WILMINGTON, Mass. – Medical research equipment and services company Charles River Laboratories International Inc. reported a fourth-quarter on lower charges Monday, but revenue fell on weak demand from pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

For the three months ended Dec. 26, the company earned $17.6 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with a loss of $663.2 million, or $9.93 per share, a year prior, when the company had a hefty goodwill impairment charge.

Revenue fell 5 percent to $295.4 million from $311.4 million.

Excluding charges, the company said it earned 49 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected profit 44 cents per share on revenue of $291.2 million.

Sales for research models and services rose 10 no faxing pay day loans.9 percent to $152.8 million, while preclinical services sales slid 21 percent to $158.6 million.

For the full year, the company earned $114.4 million, or $1.74 per share, compared with a loss of $524.5 million, or $7.80 per share, in 2008. Revenue fell to $1.2 billion from $1.34 billion.

Looking ahead, the company expects profit between $2.20 and $2.40 per share, excluding charges, in 2010. Analysts expect profit of $2.37 per share.

Shares of Charles River rose 4 cents to close at $35.69.

Charles River reports profit, but revenue slides

Once again, a bonus at Goldman Sachs has all of Wall Street talking &<51; only this time, over how small it is.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

After weeks of intense speculation, Goldman Sachs disclosed late Friday that its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, would receive an annual bonus valued at $9 million, a figure that, to the surprise of many, put him in the middle of the pay scale for the nation&S217;s banking chiefs.

While most people can only dream of such a reward, the news was widely seen on Wall Street as a show of restraint and a nod to the uproar in Washington and elsewhere over resurgent pay and profits at banks like Goldman. Indeed, the award represents a fraction of the record $68 million bonus that Mr. Blankfein received in 2007, when Goldman made less money than it did last year. In 2008, in the midst of the financial collapse, he collected no bonus.

Mr. Blankfein received no cash bonus. The award is entirely in the form of deferred stock, which he cannot sell for five years.

Many on Wall Street had been anxiously awaiting the figure, amid talk that the bonus might be anything from nothing to $100 million.

&S220;It takes a lot of the oxygen out of the argument that Goldman&S217;s top of the house is overpaid,&S221; said Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant in White Plains. &S220;For running an organization that big, and bringing it through the way he did, nine million is not a lot of money.&S221;

Goldman made a series of political and business calculations in tallying Mr. Blankfein&S217;s rewards. The timing, too, seemed deft: hours earlier, JPMorgan Chase had announced that its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, would receive a $16.6 million bonus and $1 million in salary. For once, Goldman, known for its big paydays, had grabbed the high ground by paying its chief executive less money. At the top, John G. Stumpf, chief of Wells Fargo, was paid $18.4 million in cash and stock for 2009 though he runs a less complex company. Vikram S. Pandit of Citigroup vowed to accept only $1 in salary until the bank is profitable.

For Mr. Blankfein, the news arrived on Friday afternoon, after a tumultuous day of trading on Wall Street. While Mr. Blankfein&S217;s bonus had been the subject of internal debate for weeks, the final decision came quickly.

On Thursday, the compensation committee of Goldman&S217;s 10-member board of independent nonexecutive directors called a meeting for Friday afternoon. Some of the directors convened at Goldman&S217;s headquarters at 85 Broad Street, in Lower Manhattan, while others joined in by telephone. Before the close of trading at 4 p.m., the decision was final. Less than an hour later, Goldman disclosed the figure in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission business cards design.

Mr. Blankfein, whom the firm insisted was not privy to the discussions, had been traveling in the Middle East and returned to New York only this week.

Lucas van Praag, a spokesman for Goldman, insisted that the timing and size of the award was unrelated to Mr. Dimon&S217;s announcement, and he would not say how the directors had arrived at the bonus figure, other than to say: &S220;It&S217;s a reflection of the times. Notwithstanding that there has been some extremely ill-informed speculation and a great deal of unpleasantness, we have shown respect for the environment.&S221;

A person close to the board, however, said that in their discussion the directors had agreed they needed to send a strong statement that the firm understood the mood of Washington and the public.

On top of the bonus, Mr. Blankfein will receive a $600,000 cash salary, the same as in previous years, and other perks like a company car and driver.

The current award must, however, be put in the context of his past compensation &<51; in 2006 he received $53.4 million, and the firm said that since 2000 he has received $181.5 million in total salary and bonus, though he has cashed out only part of it.

Goldman Sachs also announced the bonus awards for four other senior executives, including Gary D. Cohn, the firm&S217;s president and chief operating officer, and David A. Viniar, the chief finance officer. All received stock valued at $9 million.

In December, Goldman announced that its top executives, including Mr. Blankfein, would forgo cash bonuses. Instead, the executives would be paid in the form of special stock &<51; an arrangement that could still turn out to be enormously lucrative if Goldman&S217;s share price rises.

Many other big banks had disclosed the compensation of their top executives in recent weeks, but Goldman had appeared to delay its announcement, leading to intense speculation about what the firm would do.

Many on Wall Street thought Goldman was waiting for a good public relations moment to release the news &<51; and calculating what figure the public mood could tolerate.

Some analysts suggested that Goldman&S217;s &<51; and Wall Street&S217;s &<51; show of restraint would be fleeting, and the banks would quickly return to its ways.

&S220;I am still waiting for one of the banks to come forward with a long-term performance-related incentive plan,&S221; said Paul Hodgson, a senior compensation analyst at the Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm. &S220;They are just making everybody wait for the pay.&S221;

Michael J. de la Merced contributed reporting.

Some See Restraint in Goldman Chief’s Bonus

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks erased a midday drop to end slightly higher on Friday, closing out a volatile week punctuated by mixed signals from the labor market data and growing anxiety over fiscal problems in Europe.

Major indexes turned positive heading into the close, as investors scooped up shares in the technology and materials sectors -- two of the worst perforomers during the market&&9;s latest pullback.

"It&&9;s bargain hunting in an oversold market," said Cleveland Rueckert, market analyst at Birinyi Associates in Stamford, Conneticut. "At least in the short term, selling was overdone."

Earlier, the major indexes dropped more than 1 percent on the initial interpretation that January&&9;s payrolls data was another sign of a sluggish job market recovery, and concerns about the euro zone&&9;s sovereign debt problems persisted.

U.S. employers unexpectedly cut 20,000 jobs in January, but the unemployment rate dropped to a five-month low of 9.7 percent, the Labor Department reported.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) closed up 10.05 points, or 0.10 percent, at 10,012.23. The Standard & Poor&&9;s 500 Index (.SPX) ended up 3.08 points, or 0.29 percent, at 1,066.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 15.69 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 2,141.12.

STOCKS&&9; FOURTH WEEKLY SLIDE

For the week, the Dow fell 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.3 percent, marking their fourth consecutive weekly drop.

With some investors betting that the sell-off of recent days may have run its course, sectors that were beaten down headed higher late in the session fast payday loans.

Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) ranked among the Dow&&9;s top advancers, and helped the Nasdaq erase losses. Cisco rose 2.3 percent to close at &&6;23.70 and Intel gained 2.4 percent to end at &&6;19.47.

Materials stocks also rebounded after falling throughout most of the day, with Alcoa Inc (AA.N) up 2.1 percent at &&6;13.18.

European policy-makers scrambled to reassure markets about the stability of the 16-nation currency bloc, and Portugal backed a law that may push its swollen deficit higher.

The biggest losers included industrial shares, with General Electric Co (GE.N) off 1.6 percent at &&6;15.79 and Boeing Co (BA.N) down 1.6 percent at &&6;58.40.

On Thursday, the Dow briefly slipped below the crucial 10,000 mark as stocks suffered their worst daily declines in more than nine months.

Total volume of 12.44 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, well above last year&&9;s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. It was the heaviest trade since Dec 18.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 17 to 13, while on the Nasdaq, about seven stocks rose for every six that fell.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jan Paschal)

Wall Street cuts losses, closes up with techs, materials

NEW YORK – Retailers are reporting modest gains for January as shoppers, uninspired by limited racks of holiday clearance, spent cautiously after a holiday buying spree in December.

Fourth-quarter profit profits look brighter, however, as Macy's and Bon-Ton Stores are raising their outlooks because they didn't have to discount heavily and saw sales improve.

As merchants report their sales figures Thursday, several stores including Limited Brands and Macy's are reporting solid sales increases Same day payday loans. But Stage Stores Inc. is announcing an 11.2 percent decline and teen retailer Wet Seal Inc. says sales fell 3.7 percent. Excluding gasoline, Costco Wholesale Corp. says it saw a small gain.

The figures are based on sales at stores open at least a year.

Retailers report modest gains for January

SAN FRANCISCO -- PNC Financial Services Group Inc. will buy back $7.6 billion of its preferred shares held by the Treasury Department as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank said late Tuesday. PNC will offer $3 billion in common shares and sell PNC Global Investment Servicing for $2 no faxing payday loan.3 billion to BNY Mellon to finance the buyback. It also plans to offer $1.5 billion to $2 billion in senior notes, depending on market conditions.

PNC Financial To Repay $7.6 Bln In TARP Funds

WASHINGTON – Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the country would have suffered Great Depression-era joblessness, near 25 percent, if the government hadn't arranged the financial system bailout.

Paulson made a stellar defense of that bailout, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, in an interview Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He said that he and other top policymakers had no choice but to intervene when they did.

Paulson said the economy is recovering but that "it's got a good ways to go free credit report online." And he said "we have not fixed the problems we need to fix." Paulson also defended the bailout of the giant insurance company American International Group, saying it would have been a "disaster" if it had been allowed to fail.

Paulson says economy recovering, defends bailout

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. arms sales to Taiwan hurt China&&9;s national security, its foreign minister said, escalating the rhetoric in a dispute threatening to deepen rifts between the world&&9;s biggest and third-biggest economies.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was the latest and most senior official to denounce the arms sale plan Washington announced on Friday.

The Obama administration has defended the package worth about &&6;6.4 billion as necessary to boost regional security.

Yang, traveling in Cyprus, said China and the United States had held many discussions about the arms sales, but Washington had ignored Beijing&&9;s demand they be stopped, the official Xinhua news agency reported early on Sunday.

The United States should "truly respect China&&9;s core interests and major concerns, and immediately rescind the mistaken decision ... in order to avoid damaging broader China-U.S. relations," Yang said.

He said the U.S. move had "damaged China&&9;s national security and great task of reunification (with Taiwan)."

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province. Reflecting the intense emotions over the issue, Chinese Internet users vented anger with calls to boycott top U.S. exporter Boeing and other firms involved in the sales.

China has for years opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. For the first time, however, Beijing sought to pressure the United States by punishing those private companies whose arms are involved in the Taiwan sales.

SANCTIONS

China said it would impose unspecified sanctions on companies involved and reduce international cooperation with the United States unless it canceled the new arms package.

Beijing planned to postpone or partially halt some military cooperation, including a series of visits planned for this year, among them U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates&&9; planned trip to China, meetings between top military commanders, and mutual visits by naval ships, Xinhua reported.

"Especially at a time when the world has yet to escape the financial crisis, and also faces global problems such as climate change, food security and nuclear non-proliferation, it is not in U.S. interests for China-U.S. relations to experience setbacks," the state news agency said.

U.S. officials sought to downplay the dispute on Saturday.

"We regret that the Chinese government has announced that it plans to curtail military-to-military and other security-related exchanges and take action against U.S. firms," said P.J. Crowley, the State Department&&9;s chief spokesman.

"We believe our policy contributes to stability and security in the region," he said.

U.S. officials have said Taiwan, which lags China in the balance of military power, needs updated weapons to give it more sway when negotiating with Beijing, which Taiwan says has aimed more than 1,400 short-range and mid-range missiles at the island payday loans.

Since 1949 when Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the mainland to Communist rebels, Beijing has demanded Taiwan accept unification, threatening to use force if necessary.

Andrew Yang, Deputy Minister of Taiwan&&9;s Ministry of National Defense, described the sale as defensive weapons that could help prevent cross-Strait hostilities.

"This is very much about enhancing Taiwan&&9;s self-Defense to fend off any attack from Beijing. Beijing will think twice. That&&9;s why they are opposing U.S. arms sales," he told Reuters.

The sales, subject to congressional review, include Black Hawk utility helicopters built by United Technologies Corp unit Sikorsky Aircraft; Lockheed Martin Corp-built and Raytheon Co.-integrated Patriot missile defenses; and Harpoon land- and sea-attack missiles built by Boeing Co.

BOYCOTT CALL

The Global Times, a popular Chinese newspaper with a nationalist slant, and a Chinese web portal, Sohu, launched an online petition protesting the sales.

It brought calls for boycotts of U.S. goods and bitter denunciations of the United States.

"All the people together boycott U.S. goods!," said one comment left on the petition website. (http://huanqiu.com/www/202/2010-01/704714.html)

Representatives of Sikorsky, Raytheon and Boeing either had no immediate comment or did not respond to questions left for them. A Lockheed spokesman referred a caller to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which formally announced the sales plans. An agency representative could not immediately be reached.

Boeing has big commercial interests in China, the world&&9;s most populous market, including commercial aircraft sales. United Technologies also has significant business in China, where it sells Carrier brand heating and air-conditioning, Otis elevators and escalators and other products.

The other arms makers appear to have more limited exposure to Chinese sanctions.

Although they cooperate on counter-terrorism, nuclear arms control, climate change and other issues, Beijing and Washington are at odds over trade, China&&9;s tight control of its currency, policies in Tibet and Internet censorship.

The feud could damage broader diplomacy between the two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Washington has sought China&&9;s backing in its nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and in fighting climate change, and is preparing for a world summit on nuclear weapons in April.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beijing; Ralph Jennings and Kelvin Soh in Taipei; Paul Eckert, Adam Entous and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Jerry Norton)

China: U.S. arms sales to Taiwan hurt national security

DETROIT &<51; Toyota said Friday that its recall of eight models in Europe could include up to 1.8 million cars, pushing the total number of vehicles affected by problems with floor mats or gas pedals to more than 9 million worldwide.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

That is nearly as many vehicles as was sold by all automakers in the United States in 2009.

In a statement about the European recall, Toyota said Friday that it had identified a remedy for accelerator pedals that might stick and was working out the details for repairing the problem.

&S220;We understand that the current situation is creating concerns, and we deeply regret it,&S221; said Tadashi Arashima, chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe. &S220;We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances.&S221;

In Washington on Friday, the Congressional inquiries into Toyota&S217;s problems with accelerator pedals on its vehicles widened, when a second House committee said it would hold hearings into whether the situation endangered public safety.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it tentatively planned a hearing next Thursday into the question, &S220;Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public At Risk?&S221; This past week, the committee gained attention for a tense session in which the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, was questioned about the federal banking bailout.

The oversight panel&S217;s hearing is in addition to a session, scheduled later in February, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Company executives said they had zeroed in on a solution to the accelerator problem and planned to update employees about it Friday.

Toyota has stopped selling eight models involved in one of its two recalls, and plans to temporarily cease production of vehicles affected by the recalls at plants in the United States and Canada next week, although production of models not involved in the recalls will continue.

In the United States, about 2.3 million cars are affected by the accelerator pedal could wear down and become difficult to depress, slow to spring back or get stuck partly depressed. And some 5 million cars have a design flaw that could cause the gas pedal to become trapped under the floor mat.

Jake Fisher, a senior automotive engineer with Consumer Reports, said the situation was the most serious Toyota had faced in its half-century in the United States.

&S220;There&S217;s been some cracks in the armor, but I don&S217;t think we&S217;ve ever seen anything to this magnitude,&S221; Mr. Fisher said. &S220;We&S217;ve never seen multiple production lines shut down. If you go to a Toyota dealer right now, they can&S217;t sell you a Camry, they can&S217;t sell you a Corolla or a Highlander.&S221;

With the involvement of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Toyota faced the most publicized investigation in the industry since problems with Firestone tires on Ford Explorers and other vehicles early last decade.

The committee announced that it would hold a hearing on Feb. 25 to examine consumer complaints about sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

In letters to the company and to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the committee&S217;s chairman, Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, asked to see documentation from Toyota and the agency on when they first learned about potential safety defects, as well as actions they had taken to investigate and resolve them.

The committee also asked for data on the agency&S217;s investigation of consumer complaints and Toyota&S217;s response to the complaints payday loan online. &S220;Like many consumers, I am concerned by the seriousness and scope of Toyota&S217;s recent recall announcements,&S221; Mr. Waxman said in a statement.

Toyota said it welcomed the opportunity to appear before the committee and pledged its full cooperation. &S220;Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,&S221; said a spokeswoman, Martha Voss.

The chairman of the committee&S217;s panel on oversight and investigations, Bart Stupak, a Democrat of Michigan, said meetings between the committee&S217;s staff and Toyota on Wednesday had been helpful, but he said the lawmakers continued to have questions about the Toyota recalls.

The committee said sudden unintended acceleration in all Toyota vehicles had resulted in 19 deaths in the United States over the last decade. That is nearly twice the number of deaths associated with similar events in cars built by all other automakers combined.

The company that makes the pedals, the CTS Corporation, has already started shipping replacements to Toyota plants, and Toyota said on Thursday that it was working with the manufacturer to develop and test modifications for existing vehicles.

In Europe, the models in the recall include the Aygo, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4. In China, the recall includes about 75,000 RAV4 sport utility vehicles made in 2009-10, the Chinese government&S217;s product safety watchdog said on its Web site.

In addition, the Ford Motor Company said Thursday that it had stopped production of some commercial vehicles in China because they used the same accelerator pedals built by CTS, based in Elkhart, Ind., the supplier whose products led to Toyota&S217;s recent recall.

Over the last three decades, Toyota has risen to become the world&S217;s biggest carmaker and second-biggest in the United States, in part because of the loyalty of its buyers, who became evangelists for the automaker&S217;s vehicles. &S220;A lot of Toyota buyers never set foot in a competitor&S217;s dealership,&S221; Mr. Fisher said.

The company&S217;s image was also helped within the business community by its management philosophy, which stressed continuous improvement and a production system that allowed workers to slow or stop the assembly line if problems arose.

Kevin L. Meyer, president of the Factory Strategies Group in Morro Bay, Calif., who has studied the company for more than 15 years, said he became concerned in 2007 when Toyota recalled its Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Camry for sudden unintended acceleration, but did not seem to follow up with other vehicles.

In this case, he said it was not clear to him and other students of Toyota whether the company&S217;s latest efforts were in line with its operating philosophies, or simply a bid at damage control.

&S220;I think that&S217;s the big debate right now,&S221; Mr. Meyer said. &S220;Is Toyota going back to its roots and protecting consumers because it is the right thing to do? Or are they doing it because of legal considerations?&S221;

John Paul MacDuffie, a management professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said the public reaction to the recalls demonstrated that Toyota had to take major steps to address the problem &<51; &S220;the corporate equivalent of stopping the line,&S221; he said.

&S220;Reputations take a long time to build up and they can be damaged quickly,&S221; he added. &S220;Right now it&S217;s all very chaotic, and it looks pretty bad.&S221;

Toyota Recall Hits 9 Million Cars Worldwide

Stocks were down on Wall Street in afternoon trading Wednesday as investors absorbed the latest assessment of the nation&S217;s economic prospects from the Federal Reserve and remained skittish in advance of the president&S217;s State of the Union address.

The latest batch of earnings were again being overshadowed by concerns over potential new financial regulations.

The major indexes showed little movement in the immediate aftermath of the Fed&S217;s announcement that it would keep short-term interest rates near zero in an attempt to continue supporting the shaky economic recovery. The Fed&S217;s key policy-making committee said &S220;that economic activity has continued to strengthen and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating,&S221; and found that &S220;inflation is likely to be subdued for some time,&S221; allowing interest rates to remain at extraordinarily low levels.

Stocks have declined in five of the last seven sessions. The market has been unsettled by President Obama&S217;s push to restrict trading by major financial institutions and concerns over Senate confirmation of the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, for a second term. Mr. Bernanke has been a champion of leaving rates at historic lows to help drive economic growth, a policy that also supports the stock market.

Paul Volcker, the head of the President&S217;s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, will testify before Congress next week about Mr. Obama&S217;s plans to overhaul of banking regulations. Investors will also be watching the president&S217;s prime-time speech in hopes that he will lay out more details about what the rule changes will look like.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell 7.6 percent in December. Sales came to an annual rate of 342,000, below the 370,000 forecast by a Thomson Reuters survey of economists.

At 2:30 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 52.60, or 0.5 percent, at 10,141.69. The Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index was down 5.20, or 0.5 percent, at 1,086.97, while the Nasdaq composite index was down 5.04, or 0.2 percent, at 2,198.69.

Meanwhile, a sharp drop in Caterpillar hurt the Dow industrials. Shares in the equipment maker plunged $4.07, or 7.3 percent, to $51.78 after it issued a cautious forecast.

Treasury prices rose as investors sought safe havens. A drop in bonds from Greece over that country&S217;s mounting debt also created demand for United States debt, analysts said.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.61 percent from 3.63 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar rose against most other major currencies, while gold fell.

Crude oil declined $1.41, to $73.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange business card design.

European stock markets recouped early losses, then renewed their decline. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 59.38 points, or 1.1 percent, at 5,217.47, while Germany&S217;s DAX fell 25.73 points, or 0.5 percent, at 5,643.20. The CAC-40 in France fell 47.24 points, or 1.2 percent, to 3,759,80.

Investors will be keeping a close eye on President Obama&S217;s first State of the Union address to see if he sharpens his attacks on the banks.

&S220;President Barack Obama is under scrutiny from all sides at the moment, and his State of the Union address really is the hot ticket tonight &<51; not just stateside but globally,&S221; said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index.

&S220;More tough yet ambiguous rhetoric on the subject of bank regulation could see the hangover for investors continue at least another day yet but a firm but reassuring tone, however, could see the markets bounce back,&S221; he added.

Stocks around the world have been in retreat for most of the last week in the wake of Mr. Obama&S217;s announcement that he planned to impose restrictions on banks more risky trading activities as well as mounting speculation that China is looking to rein in bank lending to prevent a nasty inflationary spike.

Investors are getting increasingly vexed over possible policy changes in China, as the country&S217;s growth helped limit the impact of the global recession over the last year &<51; figures last week showed that China&S217;s economy grew an eye-catching 10.7 percent in the final three months of the year from the year before.

The worry is that tighter monetary policy in China to check inflationary pressures could kill off the limited economic recovery around the world &<51; figures Tuesday from Britain and South Korea showed exactly how fragile the recovery is.

Those worries weighed on Asian markets earlier, with Shanghai&S217;s main index closing 1.1 percent lower at 2,986.61.

Japan&S217;s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 73.20 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,252.08, with the broader market hurt by heavy selling in Toyota shares. The world&S217;s No. 1 car company halted United States sales of eight models to fix a potentially dangerous gas pedal problem. Its shares tumbled 4.3 percent.

Elsewhere, South Korea&S217;s Kospi declined 0.7 percent to 1,625.48 while Australia&S217;s benchmark slid 1.6 percent and Taiwan&S217;s market fell 0.5 percent.

Hong Kong had bucked the broader selling for a while before capitulating, and the Hang Seng index ended 0.4 percent lower at 20,033.07.

Unease on Wall Street Sends Stocks Lower

COVINGTON, Ky. – Chemical maker Ashland Inc. reported a profit Tuesday for its first fiscal quarter, driven by recovering demand, higher margins across all commercial units and aggressive cost cuts. Its shares climbed more than 8 percent in afternoon trading.

Ashland's CEO James O'Brien said he expects raw material costs to rise in 2010, but vowed to continue focusing on pricing and cost management as the economy recovers.

The maker of the Valvoline line of lubricants said it earned $86 million, or $1.10 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 in contrast to a loss of $119 million, or $1.73 per share, a year ago when its results included hefty severance charges, write-downs and the acquisition of Hercules Inc.

Excluding special items such as a one-time tax gain and discontinued operations in the latest quarter, adjusted earnings amounted to 89 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a profit of 72 cents per share, on average. Analysts typically exclude one-time items cash till payday advance.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $2.02 billion from $1.97 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts expected revenue of $2 billion.

Sales across every segment declined, except for the consumer markets' division, which sells automotive lubricants, chemicals and appearance products. The segment saw lubricant volumes increase 22 percent.

Ashland's other business segments make plastics and resins, along with chemicals for papermaking, water treatment plants, and mining.

Jefferies & Co analyst Laurence Alexander reiterated a "Buy" rating for the stock based the company's strong position to gain from a recovery and its significant free cash flow. His 12-month price target is at $51.

Shares of the company jumped $3.41, or 8.6 percent, to $43.04 in afternoon trading.

Ashland posts 1Q profit on high demand, cost cuts

LONDON -- Goldman Sachs' [S: gs] 100 U.K.-based partners will have their total pay and bonuses for 2009 capped at 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) each, the BBC reported Monday. One executive at the bank said the partners wanted to be seen to be exercising the restraint that the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has been calling for, the report said. However, it added that many executives in the U.K. below the partner level will earn more than 1 million pounds each as the firm fears it might otherwise lose those employees to rival banks online payday loans. Goldman employees will be informed of their bonuses this week. Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that Barclays will defer payment of up to 100% of bonuses for its top staff.

Goldman Caps U.K. Partner Pay At $1.6 Mln: Report

Schlumberger said Friday that oil drilling has started to recover after a sharp decline in crude prices last year reduced the company&S217;s fourth-quarter profit by 31 percent. The company, one of the nation&S217;s leading oil services providers, struggled last year as the global recession sapped energy demand and discouraged drilling operations around the world. Schlumberger said it earned $795 million, or 65 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $1.15 billion, or 95 cents a share, a year earlier payday advance. Revenue fell 16.4 percent, to $5.74 billion from $6.87 billion.

Go to your Portfolio &<87;

A blog about energy, the environment and the bottom line.

Business Briefing | Companies: Schlumberger Posts a Decline in Fourth-Quarter Profit

LONDON -- New orders for industrial goods in the 16-nation euro zone rebounded by 1.6% in November, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat reported Friday. Compared to the same month last year, orders were down 1.5%. Economists had forecast a 0.5% monthly rise and a 5% annual decline . October new orders were revised to show a 1.9% monthly fall from an initial estimate of a 2.2% decline.

Euro-zone Nov. Industrial Orders Rise 1.6%

HONG KONG -- China's gross domestic product expanded at a rapid rate of 10.7% in the fourth-quarter of 2009 from the year-earlier period, pushing the full-year economic growth rate to a better-than-expected 8.7%, according to official data released Thursday. The data came on the heels of an 8.9% growth in the third quarter, reflecting the strength of Beijing's fiscal and monetary stimulus. The full-year growth beat the government's own target of 8% annual growth. Data simultanously released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China also showed China's industrial output rose 18.5% in December, lower than the 19.2% jump in November, but monthly retail sales accelerated at 17.5% from December 2008, beating the 15.8% rise in November retail sales instant payday loan. But inflationary pressures increased, with the consumer price index rising 1.9% in December, while the monthly producer price index also ended an year-long declining trend to grow 1.7%. For the full-year, however, CPI declined 0.7%, while PPI dropped at a steeper 5.4%. The monthly inflation figures were well above forecasts for a CPI gain of 1.7% and a PPI rise of just 0.5%, according to average estimates from a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists. The upside surprise sent Hong Kong stocks lower on fears Beijing would rein in new bank lending.

China's Fourth-quarter GDP Up 10.7% Vs. Year-ago

I&S217;VE learned two things about business travel. Always carry hot sauce and have enough cash for some decent tips.

I usually try to bring my own hot sauce on board, but sometimes the security guard confiscates it.

If that happens, once I&S217;m through, I&S217;ll find the nearest restaurant or lounge and give a waiter a few bucks for some of those tiny bottles of hot sauce behind the bar.

Trust me. Hot sauce does wonders for airline food.

But when it comes to getting out of a jam, cash is king.

Several years ago I was with a group of about 200 people in Egypt. One of the side trips was an excursion to the Valley of the Kings and other burial sites.

I hired five buses, carrying about 40 people each, to get to the site. Each bus had a local, licensed tour guide on board.

My bus got stuck with the worst tour guide on the planet. She was knowledgeable, but as dull and dry as the economics teacher in the movie &S220;Ferris Bueller&S217;s Day Off.&S221;

Nonetheless, I gave my assistant an envelope containing $100 in American currency and a thank-you note to give to our guide at the end of the trip. Each of the other tour guides received the same thing.

After the tour, I checked the group&S217;s airline reservations for the next day&S217;s flight to Cairo.

An agent handed me a handwritten manifest. Six people from my group weren&S217;t on the list. That was a problem since everyone needed to be at an event that next evening, and this was the only flight going to Cairo that day.

I politely asked whether their names could be added, while simultaneously offering the attendant a &S220;tip&S221; of $60. The money was gratefully accepted, and I saw the person write the six names on the manifest.

When we got the airport the next morning, I went to check the list again.

Guess what? Those six people weren&S217;t on this passenger manifest. But their luggage was being loaded onto the plane, along with all the other bags. In those days, we could keep track of all luggage by tagging it as one receipt at the hotel.

At a minimum, I had to retrieve the luggage of the six guests who wouldn&S217;t be flying, since another flight to Cairo wouldn&S217;t happen for a few days.

My assistant and I ran to the plane, but no one was around to help us.

We could see the luggage, so I figured why not just help ourselves. I hoisted my assistant into the plane belly to grab the six bags.

I thought we were home free until I felt something cold and pointy at the side of my neck. It was a bayonet. And it was being held by a very serious looking soldier-type person.

The next thing I knew I was escorted to his commander&S217;s office. I thought I was being thrown into prison.

Instead, the lead officer shook my hand and asked if I was the person in charge of the group that went to the Valley of the Kings the day before.

I hesitantly said yes.

He smiled and told me that his wife was my guide, and in her 20 years of leading tours she had never received a tip before, let alone such a generous one.

After I explained my dilemma, he told me not to worry. The six people whose names didn&S217;t make the list would be allowed on the flight.

It was the smartest 100 bucks I ever forked over. I&S217;m just glad I didn&S217;t offer my guide some hot sauce. I think I&S217;d probably still be in Egypt.

By Joe Lipman, as told to Joan Raymond. E-mail: joanraymond@nytimes.com

Frequent Flier: Secret Ingredients of Business Travel: Hot Sauce and Cash