Business Roundup for 1/10/14

Business roundup for Friday, January 10.

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets are taking a surprisingly weak U.S. jobs report in stride. Stock indexes are slightly lower in early trading on Wall Street following news that employers added only 74,000 jobs last month. Traders may be seeing a silver lining in the possibility that the slowdown will prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low for a while longer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Today's employment report has dashed hopes for a strong finish to 2013. The Labor Department says U.S. employers added 74,000 jobs in December, the fewest in three years. The unemployment rate did fall from 7 percent in November to 6.7 percent, the lowest level since October 2008. But the drop occurred partly because more Americans stopped looking for jobs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department says wholesale businesses increased their inventories in November, but at less than half the pace of October. Wholesalers boosted stockpiles half a percent in November. That followed a 1.3 percent increase in October, which was the biggest one-month gain since a 1.5 percent rise the previous October. Sales rose 1 percent in November following a 1.1 percent increase in October.

NEW YORK (AP) — Target now says personal information including phone numbers and email and mailing addresses was stolen from as many as 70 million customers in its pre-Christmas data breach. It had previously said about 40 million credit and debit card users were affected. The discount chain is also cutting its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings forecast and outlook for a key sales barometer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama intends to nominate Stanley Fischer to be vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. Fischer is a former head of the Bank of Israel. He would succeed Janet Yellen, who's succeeding Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Fischer is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. He's considered a leading expert on monetary policy.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. economy still has some weak spots. Investors got a sharp reminder of that yesterday when some major retailers cut their earnings forecasts after a disappointing holiday season. The Dow fell 18 points, to close at 16,444. The S&P 500 added a fraction of a point ending the day at 1,838. The Nasdaq lost nine points, closing at 4,156. Futures point to gains at this morning's opening.

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Asian stock markets were cautious today after a slowdown in China's exports dimmed sentiment, while European stocks gained ground ahead of a key U.S. jobs report. Benchmark crude oil rose to $92.50 a barrel. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen.

UNDATED — Economic statistics due out today include the Labor Department's December employment data. Also today, the government will release November's wholesale trade inventories.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Economists say employers likely added 196,000 jobs to the economy last month. The experts surveyed by FactSet say when the Labor Department releases its numbers later this morning, they'll likely show that the December unemployment rate is the same as it was for November — a five-year low of 7 percent.

BEIJING (AP) — China's export growth slowed in December while imports accelerated, possibly helping to temper fears of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. Exports rose 4.3 percent to $207.7 billion, slowing from November's 12.7 percent expansion. Imports rose 8.3 percent to $182.1 billion, up from the previous month's 7.6 percent. Stronger exports might be a sign China's domestic demand is relatively strong despite concerns a modest economic recovery is weakening.