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OPEC won't alter pumping levels

By wire services
Published March 9, 2006

OPEC said Wednesday it would keep pumping at current levels to ensure adequate supplies. Edmund Daukoru, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said the output quota would remain untouched at 28-million barrels a day, but the 11-nation cartel would keep close tabs on the situation in the period when demand traditionally eases between now and summer.

Exxon Mobil to spend $2B more on drilling

Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday it will plow an extra $2-billion a year into oil and natural-gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing in order to lift output by 25 percent by the end of the decade.

Boeing Co.'s former chief executive Harry Stonecipher, who worked less than three months last year before being ousted for having an extramarital affair with a female employee, earned nearly $11.5-million in salary and stock awards in 2005, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week. Stonecipher earned $496,422 in salary and $11-million from incentive stock awards.

As it struggled to gain new subscribers, TiVo Inc., the maker of the popular set-top digital video recorder, on Wednesday reported narrower fourth-quarter losses ($19.5-million) in line with Wall Street expectations. TiVo also announced a new pricing structure similar to cell phone service schemes: Subscribers would no longer have to pay upfront for the set-top box but would be charged based on the length of a service contract.

The rapid growth in commercial real estate loans made by community banks bears watching, even as these mostly smaller, local banks remain in good financial health, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned in a speech Wednesday. "In most local markets, commercial real estate loans have performed well," Bernanke said. "Our examiners tell us that lending standards are generally sound" and are not comparable to the lax standards that contributed to the savings-and-loan crisis two decades ago, he said.

Google Inc. has agreed to pay up to $90-million to settle a lawsuit alleging the online search engine leader overcharged thousands of advertisers who paid for bogus sales referrals generated through a ruse known as "click fraud." The proposed settlement, announced by the company Wednesday, would apply to all advertisers in Google's network during the past four years.

After months of cryptic Web marketing and word-of-mouth hype over Microsoft Corp.'s Project Origami, the company finally showed off the product: an ultracompact computer running Windows XP with a touchscreen and wireless connectivity.

It's everything a full computer or laptop is, minus the keyboard. It has a 7-inch touch-sensitive screen that responds to a stylus or the tap of a finger.

Two models from different manufacturers are expected to hit stores shelves by spring, and Microsoft says they'll be about an inch thick and weigh less than 21/2 pounds - about the size of a large paperback book.

It will run on a full version of Windows XP, the same operating system used on larger tablet PCs, and new software called Windows Touch Pack will handle touch-screen functions. Future editions will support Windows Vista, a version of Microsoft's flagship operating system that's due out in the second half of this year.

The company that makes the Marshmallow Fluff brand has sued Williams-Sonoma Inc., claiming the culinary retailer is misusing the registered trademark Fluffernutter.

Durkee-Mower Inc. claims in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston that Williams-Sonoma has been selling a marshmallow and peanut butter chocolate-covered candy named Fluffernutter without permission.

The company claimed it has been using the word Fluffernutter - which it described as a "concoction of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter combined together in a tasty sandwich" - since at least 1961 in printed recipes and cookbooks.

Williams-Sonoma did not immediately comment.

POLO RALPH LAUREN TO DESIGN WIMBLEDON UNIFORMS: Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., the maker of Ralph Lauren clothing, won a contract to supply uniforms to all officials at the Wimbledon tennis tournament for five years. Polo Ralph Lauren is the first designer in Wimbledon's 129-year history to create and outfit all on-court officials, the company said. The partnership will start with this year's tournament at the All England Club in London.

Information from the Associated Press and Bloomberg News was used in this report.

[Last modified March 9, 2006, 03:00:34]