Bulls head for exits as U.S. stocks fall
NEW YORK, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Weak earnings reports from the fourth quarter rolled in Tuesday and the bulls headed for the exits as U.S. stocks fell across all major indexes.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 40.93 or 0.39 percent to 10,580.10 in late-morning trading. The Nasdaq composite slipped 9.38 or 0.45 percent to 2,087.66, and the Standard & Poor's 500 declined 4.74 or 0.4 percent to 1,185.51.
Advanced Micro Devices warned Tuesday fourth-quarter revenue will miss current estimates, due to rough competition in the memory chip market, CNN reported.
After Monday's close, Alcoa became the first Dow component to report earnings, in its case a few pennies below expectations.
The 10-year Treasury note rose 1/32, or 31 cents for each $1,000 invested, for a 4.27 percent yield.
The dollar fell to 103.63 yen from 104.21, as the euro rose to $1.315 from $1.3085.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 106.75 points or 0.9 percent to 11,539.99.
IBM to offer patents for free
ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- New York's IBM will offer 500 of its software patents free to anyone working on open-source projects, like the popular Linux operating system.
Despite being the world's largest patent holder, the company recently conducted an internal review of its strategy toward intellectual property. It apparently sided with a growing number of academics and industry analysts who regard open-source software projects as early evidence of the wide collaboration and innovation made possible by the Internet, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
"This is exciting," said Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society.
"It is IBM making good on its commitment to encourage a different kind of software development and recognizing the burden that patents can impose."
IBM will keep holding those 500 patents but promises not to seek royalties from and or place restrictions on parties using them in open-source projects, as defined by the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit education and advocacy group.
U.S. seeks stricter pension rules
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The White House is proposing tighter funding requirements for corporate pensions so U.S. taxpayers won't have to bail out bankrupt corporate pensions.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures corporate pensions, has become strained recently, posting a record deficit of $23.3 billion in November as both US Airways and United Airlines tried to pass along pension liabilities, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said Monday her proposals, which require Congressional approval, will force companies to act sooner to fix under-funded schemes and penalize those in trouble by making them pay higher insurance premiums.
"If nothing is done, the financial integrity of the PBGC will be compromised and the pension security of 34 million workers and retirees will be more at risk," Chao said.
Wegmans tops best U.S. employer list
NEW YORK, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Wegmans Food Market of Rochester, N.Y., is atop Fortune magazine's list of the best companies to work for in the United States.
The list of 500 top employers released Tuesday said Wegmans, a privately held company, takes its motto of "employees first, customers second," to heart by offering benefits and other incentives to all its workers.
The rating is based on part on feedback from employers, in addition to other factors such as demographic composition and pay structure.
In second place this year was fabric maker Gore-Tex of Newark, while Republic Bancorp, a mortgage banker in Ann Arbor ranked third. They were followed by San Francisco's biotech company Genentech and San Jose's chipmaker Xilinx. Jelly maker J.M. Smucker of Orrville, Ohio, ranked No. 6.
Fortune magazine has been compiling its top 500 employers list since 1998.
