U.S. stocks mixed on inflation news
NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- News that inflation seems under control left U.S. stocks mixed in early trading Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.98 or 0.23 percent to 11,094.04 in late-morning trading. The Nasdaq fell 3.79 or 0.17 percent to 2,259.17, and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.87 or 0.15 percent to 1,284.91.
January's consumer price index, not counting food and energy, was 0.2 percent, largely in line with expectations.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 2/32, or 63 cents per $1,000 invested, to yield 4.577 percent.
The dollar fell to 118.70 yen from 118.74, and the euro fell to $1.1882 from $1.1912.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 settled at 15,781.78 after falling 113.16 or 0.71 percent.
Another Doha round of talks next month
LONDON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Key players in the World Trade Organization's Doha round of global free-trade talks plan yet another make-or-break negotiation.
India, Brazil, the European Union, Australia, the United States and Japan will send officials March 10 to London to seek deeper cuts in support for Japanese, EU and U.S. farmers, more concessions from India and Brazil on manufactured goods and greater openness by China on services, the Guardian said Wednesday.
After the failure to reach an agreement in Hong Kong last December, the WTO's 150 members gave themselves until the end of April to settle their differences in agricultural and manufactured goods.
The current round of talks have been under way since 1999.
Alaska natural gas pipeline planned
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Alaska and three major oil companies agreed to build a $20 billion natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to southern markets.
Plans call for the 52-inch line, to be built by BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips, to be completed between 2012 and 2014 and transport as much as 4.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
The line will stretch from several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle into Canada, and most of the gas would end up in Chicago and distributed from there.
More interest rates hikes in Fed pipeline
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve appears set to raise a key interest rate several more times, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Minutes from the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee indicated that many members believe that more than one additional interest rate increase could be needed to keep a lid on inflation.
Since June 2004, the FOMC has raised its benchmark short-term federal funds interest rate 14 times to its current 4.5 percent level.
