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Consumer inflation passes expectations

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 22, 2007

WASHINGTON

Inflation at the consumer level rose by a larger-than-expected amount in January as falling energy prices only partly offset big increases in the cost of medical care, food and airline tickets. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that prices rose by 0.2 percent in January. That was down from a 0.4 percent rise in December, but it was higher than the 0.1 percent increase that Wall Street had been expecting.

Microsoft, AT&T patent case heard

A lawyer for AT&T Corp. argued before a skeptical Supreme Court on Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. is violating one of its patents when it sends its Windows software overseas to be copied and placed on personal computers. Microsoft acknowledged that it violated AT&T's patent on speech encoding technology when it sold Windows in the United States, but disputes that it should be held responsible for infringement when the software is copied by foreign manufacturers. Two lower federal courts ruled in favor of AT&T.

High court rules onbankruptcy

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a financially troubled small businessman gave up an important right under the federal bankruptcy code because he failed to disclose all of his assets as the law requires. In a 5-4 decision, the court said Robert Marrama of Gloucester, Mass., could not convert his case from one chapter of the code to another, as the law ordinarily allows. The reason stemmed from his failure to disclose a Maine vacation home placed in a trust. Marrama had tried to convert his case from a Chapter 7 liquidation to Chapter 13, which lets a debtor to keep property and pay debts over time.

Treasury chief to visit China again

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, continuing efforts to deal with America's huge trade gap with China, will make his third visit since July there next month. Paulson will meet in Beijing with government officials and deliver a major speech on China's capital markets. The administration is trying to persuade the Chinese to open their financial markets to greater participation by U.S. companies.

RICHFIELD, Minn.

Best Buy plans more China stores

Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, said Wednesday it would add more stores in China and expand its U.S. retail square footage about 9 percent in the coming year. Best Buy said it would add 20 to 23 new China stores in the Five Star chain during the next fiscal year, which begins March 4.

[Last modified February 22, 2007, 01:43:15]