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City of Industry, CA NEW YORK (AP) -- Toyota's suspension of U.S. sales on an unprecedented scale to fix faulty gas pedals deals a blow to the automaker's reputation for quality and came amid intense pressure from the Obama administration.


Toyota Motor Corp. announced late Tuesday it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models affecting 2.3 million vehicles.

Toyota is also suspending production at six North American car-assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1. It gave no date on when production could restart.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Apple Inc. will sell the newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499, a price tag far below the $1,000 that some analysts were expecting. [Read the full article]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Citrix Systems Inc. on Wednesday posted a 47 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit as sales rose across all its business lines.

But the company, which provides software and equipment for streamlining computer systems, issued a forecast at the low end of Wall Street expectations, and shares fell in after-hours trading.

Citrix said net income for the final three months of 2009 rose to $88.1 million, or 47 cents per share, from $60.1 million, or 33 cents per share, in the 2008 fourth quarter. There were about 2 percent more shares outstanding in the 2009 quarter, which slightly reduced per-share results.

Adjusted for expenses related to acquisitions, restructuring and stock-based compensation, the company said it earned $123 million, or 66 cents per share in the 2009 fourth quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 52 cents per share, on revenue of $431.5 million. [Read the full article]

AP - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, before the House Oversight ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats and Republicans alike pummeled Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday over his role in the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG Inc., venting public anger over Wall Street's return to prosperity while unemployment stands at 10 percent.

Geithner, one of the original architects of the government's 2008 response to the financial crisis as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, defended the use of taxpayer money as necessary to head off "potentially catastrophic damage to the economy."

But members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hammered away at why regulators allowed American International Group to pass on billions of the bailout money to big Wall Street and international banks that were business partners. [Read the full article]

AP - Specialists watch Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's testimony to a congressional panel on a televison screen on the floor ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Federal Reserve reassured stock market investors Wednesday that the economy is improving and that interest rates will stay low.

Stocks recovered from an early slide to end moderately higher after the Fed issued a more upbeat assessment of the economy following a two-day meeting on interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 42 points.

Treasury prices also reversed direction and began falling as investors withdrew money from safe haven holdings.

The Fed's statement that "economic activity has continued to strengthen" since its last meeting injected some calm into a nervous market. Stocks have fallen in five of the last eight days as investors question what effect a more assertive Washington will have on Wall Street. [Read the full article]

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