Markets rise on bank test report card
NEW YORK, March 14 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks posted gains Wednesday after 19 of the largest banks passed federal stress tests to prove their ability to withstand an economic downturn.
None of the 19 banks tested by the Federal Reserve were asked to raise capital, although four were told to resubmit dividend and stock buyback plans as their current strategies were deemed to risky.
Stocks went higher, the Dow Jones industrial average already on a five-day winning streak, padding a recent milestone of 13,000 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index added to Tuesday's breach of the 3,000-point mark.
In early afternoon trading, the DJIA added 26.87 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,204.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 0.90 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,396.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 8 points, or 0.26 percent, to 3,047.88.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note shed 1 8/32 to 2.27 percent.
The euro fell to $1.3025. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 83.73 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index reached 10,000 points for the first time since August. The index gained 1.53 percent, 151.44 points, to close at 10,050.52.
In London, the FTSE 100 index dropped 0.18 percent, 10.48, to 5,945.43.
Government rules out Air Canada strike
OTTAWA, March 14 (UPI) -- Canada's Conservative government prohibited a strike by Air Canada workers early Wednesday, the third time it has thwarted airline unions.
Parliament convened Tuesday evening to debate the measure preventing a strike by 8,600 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers next Monday night, Postmedia News reported.
Political haggling delayed the third and final vote until 1:30 a.m., the report said. The bill goes to the Conservative-dominant Senate, where more bickering is expected to be completed in time to prevent the walkout at the country's largest airline.
In recent days when talks between the airline and union appeared to be at an impasse, Federal Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said she couldn't allow a strike that could cost the national economy more than $20 million each week.
"The inconvenience of a work stoppage to travelers, serious disruptions to Canadian businesses and potential threat to health and safety would be significant and there's far too much at stake to let this happen," Raitt said.
This marks the third time in a year Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority Conservative government has quashed strike bids at the airline. The previous two were threatened by other unions.
S. Korea jobless rate jumps to 4.2 percent
SEOUL, March 14 (UPI) -- South Korea's February jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent from January's 3.5 percent even as the economy improves, official data showed Wednesday.
The February rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy was the highest since March 2011, when it was 4.3 percent, Statistics Korea said, Yonhap News reported.
The report said job creation slowed to 447,000 jobs in February year-on-year, compared to 536,000 in January.
"The jobless rate tends to rise in February as soon-to-be graduates start to find work. In addition, as more people applied for government-led job programs and public-sector positions, the figure seems to have increased further," Statistics Korea said.
South Korea's export-dependent economy has continued to improve despite global market uncertainties such as the eurozone debt crisis.
South Korea reported a trade surplus of $2.2 billion in February, attributed to rising overseas demand for its goods. The February figures were even more impressive, considering the country had a trade deficit of $2.03 billion in January.
"More people seem to be resuming job-seeking efforts, emboldened by improving economic conditions," one analyst told Yonhap.
Encyclopedia Britannica ends print edition
CHICAGO, March 14 (UPI) -- Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., based in Chicago, says it is switching entirely to online publication after 244 years and the 2010 print version will be the last.
Jorge Cauz, president of the Britannica, said sales of the book version represent only 1 percent of the company's revenue, CNN reported Tuesday. The vast majority of revenue, about 85 percent, comes from sales of education tools and 15 percent comes from the online version of the encyclopedia.
"The print set is an icon. But it's an icon that doesn't do justice to how much we've changed over the years," Cauz said.
The first edition of the Britannica was published in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 1768 and 1771, making it the oldest encyclopedia in English still being updated. Since 1933, it has had a policy of "continuous revision," with updated versions issued every two years.
In recent years, Britannica has had more than 4,000 contributors, mostly top experts in their fields.
Cauz said he believes many people will be willing to pay $70 a year for an online subscription to the Britannica even though Wikipedia and Google are free.
"Wikipedia is a wonderful technology for collecting everything from great insights to lies and innuendos," Cauz said. "It's not all bad or all good, just uneven. It's the murmur of society, a million voices rather than a single informed one."
