IN BRIEF

MINNEAPOLIS

Target says sales at lower end of forecasts

Target Corp. said its January sales are coming in at the low end of the range it had expected earlier this month.

It was another sign of weakness at the nation's second-largest discount retailer.

Target said earlier this month that same-store sales for January would range between a decline of 1 percent and a gain of 1 percent. On Monday Target said its results would be at the low end of that range. It said the prediction was based on actual sales at Target stores for the first two weeks of January, and its prediction for the remaining two weeks.

Target has already said fourth-quarter earnings-per-share will decline from last year. The retailer is to report results Feb. 26.

GE may bid for Spanish real estate company

General Electric Co. may bid for Inmobiliaria Colonial SA, the Spanish real estate company that's lost about 60 percent of its market value in six months.

GE's plan, disclosed by the Fairfield, Conn.-based company in a regulatory filing Monday, would be the second potential offer in a week for Colonial. The developer rose 1.3 percent, valuing the company at 2.5 billion euros ($3.6 billion). The shares have climbed 17 percent in the last three trading sessions.

By acquiring Colonial, GE would gain 12 billion euros of assets including offices and malls in Madrid, Barcelona and Paris. Luis Manuel Portillo last month quit as Colonial's chairman after a slowdown in the property market caused shares of developers to slump.

SEATTLE

Microsoft aims to help optimize virtualization

Microsoft Corp. on Monday announced several moves it says will help its business customers take advantage of a technology called virtualization.

Virtualization allows one physical computer to house multiple "virtual machines," each one acting like a separate computer with an operating system and all the software that runs on top of it.

To help move the virtual desktop scenario forward, Microsoft said Monday it plans to acquire Calista Technologies, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup founded in 2006. Calista's technology makes logging on to a virtual desktop feel more like working on a physical Windows computer, Microsoft said. No financial details of the agreement were disclosed.

Microsoft also said it will expand an alliance with another virtual desktop computing company, Citrix Systems, that will help their respective products work well together.

WASHINGTON

Ford promises better performance for Escape

Ford's 2009 Escape gas-electric hybrid will show improvements in power and performance, the automaker said Tuesday.

Ford Motor Co. was unveiling the 2009 versions of the Escape and its corporate twin, the 2009 Mercury Mariner, at the Washington Auto Show, which opens to the public on Wednesday and lasts through Sunday.

Ford said overall fuel efficiency for the gasoline versions of the 2009 Escape and Mariner would increase by 1 mpg compared with the 2008 versions, which get between 18 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway depending on the engine configuration.

BRUSSELS, Belgium

Euro nations won't rush to react to U.S. woes

Euro nations see no immediate need to react to the growing threat of a U.S. slowdown that sent stock markets plunging Monday, the head of the group of 15 euro finance ministers said after they met for talks.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the economic situation in Europe was "clearly different from, better than" the that of the U.S. and did not require something similar to President Bush's multibillion-dollar program to stimulate the economy.

Although euro area growth would likely be less than the EU executive forecast in November, the "fundamentals are sound," jobless rates are still falling, and inflation should drop back by the end of the year, he said.

Fujitsu will spin off semiconductor unit

Fujitsu Ltd., Japan's fourth-largest chipmaker, said it will spin off the semiconductor business by the end of March 2008 to improve efficiency and speed up development.

Fujitsu will also spend 10 billion yen ($94 million) to move its operations for developing advanced chips to a production facility in Mie prefecture, central Japan, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement today.

Fujitsu's semiconductors, used in its computer servers and Sony Corp.'s camcorders and cameras, accounted for less than 10 percent of total revenue last fiscal year.

Yahoo planning to fire about 700 workers

Yahoo, owner of the most-visited U.S. Web site, will fire about 700 workers as it reorganizes its business to compete with Google, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.

The company plans to announce the cuts around the same time as it reports earnings on Jan. 29, said the person, who declined to be identified because the firings haven't been disclosed.

Yahoo spokeswoman May Petry declined to comment.

Newspaper report says Getty Images for sale

Getty Images, the world's biggest supplier of pictures and video to media and advertising companies, has put itself on the auction block and could fetch more than $1.5 billion, The New York Times reported Monday.

The company hired Goldman Sachs Group to advise it on a potential sale, according to the report, which cited people briefed on the situation.

The company has attracted interest from several buyers, mostly private equity firms, and final bids are due by the end of the month, the Times said.

Cisco Systems will expand in Emirates

Cisco Systems, the biggest maker of computer-networking equipment, will spend $1.58 billion to expand in the United Arab Emirates.

The plan includes opening a headquarters in Dubai and an office in Abu Dhabi, creating 650 jobs, Cisco said Monday in an e-mailed statement. The company will also spend as much as $400 million to offer credit to its partners and customers.

U.S. financial markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.