In Brief
Investment Counsel adviser rated highly by Barron's
Barron's, the financial news weekly, on Monday named Randy Garcia of Las Vegas as the top financial adviser in Nevada.
Garcia, 56, manages $705 million and 14 employees at the Investment Counsel Co. He is a certified investment management analyst and Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst.
Other Las Vegans on the Barron's list of the top 1,000 financial advisors were Brian Buckley of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Deborah Danielson of Danielson Financial and David Winchell of Merrill Lynch.
James Laughton Jr. of Wells Fargo Advisors in Reno also was on the list.
WASHINGTON
San Francisco Fed official says low interest rates still necessary
Record-low interest rates are still needed to foster the economic recovery and to relieve high unemployment, a Federal Reserve official said Monday.
Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, is the latest Fed official in recent days to stress that the central bank isn't in any rush to boost borrowing costs for millions of Americans. The remarks come after the Fed took a surprise step Thursday and bumped up the rate banks pay for emergency loans.
Despite a big growth spurt at the end of last year, the economic rebound is likely to slow later this year as benefits from the government stimulus plan fade, Yellen pointed out in a speech in San Diego.
LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles International expansion under way
Construction began Monday on a $1.5 billion project to expand the international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport -- a facility ranked one of the worst in the nation.
Upgrades to the Tom Bradley International Terminal will include new restaurants, gates and other passenger services, with work expected to be completed by 2013.
Construction wasn't expected to cause any immediate inconvenience to passengers but would likely prompt higher prices since funding will come from airport operating revenues, fees from airlines and passenger facility charges.
The work is expected to create 4,000 constructions jobs at a time when Los Angeles is trying to compete against other West Coast airports as the gateway to Pacific Rim nations.
SAN FRANCISCO
Privacy watchdogs wary of Google networking tool Buzz
Parents and privacy watchdogs are sounding the alarm that Google Inc.'s new social networking tool, called Buzz, may put children at risk.
The concern came home in a personal way for technology analyst Charlene Li. On Sunday night she discovered that her 9-year-old daughter had publicly shared a private conversation on Buzz without intending to. Li grew even more troubled when she spotted her daughter's fourth-grade classmates chatting with strangers.
She turned off Buzz and alerted other parents and her child's school, which is in turn alerted other parents. Then Li, an analyst who tracks Google as well as other Internet companies, took to the Internet to spread the word.
Google had already drawn sharp criticism from privacy watchdogs for the way it rolled out Buzz in millions of Gmail accounts. Privacy expert Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University, urged the Federal Trade Commission to address the potential risks to kids.
NEW YORK
Rebate offers draw customers, help boost profits for Lowe's
Consumers responded to Lowe's Cos.' rebates for higher-priced items such as cabinets and countertops, a sign homeowners are starting to consider bigger remodeling projects as the economy stabilizes.
Quarterly profit rose 27 percent to $205 million, or 14 cents per share, from $162 million, or 11 cents per share last year, ahead of the 12 cents per share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected.
It was the first year-over-year increase in earnings since the second quarter of 2007.
Revenue rose nearly 2 percent to $10.17 billion, from $9.98 billion last year, while analysts expected revenue of $10 billion.
Shares of Mooreville, N.C.-based Lowes Cos. shares fell 6 cents, or 0.26 percent, on Monday to close at $23.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.
NEW YORK
Wal-Mart Stores will buy broadband provider Vudu
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it will buy broadband entertainment provider Vudu, a deal that gives the world's biggest retailer the ability to sell movies directly through TVs and Blu-ray players over the Internet.
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
With the acquisition, Wal-Mart returns to the video-on-demand business, which it tried in the past but failed. Its most recent attempt, offering movie downloads, ended in 2007 after less than a year.
Vudu Inc.'s technology can deliver video to consumers who have broadband Internet access and own an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player.
