday morning when cell phone maker Nokia (NOK) reported a bigger than expected loss and drop in sales, sending its shares lower. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), which is in the process of buying Nokia, is set to report its results after the bell. In addition to results investors will be looking for information on its CEO succession plans.

Fast food chain McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) reported a modest gain in income but revenue that fell short of forecasts. Shares were slightly lower in premarket trading on the news. Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) is due to report in the after the bell.

Shares of IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) rose in premarket trading after it announced a deal early Thursday to sell part of its server business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo (LNVGF) for $2.3 billion.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) soared after the company reported its biggest gain in subscribers in a quarter in three years.

Shares of eBay also continued to climb after investor Carl Icahn announced he would nominate two candidates for its board of directors, and submitted a non-binding proposal to spin out PayPal into a separate business.

But Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares were slightly lower though after gaining Wednesday following Icahn's disclosure that he had increased his stake in the company by $500 million.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

European markets were mixed in morning trading, with France's CAC 40 up 0.2%. Germany's Dax turned the other way, slipping 0.2%.

Asian markets notched sharp falls following a disappointing report on manufacturing activity in China. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5% and Korea's Kospi lost 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.8%.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 5:44 AM ET

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Investors go globetrotting for bargains

Individual investors are starting to plow a lot more money into international stocks as the U.S. market takes a breather.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

According to data from fund tracker Lipper, individual investors plowed $4.4 billion into funds that invest in stocks outside of the U.S. during the first half of the month. That's almost two-thirds of the money that flowed into all stock funds.

The bulk of that cash was pumped into funds with exposure to Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, according to Tom Roseen, head of research services at Lipper.

"What investors are basically doing here is making bets on developed international markets," he said.

That's a big turnaround from recent years, when a deep recession in Europe and stagnation in Japan had investors looking to emerging markets for growth. But the slowdown in India and China has given investors pause lately.

Related: Chinese IPOs already too hot?

Europe seems to be particularly attractive to many investors since there is a perception that the worst of the continent's economic problems appear to be over.

Jeff Sica, who manages $1 billion on behalf of wealthy individuals and families, said there's a lot of pent up demand in Europe as fears of a credit crisis fade.

"Europe has been priced for a banking catastrophe that didn't happen," he said.

Sica added that clients are also asking more about investing in Japanese stocks, which have soared amidst the government's easy money policies aimed at reversing decades of stalled growth.

But Sica cautions against putting money into Japan at the height of the market. The Nikkei 225, after all, did even better than the S&P 500's 30% gain last year. Japan's benchmark index went up nearly 57%.

"Japan is a disaster, it's going to implode," he said, adding that he tells clients to wait until Japanese stocks decline before investing.

Related: Japan's Abe says he is beating deflation

Japanese stocks are also more expensive than their U.S. counterparts. The Nikkei is trading at around 18.5 times 2014 earnings estimates, according to FactSet. The S&P 500 is trading at 15.6 times profit forecasts for this year.

But Mark Martiak, a senior wealth strategist with Premiere Wealth/First Allied Securities, which manages $350 million, is still bullish on Japan.

He feels that Japan still has room to run given the country's manufacturing strength and competitiveness with China.

Since the fourth quarter of 2013, Martiak has been steadily increasing his clients' exposure to international stocks. He recommends that investors have 10% to 15% of their portfolio invested in developed markets outside of the U.S. and a just 5% to 10% weighting in emerging markets.

Related: How much should you hold in stocks?

Still, he agrees with Sica about the prospects for Europe. Martiak said his clients are asking him to find undervalued stocks in Europe. He also thinks that low inflation and stimulus from the European Central Bank will help.

European stocks also look relatively cheap. The Stoxx 50 is trading at roughly 13.2 times 2014 earnings estimates.

Whether or not Europe or Japan is a better place to invest than the U.S. is still up for debate. But Brian Reed, chief economist of the Investment Company Institute, argues that all investors need some international exposure. The days of the U.S. being the only game in town are long gone.

"Some of the leading financial advice firms in early 2000's were recommending zero allocation outside of U.S.," Reed said. "There's now greater appreciation for the importance of having a global allocation in the average investor portfolio."

Roseen said that some investors may be going global so they don't have all their eggs in one basket. But he said that the international shift could also be due to a realization that the U.S. bull market could be nearing its end. In other words, some investors "really think the grass is greener on the other side."

First Published: January 23, 2014: 10:49 AM ET

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Immigration reform? There's an app for that

In an effort to promote immigration reform, tech-back advocacy group FWD.us launched Push4Reform, an app aimed at helping supporters connect with Congress.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Push4Reform gathers information about members of Congress and their stances on immigration. People who use the app can enter their ZIP code to learn whether their representatives and senators support particular immigration reforms, what their reps have said publicly about the topic and find the best ways to connect with them.

The app is a small step in a larger movement by FWD.us, an advocacy group led by Facebook (FB, Fortune 500) founder Mark Zuckerberg and entrepreneur Joe Green and supported by numerous Silicon Valley titans. The group lobbies Congress to take action on immigration reform.

In November, FWD.us hosted a hackathon with so-called DREAMers -- undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children and remain undocumented.

"Who better to communicate immigration reform and build apps than the potential beneficiaries themselves?" Green asked CNNMoney.

Related: Twitter cofounder launches new app

Twenty tech-skilled undocumented immigrants worked with tech founders like Zuckerberg and LinkedIn (LNKD) co-founder Reid Hoffman to develop apps for the cause.

Push4Reform won "Best Advocacy" at the contest.

"This product is a great example of the best of tech and the best of Washington coming together," Green says.

Entrepreneurs Luis Aguilar, Justino Mora, and Kent Tam created the app.

Aguilar, who immigrated from Mexico when he was nine, taught himself to code but was forced to drop out of college due to the out-of-state tuition costs. Mora came to the United States when he was 11 and studies computer science and political science at UCLA. Tam also studied at UCLA and struggled to find a job due to his immigration status.

With Congress back in session after the New Year's break, the group is looking to amp up their push to reform.

But tech entrepreneurs are often the first to acknowledge the gap between Silicon Valley and and Washington. And Silicon Valley's tech approach to problem-solving isn't always consistent with deep-rooted policy change.

Green acknowledges that calling for reform in Washington may take more than code, but the entrepreneur remains optimistic.

"I think there is more similarity between the two places, in that they are both driven by big goals and big ideas," he says. "But look, in Silicon Valley if you don't like the way something works, you just go around it. You're not going to go around Congress. Congress is there and you want to try to take a pragmatic approach to getting stuff through."

First Published: January 23, 2014: 7:06 AM ET

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Yahoo-AOL marriage would be rocky

Are Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong ready for a marriage between their struggling companies?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Neither company has suggested a deal is in the works. But there has been a lot of chatter about it -- mostly from a Toronto-based hedge fund manager with stakes in both firms.

"There's no question in my mind," said the fund manager, Ironfire Capital's Eric Jackson. "These companies are going to merge."

AOL (AOL) is up 5% over the past week -- though some of that is also due to the company selling its majority share in the money-losing local news site Patch.

Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and AOL do seem like a good pair: Both are in the same business of selling online ads pegged to news or entertainment content. A new, combined company could reduce costs by cutting staff, since one advertising team could sell the content of both companies, said Jackson.

AOL owns some potentially lucrative media brands, including the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget. And after Yahoo's Editor-in-Chief Jai Singh stepped down last week, AOL content chief Arianna Huffington would seem to have an office ready for her at Yahoo.

Related: Ousted Yahoo exec's golden parachute may be a record

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is under pressure to grow the company's core advertising business. Though Yahoo's stock has soared lately, that has more to do with Yahoo's stake in some lucrative Asian assets than the performance of its ad sales, which is sluggish.

"It would be a way of saying 'we are growing,'" said Jackson, who believes Yahoo could buy AOL tax-free by using the proceeds from a sale of Yahoo Japan. "I think it will be too tempting to pass up."

Still, some analysts don't think a deal is likely.

First, there's the matter of what exactly Yahoo would be getting. The main challenge for both firms, analysts say, is to make more money off the millions of people that already visit the sites. Increasing an audience is important, which the AOL deal would do, but the bigger issue is that Yahoo and AOL haven't been selling ads to their existing customers effectively.

This is especially important in the face of growing competition from the likes of Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB, Fortune 500), which tend to have more information about their users and are hence more attractive to advertisers.

"Yahoo would be buying content, and we're not sure what value that would add," said Rick Summer, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar. "We'd be very lukewarm on the deal."

And then there's the question of leadership. Both Mayer and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong are high-profile CEOs with strong personalities. Yahoo recently fired its chief operating officer, Henrique de Castro, leaving a potential opening for Armstrong. But industry analysts say it's unlikely that he would want to take a No. 2 role.

"Who's going to step down?" asked Victor Anthony, an internet media analyst at Topeka Capital Markets. "They both have something to prove, and neither one has really proved it yet."

A Yahoo and AOL pairing looks good on paper, but a merger might just make two struggling companies into one, bigger struggling company.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 4:00 AM ET

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No. 1 Toyota fends off GM and VW in global sales race

A Toyota dealership in China, which is the world's largest market for car sales.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

On Thursday, Toyota (TM) reported it sold 9.8 million passenger vehicles, up about 2% from 2012 and just ahead of the 9.7 million cars and trucks sold at No. 2 General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and 9.5 million sold at Volkswagen AG.

GM and VW both narrowed the gap with Toyota, however. GM reported a 4% gain in and VW's passenger car sales rose 5%.

Related: Top 10 luxury cars in China

Toyota also set a 2014 sales goal of 10.1 million passenger cars. It forecasts it sales in Japan to decline and its overseas sales to rise.

Still, Toyota has a large lead in Japanese sales over its global rivals. But it trails GM and VW in China sales and lags GM and Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) in U.S. sales.

Experts say that overall business will improve this year in both China and the United States, the two largest markets.

U.S. vehicle sales are expected to top 16 million for the first time since 2007, up from 15.6 million in 2013.

Sales in China, which last year became the first country to hit 20 million vehicles, are expected to reach 22.6 million vehicles in 2014, according to forecaster IHS Global.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 8:17 AM ET

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India pulling old money to fight counterfeiters

Counterfeit money is a growing problem in India.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

In a statement issued Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India said it will withdraw all banknotes issued before 2005 from the banking system by March 31. Banks will have to exchange the affected bills when requested.

Related: India headed for 8% growth

A spokesperson for the central bank, Alpana Killawala, told CNN the move will help feed newer and more secure banknotes into the financial system.

"There are many new features that didn't exist in those old notes," Killawala said. The central bank has called on the public "not to panic" and emphasized the affected banknotes are still legal tender.

Related: $1.2M gold haul found on a plane in India

The cash-reliant society has a rising problem with fake money.

A report published by the central bank last year found the number of counterfeit notes has jumped in recent years.

Central banks around the world are moving to introduce plastic currencies to boost protection against fraud. The U.K. will start issuing polymer banknotes in 2016.

More than 25 countries already use polymer bills, including Australia, Mexico and Canada. Plastic notes are more durable and are cheaper to produce over time.

--CNN's Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 8:28 AM ET

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Dow falls 160 points on earnings fears

Click the chart for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow fell more than 160 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down nearly 1%. If the Dow finishes the day lower, that would be the third straight day of declines.

Stocks have been off to a rocky start in 2014 while bonds have outperformed. After last year's big rally, investors are looking for signs the economy will be strong enough to keep the bull market going. And so earnings have come squarely in focus.

Related: Top stock picks from top pros

Shares of Nokia (NOK) tanked after the cell phone and networking equipment maker reported a bigger than expected loss and drop in sales. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), which is in the process of buying the device business of Nokia, will report its earnings after the bell. In addition to results investors will be looking for information on Microsoft's CEO succession plans.

McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) was slightly higher Thursday after it reported a modest gain in income but revenue that fell short of forecasts. But it was just one of two Dow stocks that were higher in early trading. UnitedHealth (UNH, Fortune 500) was the other.

Shares of IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) were up a bit after it announced a deal early Thursday to sell part of its server business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo (LNVGF) for $2.3 billion. IBM fell on Wednesday as well following a weak earnings report.

Facebook (FB, Fortune 500)shares dropped Thursday after a report Wednesday calling the social media giant's longevity into question by comparing it to Myspace. Facebook had been on a tear, but investors have pulled back in recent days as they gear up for the company's earnings next week.

Shares of Herbalife (HLF) plunged after Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called for an investigation into the company's business practices. The vitamin and nutritional supplements distributor has been caught in the middle of a battle between hedge fund titans, including Pershing Square's Bill Ackman, who has called it a pyramid scheme, and Carl Icahn, who has a big stake in the company.

But there were some big winners even as the broader market sank. Two stocks in CNNMoney's Tech 30 Index were rising on good earnings news and other developments.

Netflix (NFLX) jumped 16% after the company reported its biggest quarterly gain in subscribers in three years.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30

Shares of eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) popped after the online auction site said Wednesday that Icahn took a small stake in the company and submitted a proposal to spin out PayPal into a separate business. eBay said it had no plans to follow through on Icahn's plan. CEO John Donahue called it a "distraction" on the company's earnings conference call.

But Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares were lower after gaining Wednesday following Icahn's disclosure that he had increased his stake in the company by $500 million. The activist investor has been publicly campaigning for Apple to return more cash to shareholders in the form of a $150 billion buyback.

The major European markets were down in late trading while Asian markets finished lower on disappointing report on manufacturing activity in China.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 9:47 AM ET

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Home sales: Best year since 2006

Sales of existing home had their best year since 2006 last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The report from the National Association of Realtors showed that there were 5.1 million previously owned homes sold in the year, up 9.2% from 2012 and up nearly 20% from 2011.

December sales were up slightly from November, the first month-over-month rise in the reading since July. Mortgage rates have been rising steadily since hitting record lows in May, raising the cost of purchases for home buyers.

The Realtors attributed the full-year gain to rising prices, lower unemployment, a drop in foreclosures and pent-up demand, as well as mortgage rates that are still low by historical standards, even with the steady increases most of the year.

The median price of a home sold in the year was $197,100, up 11.4% from the previous year. Rising prices have reduced the number of homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth, helping to bring more buyers into the market. Tight supplies of homes for sale are keeping prices high, as the report showed less than a 5-month supply at the end of the year.

Related: 10 hottest housing markets for 2014

Part of the tight supply is due to the sharp drop in distressed home sales. Only 14% of the homes sold in December were in foreclosure or were short sales for less than the amount owed on the existing mortgage. A year earlier, nearly a quarter of sales were distressed home sales.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 10:42 AM ET

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Nokia's Lumia sales slump

Nokia will transfer its devices business to Microsoft later this year.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

Nokia's fourth quarter results released Thursday are likely the company's last before its hardware business is brought into the Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) fold. Nokia's (NOK) mobile phone and tablet division will be transferred to the company in the coming months, after Microsoft agreed in September to pay €5.4 billion ($7.4 billion) for the unit.

Sales for Nokia's devices business slumped 29% over the year. The Finland-based company blamed "intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points" for the heavy drop.

Nokia sold 8.2 million of its top-of-the-line Lumia smartphones in the final three months of last year. Though that's nearly double the Lumias Nokia sold in the fourth quarter of 2012, it's also 7% less than the 8.8 million Lumias Nokia sold in the third quarter of 2013.

Smartphone sales typically rise during the holiday period, but consumers proved to be more interested in other options, including Apple's new iPhone 5S and 5C, which were released just before the start of the fourth quarter.

Related: Nokia's ex-CEO set for $25 million windfall

Like Blackberry, Nokia was once a giant in the handset market but has seen its fortunes fade as it struggles to keep pace with rivals. Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S4 and even Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) new Moto X have managed to capture more buzz.

Still, Nokia's devices business is crucial for Microsoft in its push to take on other gadget makers, as consumers shift away from Windows PCs to iPads, Android tablets and smartphones. Most Nokia smartphones run Microsoft's Windows Phone software, helping Microsoft leapfrog BlackBerry for a very distant third place in the smartphone operating system market, behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

Nokia shares slid about 4%. Microsoft is due to report results Thursday afternoon.

After selling its devices business to Microsoft, Nokia will be left with its telecom equipment businesses which also recorded weak results. Fourth quarter sales for its solutions & network unit slumped 22%.

First Published: January 23, 2014: 11:27 AM ET

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First Solar rises again

First Solar's 3,800-acre Desert Sunlight solar farm in Mojave Desert, Calif., is slated for completion next year.

(Fortune)

Peace has definitely broken out in the solar sector, stoked by the success of retail rooftop-installation companies like SolarCity (backed by Elon Musk) and manufacturers like First Solar, which survived a wave of bankruptcies among competitors. To get to this point, First Solar and others have endured the solar industry's roller coaster of investor exuberance and massive government subsidies followed by manufacturing gluts, trade wars with China, plunging prices, and more recently a modest financial recovery. The company's stock price trades for more than $50 a share, having bottomed out near $10 in mid-2012, around the time Hughes became CEO. (It exceeded $300 in 2008, during a period of maximum solar mania.) With 2013 earnings estimated to be just shy of $450 million on sales of $3.5 billion, First Solar is a stalwart -- the biggest by revenues and profits -- in an industry known for catastrophe.

First Solar is more than a survivor. It's also a case study in the virtues of marrying wide-eyed technological optimism with patient capital that is willing to see a company through good times and bad. As one of the oldest surviving large-scale makers of what's known as photovoltaic panels -- sheets of glass covered with semiconductors that convert sunlight into electricity -- the company has been a pioneer at several turns in its history. It championed a different type of panel technology from most of the rest of the industry, the same kind generally pursued by Solyndra, the infamously bankrupt startup that lost half a billion taxpayer dollars.

Yet First Solar is no Solyndra. Indeed, the latter might have fared better if it had been backed by a son of Sam Walton rather than by Uncle Sam. John Walton, one of the Wal-Mart founder's four children, bought a controlling stake in First Solar 15 years ago, and his family continues to hold about 27% of the company's stock today, a stake worth about $1.4 billion. (For comparison, the clan's roughly 50% share of Wal-Mart today has a value of about $125 billion.)

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Time to get creative about helping the unemployed back into the job market

Enrolled vs. employed: Growth in the number of Americans collecting government checks is outpacing that of Americans collecting job checks.

(Fortune)

That truism has already been lost on this White House as President Obama mounts an election-year campaign against income inequality. The numbers since 2009 tell a troubling story: People are joining the ranks of the "enrolled" far faster than the ranks of the employed.

Isn't that just another way of saying the economy remains sluggish, unemployment is still high, and people need help? Yes -- and no. It's also easier to collect benefits. Food stamps, a program established for the poor, has morphed into support for the broad population of unemployed. Relaxed standards -- assets, including bank savings, are no longer a barrier in most states -- meant that by 2010 half of all households with a working-age unemployed adult were collecting food stamps, according to the University of Chicago's Casey Mulligan.

Since 2009 the number of Americans on food stamps has shot up from 21 million to 47 million, one-sixth of the country. That number hasn't dropped, even as the economy recovers. While some economists say the lag is normal and predict that levels will soon fall, others fear that food stamps, combined with continued extensions of unemployment benefits, can become a way of life that discourages work. More insidious is the Social Security disability program, because its permanence can encourage claims of incapacitating pain and mood disorders to make government aid a way of life. Disability rolls, at 8.8 million, have doubled since 1995 -- even though Americans aren't any sicker than they were when the program was conceived.

Research by MIT's David Autor vividly shows how the program has become permanent welfare for some, discouraging those with limited disabilities from reentering the workforce. Large numbers of work-capable Americans voluntarily exit the labor force to collect disability, while others spend years at home trying to qualify for the rolls -- while their work skills atrophy, he writes.

For a compelling look at the cultural dangers of disability insurance, read the Lexington Herald-Leader's 2013 investigation into Appalachian poverty, where income from government checks outstrips wages and salaries. "Claims of mental and physical ailments now echo through the mountains," writes John Cheves. "Disability checks -- yielding as much as $710 a month per person -- have become the go-to form of relief," typically combined with food stamps.

If there was any entrepreneurial spirit alive to combat the economic distress of coal's decline, those aid checks have snuffed it out. Cheves's quotes from local figures -- like a school principal describing children's assumptions that they will remain government wards -- sound sadly like the dependency culture that has so discouraged aid workers in foreign-aid wards like Haiti.

Of the 69 welfare-type programs run by Washington, only a fraction -- most prominently the Earned Income Tax Credit, which some lawmakers favor expanding -- require recipients to work. That's one thing when jobs are scarce, as they've been for the past five years. But as the economy improves, it's time to focus on creative ways to help people, particularly the long-term unemployed, back into the job market.

The percentage of working-age adults who have simply dropped out of the labor force -- giving up on even looking for a job -- is at historic highs. That's hardly a recipe for robust economic growth -- or for helping people at the bottom move closer to the top.

This story is from the February 3, 2014 issue of Fortune.

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Buy Europe! But hedge a little

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2014 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones Indexes^SM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM © 2014 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2014. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.

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Norway's trillion-dollar oil problem

A Statoil platform in the North Sea southwest of Norway

(Fortune)

Solberg isn't being alarmist. Indeed, she's quite measured as she lays out her concerns about a Norwegian economy that's overly dependent on oil, and whose productivity and competitiveness, she says, lags those of other rich countries. But such comments, and the changes Solberg is seeking, are sure to reverberate loudly around the world, especially in financial centers such as New York, London, and Hong Kong. You see, Solberg isn't just plotting a course for her relatively small country (pop. 5 million); she's also signaling how she may spend the proceeds of nearly a trillion U.S. dollars (yes, trillion with a t) held by Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, widely known as the oil fund.

The fund was established in 1990 to hold Norway's surplus oil income, which comes from the high taxes on oil and gas companies drilling off the coast, and the government's 67% stake in petroleum giant Statoil. It is now the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets around $830 billion -- 20% more than Saudi Arabia's SAMA Foreign Holdings. But with the booming oil industry continuing to supply the state with surpluses, plus the fund's own steady returns, Government Pension Fund Global could close in on $1 trillion.

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The big rollout

Inside the Paramount Citrus Halos plant in Delano, Calif., mandarins are photographed and "graded" as they are carried along on five miles of conveyor-belt chain.

(Fortune)

Halos' owner -- Los Angeles-based company Roll Global, which also makes POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and Fiji Water -- plans to as much as double output in the next five years. In order to juice demand, the company recently launched a five-year, $100 million ad campaign, $20 million of which will be spent this year on marketing and TV ads already playing across the country. This season the Halos packinghouse will process the country's largest mandarin harvest, tens of millions of boxes of the fruit. Despite the sleek ads and the glamorous rollout (including a $400,000 launch party at New Orleans' House of Blues), Roll Global's path to mandarin domination has been troubled. Months before the product was slated to hit grocery store shelves, the Halos team was in crisis mode. It didn't have a name for its fruit, much less a strategy. What it did have was thousands of acres of soon-to-ripen citrus and competition: Cuties.

Cuties-brand mandarins weren't always the enemy. Through its subsidiary, Paramount Citrus, Roll Global was initially one of two major growers selling Cuties. The other was Sun Pacific. Roll came up with the name and slogan: "Kids love Cuties, because Cuties are made for kids." But the partnership fell apart in May. Sun Pacific took the name, paying an undisclosed sum for the trademark. The resulting contest between Roll's new brand, Halos, and its old brand, Cuties, is a rare thing: a real product rivalry in the grocery aisle devoid of products -- produce.

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Chuck E. Cheese's sold to private equity firm Apollo

There are 577 Chuck E. Cheese's stores in 47 states and 10 foreign countries.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Apollo Global Management (APO) is paying $54 a share in cash for CEC Entertainment (CEC).

CEC and its franchisees operate 577 Chuck E. Cheese's stores in 47 states and 10 foreign countries. The restaurants serve up pizza, sandwiches and the usual assortment of menu offerings as well as games, rides and other diversions for children.

In the deal announced Thursday, Apollo is paying an 11.5% premium from Wednesday's CEC stock close and 25% above the closing price on Jan. 7. That was the day before media speculation about a purchase started driving up CEC share prices.

CEC has reported a drop in revenue in five of the last seven quarters. But shares of stock were up 33% last year, helped by a 13% increase in the dividend announced in October.

Related: Japan's Suntory pays $16 billion for spirits maker Beam

Apollo was one of the buyers last year of Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies and other snack cakes. It joined with Metropoulos & Co to buy the assets of the company out of bankruptcy.

First Published: January 16, 2014: 7:56 AM ET

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Best Buy hit by holiday sales slump

It wasn't a happy holiday for Best Buy. Stock sinking on sluggish sales.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"We were surprised by the market decline," said CEO Hubert Joly, during a teleconference with analysts. "Everybody expected it to increase by 2 or 3%, but it declined by 2%."

The electronics retailer also blamed aggressive sales from competitors, "supply constraints for key products" and fewer customers during the key week leading up to Christmas. Joly identified those key products as tablets and phones.

Disappointing cell phone sales contributed to the 0.8% decline in same-store sales during the 2013 holiday season.

"When we entered the holiday season, we said that price competitiveness was table stakes and an intensely promotional holiday season is what unfolded," Joly said in a statement. He said that forced the retailer to also get more competitive with its prices, which will take a bite out of fourth quarter profits.

Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) shares tumbled 29% Thursday morning.

Related: JCPenney cuts 2,000 jobs, closing 33 stores

One bright spot: Online sales. Those increased by more than 20%, but that represents only a fraction of the company's sales.

Going forward, Joly said the company would "control our costs and reach levels of frugality and cost efficiency" and also "grow our online channel at an accelerated pace."

He also said that his "level of confidence in the ability to drive performance in the business is intact."

First Published: January 16, 2014: 7:28 AM ET

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Bad corporate news sends stocks lower

Click the chart for more stock market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Stocks started the day lower, with the S&P 500 pulling back from the record highs reached Wednesday. The Dow and Nasdaq declined slightly. CNNMmoney's Tech 30 index was also lower.

Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) was the biggest loser in the S&P 500, with shares tumbling almost 30% in the early going. Investors were disappointed after the retailer reported a drop in holiday sales.

Also in the retail world, shares of J.C. Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) declined after the troubled department store owner announced plans to eliminate 2,000 jobs and close 33 stores.

Investors were also wading through a number of quarterly results Thursday, including reports from banks Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500).

Citigroup's earnings were the first from the big six banks to disappoint investors. Shares declined more than 3% after reporting earnings and revenue that fell short of expectations.

Goldman Sachs' earnings were better than analysts' forecasts, but shares were also lower as the bank's profit in the last three months of 2013 fell 19% from a year earlier.

Shares of railroad CSX (CSX, Fortune 500) fell sharply after the company said its profit declined during the fourth quarter due to weak coal demand. Shares of rival railroads Norfolk Southern (NSC, Fortune 500) and Union Pacific (UNP, Fortune 500), which report results next week, were also down.

Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) are scheduled to report results in the afternoon.

Related: Follow CNNMoney's Tech 30

In other corporate news, shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) moved higher as investors grew optimistic about the firm's plans to sell some new tablets in the Indian market. It was a big winner in the Tech 30 index.

CEC Entertainment, (CEC) the owner of Chuck E. Cheese, announced that private equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO) was buying it for $1.3 billion.

Related: Fear & Greed Index continues to show Greed

On the economic front, filings for initial jobless claims fell last week. A reading on consumer prices for December showed that inflation remains tame.

European and Asian markets posted mixed results.

First Published: January 16, 2014: 9:52 AM ET

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