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Stocks close near peak for the week

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes made headway Friday, following the sharpest two-day drop in a mostly positive year to date.

The Dow Jones industrial average reclaimed 119.95 points at the close, climbing 0.86 percent to 14,000.57. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 13.18 points, or 0.88 percent, to 1,515.60 points. The Nasdaq composite added 30.33 points, or 0.97 percent, to 3,161.82 points.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,276 stocks advanced and 745 declined on a volume of 3.4 billion shares traded.

The DJIA had closed at a nearly five-year peak Tuesday at 14,035.67 but at the end of trading Thursday it had fallen to 13,880.62, off 1.1 percent in two days.

The 10-year U.S. treasury rose 4/32 Friday to yield 1.966 percent.

Against the dollar the euro fell to $1.3186 from Thursday's $1.319. Against the yen, the dollar was higher 93.38 yen from 93.11 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed at 11,385.94 points, up 76.81 points or 0.68 percent.

In London, the FTSE 100 index added 0.7 percent, 44.16 points, to 6,335.70.

Citigroup to change executive pay process

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. financial behemoth Citigroup is changing its executive compensation formula in response to disgruntled shareholders, a regulatory filing said.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission says that a portion of the pay for top executives will be performance-based.

Last year, the bank was criticized for paying executives at the discretion of the board of directors. Shareholders voted to reject the board's pay package for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, who was sacked shortly thereafter by bank Chairman Michael O'Neill.

"When our shareholders spoke last year about Citi's compensation structure, we listened," said O'Neill, who, besides firing Pandit, took over a committee that was reviewing compensation, The New York Times reported Friday.

That committee met with representatives of 30 percent of the bank's shareholders before coming up with the new compensation process, the Times reported.

The new formula affects 27 percent of the new chief executive officer's $11.5 million pay package for 2012. That indicates that CEO pay could remain on par with other financial firm executives.

Pay for Citigroup's new CEO Michael Corbat for 2012 is in line with top executives at other large financial firms. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, for example, will be paid $12.1 million for 2012.

After the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 tripped up the U.S. economy, part of the anger was focused on the enormous pay packages that are emblematic of Wall Street.

Those salaries were viewed as salt in the wounds, especially as millions of jobs were lost in the ensuing recession. Citigroup, which struggled through the crisis, said last year it would cut an additional 11,000 jobs.

In China, R&D grew in 2012

BEIJING, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- China's National Bureau of Statistics said research and development spending reached a milestone of 1 trillion yuan or $162.2 billion in 2012.

Spending on researched reached 1.97 percent of China's gross domestic product in 2012, Xinhua reported Friday.

That's a jump from 1.84 percent of the GDP in 2011 and 1.75 percent in 2010.

As a result, patents issued in 2012 from both domestic and foreign offices jumped 26.1 percent to 217,105, the State Intellectual Property Office said.

Retail weak in Canada in December

OTTAWA, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Retail sales in Canada dropped 2.1 percent in December to $38.5 billion, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Sales fell after five consecutive monthly gains. Sales slid 0.9 percent excluding the volatile category of motor vehicles and automotive parts, the data agency said.

A 6.4 percent sales decline at new car dealers led the downturn. Sales at new car dealerships fell 7.7 percent in the month. Sales of automobile accessories and tires also fell.

Holiday shopping was also slow. "Most store types typically associated with holiday shopping registered weaker sales in December," the report said.