Stocks climb Friday
NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes rose Friday in New York, extending a winning streak to four consecutive weeks.
By close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average added 70.65 points or 0.51 percent to 13,895.98.
The Nasdaq composite of tech-oriented stocks gained 19.33 points or 0.62 percent to 3,149.71. The Standard and Poor's 500 index added 8.14 points or 0.54 percent to 1,502.96.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,875 stocks advanced and 1,143 declined on a volume of 3.4 billion shares traded.
The 10-year treasury note fell 28/32 to yield 1.954 percent.
Against the dollar, the euro rose to $1.3457 from Thursday's $1.3377. The dollar rose against the yen, hitting 90.84 yen from 90.33 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 2.88 percent, 305.78 points, to 10,926.65.
In London, the FTSE 100 index climbed 0.31 percent, 19.54 points, to 6,284.45.
Verizon, AT&T in wireless spectrum deal
NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Verizon Wireless says it is selling some spectrum to AT&T for $1.9 billion as U.S. carriers scramble for bandwidth to carry increasing smartphone data traffic.
Verizon isn't using the 700 MHz block and AT&T will likely use the bandwidth to beef up its 4G LTE deployment, CNET reported Friday.
The sale is part of Verizon's promise to regulators it would make its 700MHz B block spectrum available in return for approval of a separate deal to allow it to acquire a larger swath of spectrum from cable providers.
With smartphone use -- and wireless data appetites -- growing by leaps and bounds, wireless carriers have been improving bandwidth positions to maintain the capability to deliver services without disruption or data traffic jams.
AT&T announced Tuesday said it would buy the U.S. retail operations of Atlantic Tele-Network for $780 million, largely to obtain its spectrum assets.
T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS are merging, in a strategy of combining their spectrum allotments to better accommodate the data needs of both of their customer bases.
Appeals court reduces Bratz judgment
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A federal appeals court in California has excused toymaker Mattel Inc. from paying $172 million to MGA Entertainment Inc.
A panel of three judges at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reduced the amount Mattel has to pay MGA, the maker of Bratz dolls, over a intellectual property dispute that has gone back and forth in lawsuits that date back to 2008, when Mattel was awarded $100 million.
In the original trial, MGA was ordered to stop producing Bratz dolls and hand over production and the rights to the dolls to Mattel, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
MGA won the 2011 retrial, however, which ended with a judgment of $310 million against Mattel.
The appeals court pulled back from that judgment, saying that MGA's claim that Mattel stole trade secrets was not connected to the original trial and should not have been part of the counter-suit.
In a nine-page ruling, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski also said while this may not be the last word on the subject, "perhaps Mattel and MGA can take a lesson from their target demographic: Play nice."
The latest ruling leaves Mattel with $137 million it owes to MGA. But MGA Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian said MGA "absolutely" intends to continue to pursue the matter in court.
"We plan to obtain justice for Mattel's decade-long corporate-sponsored espionage," Larian said.
Geithner: 'Not a chance' on Fed job
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Departing U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to serve as the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
In his last day as the head of the Treasury, Geithner, when asked about the prospect he might replace Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, said, "Not a chance. I have great respect for the institution, but that will be someone else's privilege."
Geithner, who was president of the New York Fed before taking the helm at the Treasury, has been the target of frequent speculation that he would move over to the Federal Reserve, rather than to New York, where his family has already moved to allow his son to complete high school there, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Provided Bernanke leaves as expected at the end of his second term in January 2014, the door is open for Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen to take his place.
Yellen was formerly the president of the Fed's San Francisco district bank.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin will run the Treasury until the Senate acts on President Barack Obama's nomination of outgoing White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew to succeed Geithner.
Geithner has not announced any professional plans as of yet. His plans to travel with his wife and relax with his family, the Times said.
Volkswagen sets up Super Bowl ad
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- German automaker Volkswagen has a teaser Super Bowl advertisement well ahead of the kickoff, which is nine days away.
The ad features singer Jimmy Cliff urging a group of notable tantrum-throwing YouTube personalities in song to "get happy."
The price of a 30-second Super Bowl ad for 2013 is $3.8 million, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. A 60-second commercial costs $7.5 million with prices up about 7 percent from 2012.
The NFL championship game has become a launching pad for advertising campaigns to the point that Super Bowl ads long ago became a big part of the fun for many viewers on Super Bowl Sunday.
With the release Volkswagen joins others in the industry -- Toyota, Hyundai, Lincoln, Audi and Mercedes-Benz among them -- releasing a teaser ad that foreshadows what their Super Bowl ads might be.
The ad is considered a "teaser," but some might consider it a spoiler, given the surprise factor on Super Bowl Sunday has long been part of the day's mystique.
