U.S. markets edge higher
NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. markets posted modest gains early Tuesday after the People's Bank of China said it would increase its one-year lending rate to slow inflation.
China's central bank is expected to make more moves to gradually reduce liquidity. Late last year, Chinese officials said 2011 would include policy changes to rein in inflation.
U.S. investors reacted positively. Shortly after noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 33.34 points or 0.27 percent to 12,195.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.40 or 0.18 points to 1,321.45. The Nasdaq composite index of tech-dominated stock added 2.30 or 0.08 percent to 2,786.29.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note fell 5/32 to yield 3.65 percent.
The euro rose to $1.3683 from Monday's $1.3585. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 81.9158 yen from Monday's 82.3 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.41 percent, 43.94, to 10,635.98.
Groupon defends Super Bowl ads
CHICAGO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Groupon Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason defended the firm's controversial Super Bowl ads that backfired for many viewers.
Mason said the ads were meant to call attention to "the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues," The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.
But many saw the ads as trivializing the bigger issues. One of the ads that aired during one of the biggest television audience draws of the year began with actor Timothy Hutton explaining in earnest, "The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy."
Abruptly, Hutton then says with a self-satisfied nod of the head, "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry."
Hutton then explained how membership in discount firm Groupon could lower a consumer's costs for fish curry at local restaurants.
Blogs on Groupon's Web site attacked the ad as "vulgar" and "detestable," the newspaper said.
Scott Briggs, who headed a study group on Super Bowl ads for marketing firm Alterian, said that after the game, "Groupon far and away had the most negative conversations relative to its (total) number of conversations."
Groupon, ironically, was already committed to paying $100,000 to three non-profit groups in matching donations, but the ads aired during the game failed to mention "Save the Money," the fund that is handling the donations.
Nell Greenberg, a spokeswoman for Rainforest Action Network, said the ads, because of the controversy, had a positive effect.
"More people are talking about deforestation than they were yesterday," she said.
Ken Olsen, DEC co-founder, dies
BOSTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Ken Olsen, who turned a $70,000 investment into a $14 billion computer company in Massachusetts, has died, officials at Gordon College said.
Olsen, a co-founder of Digital Equipment Corp., was 84. The cause of death was not announced by the college, where Olsen served as a trustee, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
Olsen began DEC in 1957 with his brother, Stanley Olsen, and a partner, Harlan Anderson.
As early participants in computer marketing, the firm pioneered the move away from bulky mainframe computers toward smaller models that broke the ice for individually owned computers.
In turn, the company became a trend-setter for Massachusetts technology firms and the state's economy in the 1980s.
In 1986, Fortune magazine called Olsen, "arguably the most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business.''
Although paving the way toward smaller computers, DEC could not keep up when scores of competitors entered the computer business, the Globe said. Olsen resigned as the company's president in 1992 and resigned from the board within the year.
The firm was bought by Compaq Computer Corp. in 1998.
Long-time company employees remembered him fondly.
"The one word I would use would be empowering. Every chance I had to listen to him and work with him was a special treat," said Peter Zotto, an employee of 23 years.
Another employee, Dennis Burke, a former priest, said Olsen, who was a Christian, ran the firm with a philosophical bent.
"I've never seen a guy talk so much about philosophy in management meetings. He was really brilliant at that. It was like church. There would be absolute quiet in the room," Burk said, as quoted by Fortune magazine in 1986.
Economic optimism declines in Canada
TORONTO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Canadians are less optimistic about their own finances and the economy than they were a year ago, a survey published by the Royal Bank of Canada showed Tuesday.
The online survey of 3,533 Canadians last month indicated 43 percent felt the national economy would improve during the next 12 months. A similar survey last year showed 56 percent were optimistic, RBC said in a release from Toronto.
As for personal finances, respondents' confidence in improvement also fell to 38 percent from 45 percent in last year's survey.
Ironically, RBC's bank chief economist, Craig Wright said as optimism is down, the bank is anticipating economic growth.
"While the pace of the recovery will remain moderate, we are projecting growth of 3.2 percent this year and 3.1 percent in 2012, representing the fastest pace of growth over the past four years," Wright said.
The survey also asked about job anxiety, by which the respondent or someone in their household was afraid of being laid off in the coming year. The level fell to 20 percent this year from 26 percent in last year's poll, RBC said.
The poll conducted by Ipsos Reid had a 1.65 percent margin of error, the pollster said.
