UPI NewsTrack Business

U.S. markets turn higher Tuesday morning

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. markets swung higher Tuesday morning, turning around a three-week trend that has investors concerned a 10 percent downward correction is in play.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed under 10,000 points for the first time in three months Monday, three weeks after hitting a recent peak of 10,725.43 on Jan. 19.

In late morning trading Tuesday, the DJIA added 1.27 percent, 126.14 points, to 10,034.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.11 percent, 11.74 points, to 1,068.48. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.96 percent, 21.51 points, to 2,147.56.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bill fell 9/32 to yield 3.595 percent.

The euro rose to $1.3747 from Monday's $1.366. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 89.40 yen from Monday's 89.30 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.19 percent, 18.92 points, to 9,932.90.

Toyota focuses on restoring trust

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda said he would personally take the lead in restoring the consumer's trust in the company.

"Two weeks ago, I pulled the andon cord for our company," Toyoda said, equating the company's recent production suspension to the cord a factory worker can use to halt an assembly line if a problem is detected.

In an op-ed piece published in The Washington Post, Toyoda said the company would perform a top-to-bottom review, invite an independent team to assess its operations and react faster to customer complaints.

"Great companies learn from their mistakes, and we know that we have to win back the trust of our customers by adhering to the very values on which that trust was first built," Toyoda said.

Toyoda said the company would also create an Automotive Center of Quality Excellence in the United States "to focus on strengthening our quality management."

Toyoda's article follows three company recalls involving critical safety issues. The first recall announced in October involved cars in which gas pedals became entangled with floor mats. The second involved sticking gas pedals -- a recall that involved 2.3 million U.S. vehicles.

The third recall, announced Tuesday, involves braking systems in 2010 Prius hybrids, Lexus HS 250h cars and some 2010 Camrys, the U.S. Department of Transportation said.

New players emerge in defense market

LONDON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Russia, China, and other nations are making inroads into the defense industry that is currently dominated by the United States, an industry study said.

Research published in Jane's Industry Quarterly, a publication of IHS Jane's, said the defense industry will be reshaped by 2020, "as both Russia and China encroach on formerly assured markets," the consulting firm said in a statement.

In addition, South Korea, Australia, Pakistan and India will emerge as strong competitors in the industry "and challenge the established producers from the West," the study says.

"The defense trade relationships of the past two decades were very much shaped along Cold War lines. Those certainties are evaporating," said Guy Anderson, editor of Jane's Industry Quarterly.

While Russia moved into the market in part by using "sovereign debt forgiveness" as a bargaining chip, "most importantly, there is a willingness (on Russia's part) to use arms sales ... to secure access to energy fields around the world," Anderson said.

Established arms exporters deal with other hurdles. "Western firms ... in many cases find themselves hampered by the presence of arms embargoes ... and the need to align the strategic objectives of national government with the wishes of shareholders," Anderson said.

Consumers spending more on digital data

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. consumers are spending increasing amounts staying connected to the digital world through phone, computer and game platforms, the government said.

In 2004, the average bill for telecommunications services came to $771 per year. That figure reached $903 per year by 2008 and is expected to hit $997 this year, The New York Times reported Tuesday using data from the Census Bureau.

Not only has the prices of telecommunication link-ups risen faster than inflation, but demand rises with each new gadget or feature, like text messaging, which was almost unheard of 10 years ago.

Once upon a time, American families paid for a phone service and put a television antenna on the roof. Now games, movies, music, photos, documents and voice are delivered through an array of devises that require carriers.

The digital world has also blurred the distinction between a critical service -- a phone you might use to call an ambulance, for example -- and entertainment.

You don't really lump these expenses into a discretionary category. As the expectation of connectedness increases, it's what is expected for people to be functional in society," said Robert Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University.