IN BRIEF

Gasoline prices fall locally in week but may pop back up

Retail gasoline prices fell locally during the week, but rising gasoline futures may end the skid soon.

In Las Vegas, the price of a gallon of regular, self-serve unleaded gasoline averaged $2.769 on Wednesday, AAA reported in its Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That's down 0.6 percent from $2.786 a week ago. But the price is up 1.4 percent from $2.73 a month ago and up 34.2 percent from $2.063 a year ago, AAA said.

A government report of a surprise drop in the nation's supply sent gasoline futures higher Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration reported that gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.3 million barrels last week. Supplies sank as U.S. refineries continued to churn out less fuel.

The report said refineries are operating at the lowest level on record, other than a few weeks in 2008 and 2005 when hurricanes ripped through the Gulf of Mexico and forced many to shut down.

Gasoline for March delivery gained 1.83 cents to settle at $2.0362 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The rise in futures could eventually tug pump prices higher.

NEW YORK

Cisco reports first sales jump in year; profits top forecasts

Cisco Systems Inc. blew past its own forecast for the latest quarter, reporting its first sales increase in a year as it left the recession behind.

Improvement was dramatic "across the board," CEO John Chambers said Wednesday. "The recovery, from a capital spending perspective, is very strong."

Quarterly earnings were $1.9 billion, or 32 cents per share, up 23 percent from $1.5 billion, or 26 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time charges, Cisco earned 40 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 35 cents per share.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $9.8 billion. Order growth was especially strong in the United States, with a 17 percent increase from a year ago.

Chambers now expects the company to hire a net 2,000 to 3,000 people over the next few quarters. Cisco ended the quarter with 65,874 employees.

TRENTON, N.J.

Charges for acquisitions and restructuring hurt Pfizer profits

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc., well into integrating its new Wyeth unit, posted a 34 percent jump in revenue Wednesday, but $3.2 billion in acquisition and restructuring charges and higher costs across the board weighed down profit.

The maker of Viagra and cholesterol fighter Lipitor, which paid $68 billion to get Wyeth's vaccines, biologic drugs and consumer health staples such as Centrum vitamins and pain relievers Advil and Anacin, already has slashed about 4,200 jobs.

New York-based Pfizer said fourth-quarter revenue totaled $16.54 billion, $500 million above what analysts were expecting amid the lingering recession.

Net income was $767 million, nearly triple the $266 million the world's biggest drugmaker earned a year earlier, when results were hurt by a $2.3 billion charge to settle federal charges Pfizer marketed painkiller Bextra and other drugs for unapproved uses. That profit is equal to earnings per share of 10 cents, or 49 cents after excluding one-time items.

Analysts had expected 50 cents a share excluding items, on average.

Pfizer shares fell 44 cents, or 2.31 percent, Tuesday to close at $18.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK

Retailers expected to post 1 percent jump in January sales

Retailers elated by stronger-than-expected holiday sales are expected to report today that they saw an unintended consequence in January: sales up only 1 percent from last year by one measure.

Stores ordered so conservatively for the holidays that they ended December with relatively little excess inventory -- and less than usual to mark down in January.

As a result, some stores pushed up deliveries of spring items from jumpsuits to sandals. But bargains were all that most consumers wanted.