Stock indexes gain for 7th-straight week

Stock indexes gain for 7th-straight week

NEW YORK

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other banks drove stock indexes higher Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose to its highest level in 21/2 years.

JPMorgan rose 1 percent after reporting that its income soared 47 percent in the fourth quarter. The bank set aside less money to cover bad loans and said it expected to get permission from the Federal Reserve to raise its dividend.

Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and other large banks also rose on hopes that they too would be able to raise dividends. Banks slashed their dividends during the financial crisis to conserve cash. Investors have been urging banks to raise their dividends now.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 55.48 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,787.38. It was the highest close for the Dow since June 25, 2008.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9.48, or 0.7 percent, to 1,293.24. The NASDAQ rose 20.01, or 0.7 percent, to 2,755.30.

Deere CEO’s pay soars in 1st full year

The compensation for Deere & Co.’s CEO nearly tripled in 2010 as Samuel Allen completed his first full year in the top job at the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, but Allen’s $12.3 million compensation remains less than his predecessor received in 2009.

Predecessor Robert Lane received compensation worth $14 million in his last year leading the company.

Allen, who also serves as chairman of Deere, which is based in Moline, Ill., took over as CEO in August 2009 — two months before Deere’s fiscal year ended — and received compensation worth $4.3 million for that year.

Gas prices high; we’re driving less

Americans are driving less, with the holidays behind them and gasoline at two-year highs.

Gas costs around $3.10 a gallon, the highest price since mid-October 2008. Americans usually drive less in the winter, and recent bad weather across the country was further incentive to stay home. And money needs to go toward paying off holiday credit card bills.

Analysts are closely watching economic news and consumer sentiment to determine how much high gas prices are influencing consumer habits.

AIG stock sale to end government rescue

NEW YORK

The government will wind down its largest and most complex rescue from the 2008 financial crisis, a $182 billion package to save insurer AIG, by selling stock over the next two years. The plan could net taxpayers billions in profits.

American International Group Inc. paid its $21 billion outstanding balance to the New York branch of the Federal Reserve on Friday and converted preferred stock owned by the Treasury Department into more than 1.6 billion shares of common stock that can be sold on the open market.

Associated Press