| Wednesday, February 27th 2013, 19:57 GMT |
Auto GP's new 2013 car will hit the track for the first time at Vallelunga on Thursday, the series has announced
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| By Gary Watkins | Wednesday, February 27th 2013, 20:51 GMT |
IndyCar refugee Ryan Briscoe will return to sportscar racing in next month's Sebring 12 Hours with the Level 5 Motorsports LMP2 squad
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, February 27th 2013, 21:48 GMT |
Adrian Sutil is set to be confirmed on Thursday as Force India's second driver, as the final pre-season Formula 1 test gets underway at Barcelona
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| Tuesday, February 26th 2013, 18:58 GMT |
AJ Allmendinger will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup to drive for Phoenix Racing again in this weekend's Phoenix round
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, February 26th 2013, 21:39 GMT |
Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson believes NASCAR needs to learn from the accident in last weekend's Nationwide Series race that left several fans injured, although he urged against any knee-jerk reactions
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| Tuesday, February 26th 2013, 22:19 GMT |
Ex-Formula 1 driver Gianni Morbidelli will continue with Audi Sport Italia in the Superstars Series for a third season
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, February 25th 2013, 17:40 GMT |
McLaren may have been putting on a brave face over Paddy Lowe's defection to Mercedes on Monday, but there is no hiding from the fact that his departure is a blow.
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| By Gary Watkins | Monday, February 25th 2013, 17:17 GMT |
Aston Martin Racing will field a second Vantage GTE in next month's Sebring 12 Hours as a possible precursor to running a fifth car at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, February 25th 2013, 19:32 GMT |
Renault has unveiled the first images of the new V6 turbo engine that it believes will help attract fans back to Formula 1
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| By Matt Beer | Sunday, February 24th 2013, 15:23 GMT |
Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood says the venue is confident that it has done everything it can to ensure crowd safety for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup opener following the fan injuries in Saturday's Nationwide event
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| Sunday, February 24th 2013, 21:45 GMT |
Jimmie Johnson ended his run of poor Daytona 500 results by holding off Hendrick team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr to win NASCAR's premier race for the second time
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| Sunday, February 24th 2013, 22:12 GMT |
All bar two of the 14 Daytona spectators hospitalised after Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race incident have now been released
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| By Matt Beer | Saturday, February 23rd 2013, 13:50 GMT |
Sergio Perez came away from his second test as a McLaren Formula 1 driver with the fastest time of the week at Barcelona.
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| By Charles Bradley | Saturday, February 23rd 2013, 22:00 GMT |
A last-lap crash in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway has caused injuries among the crowd after the front end of one of the cars was torn off and pierced the debris fencing
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| By Charles Bradley | Sunday, February 24th 2013, 00:44 GMT |
Sunday's 55th running of the Daytona 500, American racing's biggest stock car event, will go ahead despite 28 fans being injured in a violent crash at the end of Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series event
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Einhorn's Greenlight Capital filed a lawsuit earlier this month seeking to "unbundle" a number of shareholder proposals that would have been voted on as a group, including one that would have made it difficult for the company to issue preferred stock. The vote on this, known as Proposal No. 2, was scheduled to be voted on at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on February 27.
Judge Richard Sullivan of the Southern District of New York ruled that bundling four different items in one proposal violates Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.
"Given the disparate, material nature of the items in Proposal No. 2, it is probable that Apple has improperly bundled four 'separate matters' for a single vote," the ruling states.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500)shares rose 1% on Friday. News of the ruling came just a few minutes before the market closed.
Einhorn has launched an activist campaign to get Apple to unlock some of its $137 billion in cash by issuing preferred stock, or iPrefs, as he calls them. He argues that allowing the cash to sit idle on Apple's balance sheet is bad for the company and its shareholders.
A spokesman for Greenlight said that the ruling "is a significant win for all Apple shareholders and for good corporate governance" and added that "we look forward to Apple's evaluation of our iPref idea and we encourage fellow shareholders to urge Apple to unlock the significant value residing on its balance sheet."
Related: Einhorn takes aim at Apple's cash hoard
But another big Apple shareholder was not pleased with the judge's ruling.
California's powerful pension fund, CalPERS, supported Apple's proposal, which it said would give shareholders more voting power over the issuance of Apple stock.
"We encourage Apple to reintroduce these measures as soon as is practical so that all investors can be heard," said Anne Simpson, a CalPERS senior portfolio manager and director of global governance. "We applaud the company's commitment to strengthening shareholder rights."
Apple has said it is reviewing Einhorn's proposal, but CEO Tim Cook has called the lawsuit a "silly sideshow."
Spokespeople for Apple could not immediately be reached for comment. 
First Published: February 22, 2013: 5:01 PM ET
Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat took home an $11.5 million pay package last year.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The pay package, disclosed in a regulatory filing late Thursday, comes a year after Citigroup shareholders rejected a $15 million pay package for then-CEO Vikram Pandit.
Pandit resigned due to board pressure in October. He received $6.7 million for his time at the helm in 2012, according to an earlier Citigroup filing.
Michael O'Neill, Citigroup's chairman, said Corbat's salary structure "more strongly connects compensation with performance, emphasizes strong risk management, and is both competitive and in line with regulatory standards." When Citi's compensation committee sought to determine Corbat's pay, it consulted with major shareholders, who between them hold 30% of Citigroup shares.
The group decided to change the way Citi's top brass get paid: Instead of the traditional deferred cash compensation, 30% of their pay last year came in the form of "performance share" stock grants. Those shares won't be paid until 2015, and the amount of stock doled out will be based on how well the company performs. Total shareholder return compared to peers and return on assets will be determining factors.
Corbat is due to get up to $3.1 million in that segment of his pay package.
But Corbat's $4.2 million cash bonus was relatively unique to Wall Street last year. Cash bonuses were missing from the pay packages already announced for Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500). Among the major Wall Street bosses, only Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) CEO Lloyd Blankfein received a cash bonus -- $5.6 million, as part of his $21 million total pay package.
Related: Dimon says life goes on after 'Whale' loss
Dimon, who had his pay slashed by 53% following a huge trading loss at the JPMorgan last year, received his entire bonus in stock last year. In 2011, when he was the top paid bank CEO, he received a cash bonus of $4.5 million as part of his $23 million package.
By contrast, BofA's Moynihan received a large raise last year. Moynihan was paid $12 million in 2012, up from $7 million in 2011, but he did not receive a cash bonus either year.
Corbat's pay package comes in a year that Citigroup announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide. The downsizing was his first major initiative as CEO.
Corbat had headed Citigroup's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa prior to his promotion to CEO in October. Shares of Citigroup, which have risen 15.5% since his appointment, were up nearly 1% in premarket trading.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 8:13 AM ET
Click on the map to see how many adults could become eligible for Medicaid if each state chose to expand.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Florida Governor Rick Scott on Wednesday became the latest to warm up to the expansion, which broadens coverage to adults with incomes below 138% of the poverty line. Medicaid rules vary from state to state, but many states (including Florida) do not currently cover most childless, non-disabled and non-elderly adults.
Scott, a former health care executive, follows his GOP peers in Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and North Dakota in accepting a reform they once strongly opposed.
The Supreme Court ruled last year that states can opt out of broadening Medicaid coverage, striking down one of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Some 15 states have chosen to participate so far, with another 10 leaning towards expansion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal group.
Though many Republican governors say their state can't afford the cost of expansion, the political resolve of some has crumbled over the past two months in the face of heavy pressure from hospital associations, medical groups, local governments and others. Providers -- particularly hospitals, where many uninsured folks go for care -- say their costs of treating those without coverage would fall under the expansion.
"Medicaid expansion is a very good deal that's hard to pass up," said January Angeles, a senior policy analyst at the center. "In a lot of these states, a lot of stakeholders have done a good job making the business case."
Most states will have to shell out very little at first -- in the early years. The federal government will pick up 100% of the cost for the first three years, and then gradually reduce its subsidy to 90% by 2020.
Over the next decade, expanding Medicaid is expected to cost states only another $8 billion, or 0.3% more, that they would have otherwise spent, according to an Urban Institute estimate. Some 14.3 million citizens would be newly eligible if every state enrolled.
Various interest groups have put a full-court press on governors and lawmakers, said Ed Haislmaier, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, which opposes broadening Medicaid.
"They want to get their hands on that money," he said.
The financial argument helped sway Scott, who still has to convince a Republican-led legislature to sign on. Some 1.3 million adult Floridians would become eligible for Medicaid under the expansion.
"While the federal government is committed to paying 100% of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care," he said Wednesday when announcing his decision to participate for three years.
Now that Scott is on board, Texas remains the last big holdout.
Texas has the highest share of uninsured in the nation, at nearly a quarter of residents. Some 1.75 million adults would be newly eligible if the Lone Star State joins in. It stands to gain $25.3 billion in federal funds over four years to insure poor adults, while spending $1.3 billion, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an advocacy group for low-income Texans.
Related: Who covers health care for Texas' uninsured? Taxpayers
On Thursday morning, representatives from counties, hospitals, insurers and other groups discussed coordinating their message to Governor Rick Perry and lawmakers in Austin.
"We are making the case that people are already paying for that care in a fragmented and inefficient manner," said John Hawkins, senior vice president of government relations for the Texas Hospital Association. "We have to tell the story of how the expansion is financed."
Hospitals, for instance, already provide $5 billion a year in uncompensated care. That shortfall gets made up by raising premiums for private patients and levying property or sales taxes on residents in special "hospital districts."
"It's a hidden tax," Hawkins said. Federal funds could cover a significant portion of that.
So far, though, Perry is not convinced.
"The governor's position has not changed," said his spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed. "It would be irresponsible to add more Texans and dump more taxpayer dollars into an unsustainable system that is broken and already consumes a quarter of our budget."
First Published: February 22, 2013: 9:30 AM ET
NEW YORK (Money Magazine)
There's no question that rules of thumb -- or "heuristics," as behavioral economists call them -- can simplify activities many people find confusing, such as investing. Easy-to-follow rules can even sometimes produce better results than more sophisticated methods.
For example, researchers found that small business owners who were taught basic rule-of-thumb techniques for estimating profits and calculating revenues improved results more than those who were trained in the fundamentals of traditional financial accounting (which may come as no surprise to anyone who's struggled through an accounting course).
Still, I'd be wary about relying exclusively on rules of thumb when it comes to investing, or for that matter, any other aspects of retirement planning, including the 70% rule for estimating how much income you'll need in retirement and the 4% rule for gauging the amount you can safely withdraw from your nest egg after retiring.
One reason you need to be cautious about applying a rule of thumb is that many times there's no real consensus about what the standard is. For example, when I arrived at MONEY Magazine nearly 30 years ago as a (relatively) fresh-faced writer who still had a full head of hair, 100%-minus-your age was the widely accepted gauge for determining how much stock one should have in a retirement portfolio.
But as investors became more enamored of stocks in the bull market of the late 1980s, you began to see references to a 110-minus-your-age benchmark. And by the time the "Stocks for the Long Run" culture really began to dominate, 120 minus your age was being touted as a more appropriate standard.
Related: Six secrets to a dream retirement
So if you were, say, 30 years old, you could end up with anywhere from 70% of your savings in stocks (100% minus 30) to 90% (120% minus 30), depending on which version of the rule you applied.
But even aside from the question of which benchmark is the accepted one, there's the even more important issue of whether you should be basing your retirement investing strategy on any rule of thumb. After all, by its nature a rule of thumb is a metric that's meant to apply to the average person or typical situation.
You're not an average, though, and your finances may not be typical. You are you, a specific person who has distinct financial needs and preferences.
For example, if you're age 65 and ready to retire, applying the 100-minus-your-age standard would give you a stock stake of 35% of your savings. That may be perfectly fine for many 65-year-olds. But if you have a relatively modest nest egg and you're likely to bail out of stocks if the Dow drops 20%, then investing 35% in equities could be too racy for you.
If, on the other hand, you've got a huge pot of savings that can continue to throw off sufficient income even if the market tanks, or if Social Security and a pension cover enough of your expenses that large fluctuations in your retirement balances don't faze you, then it may make sense for you to boost your stock holdings well beyond 35%.
So what do I propose instead of going with a rule of thumb?
Well, when investing for retirement you want to create a stock-bond allocation that can get you the returns you need without subjecting yourself to a level of risk that you can't handle.
One way to arrive at an acceptable tradeoff between those two aims is to go to a good retirement calculator, plug in your financial information and test run a variety of stock-bond mixes. That will give you an idea of how your chances of achieving a secure retirement may change as you increase or decrease your exposure to stocks.
Related: Social Security's role in your portfolio
Once you've arrived at a blend of stocks and bonds that seems appropriate, you can then go to Morningstar's Asset Allocator tool to see how far that mix might drop over the course of three months if the market tanks. You could also do a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation to determine how large a loss a given blend might have sustained in severe downturns in the past.
From late 2007 to early 2009, for example, stocks lost roughly 50%, while the broad bond market gained about 15%. So an 80-20 mix of stocks and bonds would have sustained a loss of 37% vs. a setback of only 17.5% for a portfolio split equally between stocks and bonds.
Of course, there's no assurance that the future will unfold exactly like the past. It probably won't. But going through the exercises I just described can at least give you a sense of what the possibilities are for different allocations of stocks and bonds -- and offer a much better guide for investing your retirement savings than any rule of thumb.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 12:31 PM ET
David Perry, head of Sony's recent acquisition Gaikai, showed off the PlayStation 4's new cloud technology this week.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
That shows just how much Sony's priorities have changed over the past seven years since the PlayStation 3 was released.
Oh, sure, Sony (SNE) talked about its eight-core AMD (AMD, Fortune 500) Jaguar CPU, PC-style graphics processor, and eight gigabytes of RAM during the new console's unveiling on Wednesday. The company had developers talk about how many more polygons they can now cram into character models. And Sony showed off eye candy in the form of new games like "Killzone: Shadow Fall" and "Infamous: Second Son."
Yes, Sony is still interested in hardcore gaming.
But what Sony really gushed about during its PS4 event had nothing to do with pixels. More than anything else, Sony's presenters were at their giddiest when they discussed streaming content and the cloud.
The PlayStation 4 features built-in support for users to stream select PS4 games to their handheld PS Vitas. That effectively gives the Vita more power than its diminutive form factor could house on its own.
Another fun feature for fans of retro games: The PS4 will also be able to stream legacy PlayStation titles from a remote server. No downloading and no legacy hardware required. That's a big deal for people who have an extensive library of PS3 games but don't want to keep around multiple video game consoles.
Related story: PlayStation 4: More than just a pixel powerhouse
Sony's ambitious vision is to make every single existing PlayStation game -- all the way back to the original PlayStation -- available via the cloud
To facilitate this, Sony acquired a company in 2012 called Gaikai, which specializes in deploying cloud infrastructure to support online gaming. Sony's announcement put Gaikai boss David Perry front and center during the big reveal to talk about the company's new plans.
Still think this is just a casual area of interest for Sony? It may be life or death.
Sony is very conscious of the fact that it has lost mind share and market share to smartphone and tablet makers. Games available on your iPhone and Android are very close to what's available on the PS Vita, and mobile gaming has been gradually nibbling away at console sales over the past couple years.
Yet what phones and tablets can't offer is a console-like experience with the top-of-the-line games that come out exclusively for the PlayStation, Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) Xbox or Nintendo Wii. It's a rare case when we can play the same game in multiple settings.
Related story: With PlayStation 4, Sony reboots its games business
That's what Sony is hoping to accomplish with its new cloud offering.
With games that can span more than a hundred hours of playing time, having them no longer tethered to a single device is a tantalizing idea. It may not be cutting edge in the traditional sense, but it very well might be the future of gaming.
Sony's not the only console maker thinking about this.
Nintendo gave the Wii U the ability to stream games to its controller. And Nvidia is building out its GRID cloud gaming solution, which will allow users to play the same game on a phone, tablet, computer, or television.
But Sony could really differentiate itself by going all-in with the cloud, leveraging online gaming to make the PlayStation something bigger than just a console. Simply making a self-contained gaming machine isn't enough anymore.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 12:06 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
But that's okay, Fed officials say.
After years of record profits, the Fed is likely to be saddled with losses starting in 2017 or 2018, economists predict in a paper that was presented Friday at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, a New York conference organized by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Here's the scenario they think will play out: As the economy improves, the Fed will eventually tighten monetary policy. The central bank will stop buying mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries by the end of this year, they believe, and start raising interest rates in 2015.
Eventually, the Fed will have to start selling off the massive collection of bonds it acquired in its stimulus efforts.
And when that time comes, even the Fed admits that it will probably incur losses.
Inside the Fed's finances
Unlike most government agencies, the Federal Reserve funds itself. Its expenses are not paid for in by U.S. federal budget.
Each year after paying its own bills, the central bank hands over all its remaining profit to the Treasury Department. Most of the money comes from interest earned on holdings like Treasury bonds and other debt.
Those payments have ballooned in recent years. The Fed is earning huge profits from the large bond portfolio it amassed (and continues to amass) during its stimulus efforts.
In the decade preceding the Great Recession, the Fed paid out an average of $25 billion a year to the Treasury. In the last three years, its remittances have averaged $81 billion.
Based on those numbers, you could call the Fed the most profitable bank in the world. It's generating more income than America's top five banks -- JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) -- combined.
Once the economy improves to its liking -- which could still be years away -- the Fed will have to start shrinking its portfolio, to ward off rapid inflation.
As the economy gets better, the Fed will raise interest rates. At the same time, bond prices will probably fall as the Fed sells off massive amounts of them.
That means the central bank is likely to lose money.
That's not necessarily a problem. A relatively new accounting rule would allow the Fed to pay for its operations and make interest payments basically on credit, deferring its losses and paying them off later in profitable years.
The situation could easily become a public relations nightmare, though -- especially in the current political environment.
"We're in a period where the attacks on the Federal Reserve system are the worst I've seen in 40 years," said Frederic Mishkin, a former Fed governor who is now a professor at Columbia University.
"In any year where the Fed is not giving remittances back to the Treasury, this is going to come up big time in Congress," he added.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also calls it a "recipe for political problems." During the same period that the Fed will incur losses, the government will be paying billions of dollars in interest to foreign governments.
The Fed seems to be trying to get ahead of the PR blow-up.
The central bank put out a research paper on the topic last month, and minutes released earlier this week show the issue was discussed at the Fed's January meeting.
Since then, several officials have spoken about it quite openly.
"There is a chance that we could go through a period of time in which our income falls, and we could even take losses," said Janet Yellen, vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board, in a speech last week.
Her colleague Jerome Powell, a Fed governor, reiterated that point Friday.
Some Fed watchers expect Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss the topic when he speaks before Congress next week in his semi-annual testimony.
He's stuck in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" position. If the economy improves, great -- but when it does, the Fed has big losses and a PR crisis to look forward to.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 2:27 PM ET
Click chart for more market data.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Stocks rose Friday, with the Dow jumping more than 100 points to close above 14,000. Better-than-expected results from Hewlett-Packard and AIG pushed investors back into the stock market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained between 0.8% and 1%. The S&P and Nasdaq lost 0.3% and 1% respectively for the whole week, while the Dow gained 0.1%.
Friday's gains followed a selling streak that marked the biggest two-day drop for U.S. stocks this year.
The pullback is not unusual though, given how well the market has done so far this year. Investors rushed back into stocks at the beginning of the year, and continue to add money to the U.S. stock market, but at a much more tempered pace.
CNNMoney's Fear & Greed Index has also eased into greed (it had been stuck in extreme greed since the start of the year). And the market's other fear gauge, the VIX (VIX), has jumped more than 17% over the past five days, although it still has a ways to go before it crosses deep into fear mode.
Related: Investors' rush into stocks slows
Despite the recent losses, the Dow is still up nearly 6% since the beginning of the year, the S&P 500 has gained 5% and the Nasdaq is up almost 4%.
Shortly before the close of trading, a federal court ruled against Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and in favor of hedge manager David Einhorn, who has been pushing the company to do more with its cash. The ruling means that a shareholder vote on whether the company can offer preferred shares to give back cash to shareholders, currently scheduled for next week, could be blocked. Apple's shares closed up 1%.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 Friday. Shares rose 12% after Hewlett Packard reported better-than-expected results late Thursday. HP's first-quarter profit fell 11% from a year ago, and sales declined 6%, but expectations were so low that the figures easily trumped forecasts.
AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) also reported better-than-expected earnings late Thursday, pushing the stock up 3%.
Shares of WebMd (WBMD) spiked more than 25% after the company's restructuring plan started to show results.
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) shares dropped after the retailer said sales at stores open more than one year dropped in the fourth quarter.
Shares of Texas Instruments (TXN, Fortune 500) popped after the company increased its dividend and announced share buybacks.
European markets closed mixed after a big sell-off Thursday. Investors remained cautious after the European Commission predicted that the eurozone economy would continue to shrink in 2013. Investors are also waiting to see the results from a key election in Italy this weekend.
Asian markets ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei added 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng lost 0.5%.
Related: Check gas prices in your state
Gas prices have risen for 36 straight days. Nationwide, a gallon of unleaded gasoline cost an average of $3.78 Friday, according to AAA. That's up 49 cents, or 15% since Jan. 18, when prices started rising.
Oil prices edged higher while gold prices declined.
The dollar gained ground against the British pound, the euro and the Japanese yen.
The price on the 10-year Treasury increased slightly, pushing the yield down to 1.97% from 1.98% Thursday.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 9:42 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Of the money they have in stocks, hedge funds allocated 52% toward bullish bets during the fourth quarter, up from 48% in the third quarter and matching the all-time high set in the first quarter of 2007, according to a Goldman Sachs report that tracked 725 hedge funds with $1.3 trillion in assets.
It's no coincidence that hedge funds are making a bigger bet on stocks. The last time they were this bullish, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 were at record highs. And recently, both indexes have nearly hit new all-time highs.
Still, there's one long-time favorite that isn't getting as much love. For the first time in three years, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is no longer the hedge fund darling.
Related: Google's next target: $1,000
Insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) ousted the iPhone and iPad maker as the most widely held stock among hedge funds at the end of last year. And Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) also attracted more hedge funds, pushing Apple down to third most popular.
The change-up came as Apple's shares tumbled 20% during the fourth quarter. Apple's stock has continued to fall, declining 15% so far this year. Meanwhile, AIG has climbed more than 16% since the beginning of October, and Google has rallied to new all-time highs above $800.
Even though Apple has lost some of its appeal, it remained the biggest holding at many top hedge funds, including David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital and David Tepper's Appaloosa Management.
Einhorn has been on the offensive against Apple, calling for the tech giant to return some of its $137 billion of cash to shareholders in the form of preferred stock.
Related: Soros dumps gold as prices sink
In addition to Apple, hedge funds also reduced their exposure to gold last quarter. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) fell to the lowest level in four years, according the report. Gold prices have fallen more than 11% since the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Despite the portfolio changes, hedge funds continue to lag the broader market. In 2012, the average hedge fund generated an 8% return, according to Goldman's report, compared with the S&P 500's 13% increase. And so far in 2013, hedge funds are averaging a 3% return, while the S&P 500 has climbed more than 5%.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 1:51 PM ET
God save the AAA rating.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The U.K. was knocked down one notch to Aa1, with its ratings outlook at stable. Moody's said the key drivers of the downgrade included the country's rising debt burden and tepid growth outlook over the next few years.
"[A]lthough the U.K.'s debt-servicing capacity remains very strong and very capable of withstanding further adverse economic and financial shocks, it does not at present possess the extraordinary resilience common to other AAA-rated issuers," Moody's said.
The U.K. had held AAA status since Moody's first began rating the country in 1978.
In December, the U.K.'s budget monitor projected that the country's economy would grow by just 1.3% this year. The government has been pushing a much-criticized austerity program, and finance minister George Osbourne said he remained committed to those efforts, even after the downgrade.
"This is a stark reminder of the debt problems that Britain faces and the clearest possible warning to anyone who thinks we can run away from dealing with those problems," he said. "Far from weakening our resolve to deal with our debts, this should redouble our resolve."
Related: U.K. risks new recession
The British government has said its belt-tightening will have to continue until 2018.
In announcing the downgrade, Moody's said it expects the U.K.'s debt to peak at 96% of GDP in 2016, up from around 90% today.
A year ago, Moody's switched the outlook on the U.K.'s AAA rating to negative, in a prelude to Friday's downgrade. At the same time, the firm cut the ratings of half a dozen European countries.
The other major rating agencies, Fitch and Standard & Poor's, still have the U.K. rated AAA, though with negative outlooks.
Elsewhere in Europe, France lost its AAA rating from Moody's in November, after a similar downgrade from S&P in January.
The United States maintains its AAA rating from Moody's and Fitch, though it was downgraded by S&P in August 2011 following the debt ceiling standoff in Washington.
Steven Englander, a foreign exchange strategist with Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), said in a research note following the downgrade that the move was unlikely to raise borrowing costs for the U.K., as bond yields in the United States, France and Japan had remained stable following similar downgrades. But it increases pressure on the country to pursue growth by weakening the pound, he added.
"[W]hile by itself the announcement merely accelerates what was expected to happen at some point, the need for weakness [in the British pound] will become more apparent to policymakers and investors," Englander said.
Among Europe's other major economies, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands maintain their AAA ratings from Moody's. France sits at Aa1, while Italy is down at Baa2 with Spain at Baa3.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 5:01 PM ET
NBC.com and related sites were exploited to dump malware on unsuspecting users' computers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The hack, which affected NBC.com and related sites for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Jay Leno's Garage," infected visitors to the compromised sites with the Citadel Trojan. The potent strain of malware is used for cyberespionage and to steal bank account information.
Infecting computers with malware when they navigate to a website is called a "drive-by download," and cybersecurity experts say it's a growing -- and terrifying -- attack technique. Users who are simply surfing the Web can unwittingly stumble upon a hacked website, which may look completely normal.
Security researcher Dancho Danchev, who wrote a detailed blog post about the attack,, told CNNMoney the hack was both invisible to the average user and tough even for security experts to track.
"The cybercriminals behind the campaign embedded invisible ... elements on the main page, which they periodically rotated to prevent detection from security vendors and researchers," Danchev said.
Related story: Hackers take aim at key U.S. infrastructure
The tool used to inject malicious code into NBC.com is called RedKit. It first popped up in May 2012, and it has reared its ugly head many times since, Danchev noted.
When a user clicks on a malicious Web site, RedKit checks whether the user is running outdated versions of software or browser plugins. If it does detect any outdated software, it exploits that weakness, installing malicious software on the user's computer. (Typically, those weaknesses get fixed in newer versions of the software.)
Related: Microsoft says its computers were hacked as at Facebook and Apple
While the identity of the cybercriminals isn't yet known, Danchev said he found a link between the NBC.com hack and a a group that spammed Facebook (FB) and Verizon Wireless (VZ, Fortune 500) customers last year, phishing for account information.
The NBC.com security breach was a sophisticated attack, unlike the amateur hacks of the Burger King (BKW) and Jeep Twitter accounts, which were overtaken on Monday and Tuesday.
First Published: February 22, 2013: 12:38 PM ET
| By Edd Straw | Friday, February 22nd 2013, 18:29 GMT |
Mark Webber believes his Red Bull team is operating better than ever based on what he has seen so far in testing this year.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Pablo Elizalde | Friday, February 22nd 2013, 18:31 GMT |
Dean Stoneman will return to racing full-time after securing a drive to compete in the British Porsche Carrera Cup this year
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Glenn Freeman | Friday, February 22nd 2013, 19:00 GMT |
New McLaren junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne topped the first Formula Renault 3.5 test of 2013 at Aragon on Friday.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Sam Tremayne and Glenn Freeman | Thursday, February 21st 2013, 18:36 GMT |
Romain Grosjean believes that he has already been able to show his new approach for 2013 during pre-season testing.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Charles Bradley | Thursday, February 21st 2013, 20:33 GMT |
Kevin Harvick won the first of the 150-mile 'Duel' qualifying races at Daytona on Thursday afternoon, setting one half of the grid for Sunday's showpiece 500-mile Sprint Cup opener
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Charles Bradley | Thursday, February 21st 2013, 22:23 GMT |
Kyle Busch won the second 150-mile 'Duel' qualifying races at Daytona on Thursday afternoon, finalising the grid for Sunday's 500-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup season opener in the process
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By David Evans | Wednesday, February 20th 2013, 18:49 GMT |
The organiser of the Acropolis Rally has guaranteed this year's event will go ahead despite continued concerns regarding the financial state of Greek motorsport's governing body
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Edd Straw | Wednesday, February 20th 2013, 18:52 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel dismissed any concerns over Red Bull's reliability despite causing a red flag during today's running at Barcelona.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, February 20th 2013, 21:11 GMT |
Auto GP champion Adrian Quaife-Hobbs will move into GP2 with MP Motorsport this season
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| By Matt Beer | Tuesday, February 19th 2013, 18:47 GMT |
Leading Formula 1 drivers are predicting the 2013 season will start with higher tyre degradation and more pitstops than the early races of 2012
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Sam Tremayne | Tuesday, February 19th 2013, 18:48 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel insists Red Bull is not wasting any time worrying about the progress of rival Formula 1 teams and has confidence in its own development plans
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Edd Straw and Glenn Freeman | Tuesday, February 19th 2013, 19:13 GMT |
The new Williams FW35 is a big improvement on its Formula 1 predecessor according to the team's lead driver Pastor Maldonado
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Kevin Turner | Monday, February 18th 2013, 16:43 GMT |
British Touring Car racer Jeff Smith has confirmed he will stay at Eurotech Racing for this season.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Marcus Simmons | Monday, February 18th 2013, 17:53 GMT |
The Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort is closing in on a new date of July 7.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Monday, February 18th 2013, 20:08 GMT |
Formula Renault 3.5 rookie Stoffel Vandoorne has joined McLaren's Young Driver Programme
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Glenn Freeman and Matt Beer | Sunday, February 17th 2013, 15:55 GMT |
Mark Webber has welcomed the adjustment to DRS regulations for the 2013 Formula 1 season, saying drivers had long felt the system's free use in practice was pointless
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| By Matt Beer | Sunday, February 17th 2013, 19:45 GMT |
Ducati carried out a three-day private test at Jerez from Friday to Sunday with Pramac's Andrea Iannone and factory test rider Michele Pirro
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| Sunday, February 17th 2013, 20:16 GMT |
Danica Patrick became the first female driver ever to take a NASCAR Sprint Cup pole position as she outpaced her rivals in qualifying for the Daytona 500
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| Saturday, February 16th 2013, 16:11 GMT |
A spectator was killed on the opening stage of the Snowman Rally in Scotland on Saturday morning
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| Saturday, February 16th 2013, 21:04 GMT |
Danica Patrick lived up to her prediction that she could challenge for Daytona 500 pole by leading Saturday's practice sessions
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| Saturday, February 16th 2013, 22:25 GMT |
Nissan's V8 Supercars test debut went even better than the team could have hoped, according to drivers Rick and Todd Kelly
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
"Your insurance covers falling objects," said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute.
Meteorites -- which are rocks formed after a meteor burns in the earth's atmosphere -- have crashed through roofs rarely over the years. But when they do, insurers paid for the damage if people had homeowners' policies, according to Hartwig.
A more common problem is "blue ice," the frozen sewage that occasionally falls from planes. That is also covered if it falls on your house, said Hartwig.
The event in Russia was the most serious one in many years, a once-in-a-century event, according to Laurie Leshin, a former NASA scientist and Director of the Center for Meteorites Studies at Arizona State University. It injured more than 700 people and damaged nearly 300 buildings, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Space objects rain down on earth all the time, but rarely do they injure people or damage property, according to Leshin, who is now Dean of Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"The earth is pelted with 40 tons of space debris a year," she said. "Most of that is in teeny dust particles."
To do real damage, a meteor usually has to be bigger than a Volkswagen when it enters the atmosphere, she said.
"There was a case where a meteor(ite) crashed through a roof, bounced off a sofa and hit somebody in the leg," said Leshin. "But I know of no cases in which anyone was killed."
Russia seems to attract meteors. A 1908 explosion over Siberia was the largest impact event in recorded history, with estimates of the energy released from the blast equivalent to as much as 1,000 times that of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.
It devastated an area nearly the size of Rhode Island. If that happened in even a sparsely populated part of the United States, it would be cataclysmic, said Hartwig.
"That would be an extraordinarily expensive event for the insurance industry," he said.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 11:38 AM ET
The day after Valentine's tends to be busy for divorce lawyers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Because of that, Feb. 15 starts the busy season for divorce lawyers, as people who were unhappy with their marriages heading into the day often decide that they no longer want to be with the one they used to love.
A study of divorce filings in New York, Illinois and California by AttorneyFee.com, a legal referral site, found that February is the busiest month of the year for divorce filings, up about 18% from the average month. And those seeking referrals for a divorce lawyer on the site increase 38% following the holiday, with the biggest spike on the day after Valentine's.
Another legal site, Avvo.com, reports a 40% increase in those seeking information and advice about divorce in the period right after Valentine's Day.
"There's a very large number of people who are considering the divorce all the time, deciding whether or not to file," said Richard Komaiko, a co-founder of AttorneyFee. "On Valentine's Day, they take stock of things."
Related: Florists now dread Valentine's Day
Komaiko said February has factors other than the holiday that could lead to an increase in divorces. January is the busiest month of the year for bankruptcy filings, highlighting the financial problems that often divide couples. In addition, the cold weather of February can keep couples that are having trouble indoors and closer to each other, adding to problems.
But Alton Abramowitz, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, believes the holiday itself often brings things to a head for couples who are having trouble.
"There's always the clients who come in a day or two after saying 'I can't believe it, I made this beautiful dinner for my husband for Valentine's Day, he called to say he was stuck in the office and then didn't come home at all."
Abramowitz said for a person who is being unfaithful to a spouse, the day can create problems that lead to them finally getting caught.
"The person who is cheating is caught in the middle; they have to satisfy the spouse and their lover, and more often than not that's an impossible feat to achieve," he said.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 12:43 PM ET
Tiffany & Co. is seeking millions in damages from warehouse club Costco, alleging the discount retailer was selling counterfeit Tiffany diamond rings.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Valentine's Day, accuses Costco with trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and false and deceptive business practices. It is seeking damages equal to triple the amount of any profit Costco made on the sale of the rings and $2 million in punitive damages for every model of the Tiffany rings that were sold.
Costco (COST, Fortune 500) did not have a comment on the suit.
Tiffany's suit said it found out about the rings in November when a customer at Costco in Huntington Beach, Calif., noticed what was advertised on in-store signs as "Tiffany" diamond engagement rings for sale. The customer complained to Tiffany, saying she was disappointed to see the jeweler selling its rings in Costco.
Related: The dismal state of luxury
The suit says that one of the rings was being sold for $3,199.99, another was listed for $6,399.99.
Tiffany (TIF) said that when it confronted Costco with the information, Costco said it immediately removed all reference to Tiffany. But the suit alleges the sales practice had been going on for years. It said Costco did not use the Tiffany description of the rings when selling them online in an effort to avoid detection.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 12:01 PM ET
Steven A. Cohen is the founder of embattled $15 billion hedge fund SAC Capital.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Investors originally had until Feb. 14 to say whether they wanted to pull their money out of the embattled hedge fund, which has been at the center of the SEC's largest insider trading investigation.
Last month, SAC had projected about $1 billion would be withdrawn.
"As we have been saying, the redemptions will have no significant impact on our funds," said an SAC spokesperson.
The Blackstone Group (BX) kept most of its investment intact after persuading SAC to give clients another three months to declare their intention.
Related: SAC Capital's day of reckoning
"We will use this period of time to evaluate all additional information which becomes available," Blackstone said in a statement. According to several published reports, Blackstone has about $550 million invested with the fund.
Outside investors typically had to wait a year to get all their money back since SAC only allows investors to take 25% of their capital out of the fund each quarter. Because of that, only $660 million will leave the fund at the end of the quarter.
It's still not clear whether Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) chose to keep its $180 million with SAC. Morgan Stanley is one of five so-called prime brokers that provide SAC with lucrative support services.
Morgan Stanley did not return calls for comment, and the SAC spokesperson would not discuss client decisions.
None of SAC's other prime brokers -- Barclays (BCS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Credit Suisse (CS) -- have investments in SAC.
SAC investors have been richly rewarded over the years, with the fund generating annualized returns of more than 25%, since it was founded in 1992. In 2012, SAC logged gains of 13%.
Related: SEC closer to taking action against SAC Capital
As of Jan. 1, SAC Capital had $15 billion, according to the source. About 60% of that, or $9 billion, is from the fund's employees, mostly from SAC's billionaire founder, Steven A. Cohen.
His investment in SAC helps make its capital base significantly more stable than most hedge funds.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 2:34 PM ET
Click to track Carnival's stock price.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Shareholders in Carnival Corp. (CCL) may also be breathing a sigh of relief, as the cruise line operator hopes to move past its public relations nightmare.
Carnival shares are on track to end the week down about 5% after the company said Wednesday that its earnings would be hurt in the first quarter due to costs associated with the ill-fated voyage.
Analysts say the negative headlines should begin to dissipate now that the passengers, who had been stranded on the powerless cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico since Sunday, have returned to shore.
The Triumph's plight was widely reported, with passengers detailing the deteriorating conditions on social media.
Passengers reported sewage sloshing in the hallways and, in some cases, running down the walls of cabins. Still others said the power outage forced people, especially those in the lower decks or inside cabins, to drag their mattresses to outside decks because of stifling heat.
Needless to say, this is not good publicity for the cruise industry, said Jamie Katz, an analyst who covers Carnival at Morningstar. But the safety protocols on the Triumph appear to have worked, and the episode did not result in any reports of serious injury, she added.
Related: Tears and big hugs as cruise passengers reunite with families in Mobile
"People were inconvenienced, but it doesn't sound like their safety was put at risk," she said.
The safe return of the Triumph is in contrast to the disaster that occurred just over a year ago on Carnival's Costa Concordia. That ship ran aground off the coast of Italy, in a wreck that left 32 people dead.
"This is not like last year, where the captain jumped ship," said Katz. "Everyone did what they were supposed to do."
Still, the bad press could hurt bookings in the short run, particularly among first-time cruisers. But veteran cruisers are a loyal bunch and will probably not be dissuaded by the latest debacle, according to a report by analysts at Nomura Securities.
"Cruise loyalists and investors should be undaunted by ugly headlines over the long term," said the analysts.
Despite the hit to earnings, Nomura sees this week's sell-off as a buying opportunity, since malfunctions like the one that disabled the Triumph should not happen again, in theory.
The episode could also present an opportunity for those looking to book a cruise in the near future. The negative news could "generate some discounting in the near term" as cruise operators seek to win back business, said Katz.
-- CNN Wires contributed to this report.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 3:16 PM ET
Carnival CEO Micky Arison has yet to speak to media or grant interviews. Instead, that task was left to a regional cruise manager.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
One is the billionaire deeply involved in the success of his professional basketball team, the Miami Heat. That Arison is close with the players, attends nearly every home game and talks often about the team on Twitter.
The other is the CEO of cruise company Carnival (CCL) -- he remains largely silent during company disasters.
It happened in 2010, when an engine fire knocked a cruise ship offline and forced nearly 4,500 to spend three days stranded in the Pacific. It happened last year during the Costa Concordia shipwreck, which killed 32 off the coast of Italy.
And it's happening again.
This week, an engine fire left 4,229 trapped for five days aboard the Carnival Triumph surrounded by pools of urine and feces piling in hallways.
His only reference to the incident came Friday afternoon, when he tweeted, "We are very sorry for the difficult conditions experienced by our guests on #CarnivalTriumph but glad that all guests are off safe & sound."
Related: Carnival says profit to be hurt
Arison has yet to speak to the media or grant interviews. Instead, that task was left to a regional cruise manager. The company's cruise line chief executive, Gerry Cahill, spoke as the ship finally arrived Thursday night in Mobile, Ala.
"I know the conditions onboard were very poor," Cahill told reporters. "I know it was very difficult, and I want to apologize again for subjecting our guests to that. We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case."
The difference between the two Arisons became even more apparent on Tuesday night. While the Triumph slowly drifted toward land, Arison sat in the stands at Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena and watched as his players defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 117-104.
Neither Arison nor Carnival provided immediate responses to questions sent by CNNMoney on Friday.
In the past, Arison has said he thinks it unnecessary "to get in front of a camera."
During the time of the Costa Concordia, Arison issued a statement of condolence and did not attend a few Miami Heat games. But he avoided speaking publicly for another two months, eventually granting an interview with the Miami Herald.
This time around, until Friday, he had simply retweeted Carnival company statements. He also tweeted a reminder about the Heat game versus the Trail Blazers.
It's a different world for Arison the basketball team owner. He openly talks about the team, sometimes unabashedly, to the point where the NBA actually fined him $500,000 for using Twitter as a sounding board. A pay dispute between players and owners had the league at a lockout at the time in 2011, and Arison was responding to a fan that called him a greedy "pig."
"You are barking at the wrong owner," Arison said via Twitter.
Related: Florists now dread Valentine's Day
It's not that Arison shies away from dark moments. He's taken to Twitter several times after Heat losses, like the Dec. 5 game against Washington Wizards and Jan. 14 game against the Utah Jazz.
There are signs that basketball is closer to his heart. In 2011, Arison made his son, Nick, the team's chief executive officer. It's not the first time an Arison has passed along the family empire. Micky Arison inherited the cruise company founded in 1972 by his father, Ted Arison. Its growth has inflated Micky Arison's net worth, estimated by Forbes at $5 billion.
Scott Sobel, a crisis public relations manager in Washington D.C., said: "I don't think his reputation is going to suffer. He's going to score more by being a friendly, open sports team owner. He's not going to be penalized by being more cautious with his cruise line business.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 3:36 PM ET
Click chart for more market data
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dipped between 0.1% and 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just barely higher.
All three indexes were down slightly for the week, marking the first losing week for the Nasdaq this year.
Recently stocks have been pulling back from their solid start to 2013, but the Dow and S&P are still within range of new record highs.
The Dow is 1.3% shy of its all-time high, hit in October 2007, and the S&P 500 is about 4% below its record high, also set in October 2007. All three indexes are up between 5% and 7% for the year.
"We're in digestion mode," said Sal Catrini, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. "We've had a really nice run."
Related: 10 stocks you love
Investors remained wary of jumping into stocks Friday, despite a pair of positive economic reports.
The real action was in commodities, with gold and oil dropping 1.5%.
Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros spooked gold bugs, after it was revealed that his fund cut its stake in a major gold ETF, SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), at the end of last year.
Commodities moved lower across the board. Oil slid nearly 2% on renewed concerns over global growth following a weaker than expected report on industrial production in the United States.
The New York Federal Reserve report showed that manufacturing in the state picked up precipitously last month. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's February report on consumer sentiment came in at 76.3, above a 74.8 forecast.
On the corporate front, investors had more earnings results to take in Friday.
About 65% of the companies in the S&P 500 that have reported fourth-quarter earnings so far have topped analysts' expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ. But the bulk of companies that have issued guidance for the first quarter have had negative outlooks.
Related: Fear & Greed Index stuck in extreme greed
Burger King (BKW) reported earnings that beat expectations. Shares closed up nearly 5%. Meanwhile, Kraft Foods (KRFT) posted weaker-than-expected revenue.
Shares of nutritional supplements company Herbalife (HLF) surged more than 12%, but closed up just 1% after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 13% stake in the firm on Thursday.
Carnival (CCL) shares slid as the company's Triumph cruise ship docked and passengers were finally able to leave, just days after a fire and power outage left the ship and 3,000 passengers stranded at sea.
Shares of Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) dropped nearly 2%, after a research firm said that sales for the last four weeks look significantly softer at the big box retailer.
Shares of Gap (GPS, Fortune 500) surged on rumors that the retailer could be a takeover target.
European markets and Asian markets ended mixed.
The dollar was higher versus the euro and the Japanese yen, but dipped versus the British pound. The so-called currency wars will be a major topic of conversation at the G-20 summit in Moscow that kicked off Friday.
The price on the 10-year Treasury note declined, sending the yield up to 2.01% from 1.95% late Monday.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 9:50 AM ET
The ketchup maker agreed to be purchased for $28 billion by a group including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm 3G Capital.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The SEC said "unknown" traders using the account had purchased options the day before the announcement and reaped $1.7 million when the H.J. Heinz Co (HNZ, Fortune 500) deal was revealed on Thursday. In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the agency said those responsible "are either foreign traders or traders trading through foreign accounts" in Zurich, Switzerland.
The court order prevents the potentially illegal profits from being withdrawn while the SEC investigates the case.
"Irregular and highly suspicious options trading immediately in front of a merger or acquisition announcement is a serious red flag that traders may be improperly acting on confidential nonpublic information," the SEC's Daniel Hawke said in a statement. Those using the account will have to appear in court to explain their trades if they want their assets unfrozen.
The SEC said the trades were suspicious in part because the account in Switzerland, which is known for its bank secrecy, had not been used to trade any Heinz-related securities in the past six months until the day before the acquisition announcement, and because trading in these options had been "minimal" in the days prior.
Related: Is Buffett overpaying for Heinz?
Heinz shares surged following the announcement of the acquisition, placing the traders in position to profit. Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) and private equity firm 3G Capital agreed to buy Heinz for $72.50 a share, a 20% premium over Wednesday's closing price.
Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen declined to comment on the SEC investigation. 3G Capital and Berkshire did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 5:12 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
We'll try to answer some of them here:
Will electric Superchargers make gasoline cars obsolete for family vacations?
Not any time soon.
Driving a fully electric car a long, long way still requires forethought, planning and commitment. Gasoline powered cars just require gasoline.
Remember, we took no side trips. We even called the experts at Tesla before we decided which route to take from the New Jersey Turnpike to Milford, Conn. Someone driving a gasoline car or a plug-in hybrid like the Chevrolet Volt doesn't need to call engineers before deciding whether to take the George Washington Bridge or the Tappan Zee.
How long did it take to recharge?
About an hour.
Thanks to Tesla's Superchargers, that's a lot less time than an electric car ordinarily takes to charge, especially one that can go 270 miles. On the other hand, it's much longer than it takes to fill up a gas tank.
So, again, driving an electric car on an interstate run requires a bit more planning. In our case, charging stops served as lunch and dinner stops. The only problem was we were reduced to eating overpriced rest-stop food, so, you may end up eating more chicken wraps than you'd like to. At least the electricity was free.
Cheapest cars to fuel
Was the experience what you had expected?
No.
I had expected Tesla's rules to be much more restrictive and annoying than they actually were. In fact, I confess, I was sort of hoping they'd be annoying. It would have made for a fun story. ("Sure, you could drive from Washington D.C. in a Tesla. If you're a masochist!") But they weren't. In fact, it wasn't much worse than many long road trips I've taken in countless gasoline powered cars.
Does this prove that the New York Times story was a fake?
We were not trying to replicate that reporter's trip, so all we can say on this topic is that our trip was different.
We did our trip in one day, not two, and we took no side trips. Also, the weather -- something obviously beyond our control -- was warmer on the day we traveled. It would have been impossible to replicate that reporter's drive even if we had wanted to. (Generally speaking, cold temperatures reduce a Model S's driving range by about 4%, according to Tesla.)
Related: Tesla's Elon Musk fires back at the New York Times
Were there a lot of rules to follow when making the trip?
Yes, a few. Tesla offered us some tips to maximize our chances of success and we followed them.
First of all, the car was set up for maximum range and the battery was set to charge fully, not just most of the way, the way it normally is in order to maximize battery life. Also, we were told to maintain a speed of between 60 and 65 miles an hour and to set the car's climate control to 72 degrees and keep it in "Eco" mode.
During one stretch, when we were detouring around New York City traffic, we were advised to slow down a bit more.
Why follow Tesla's recommendations?
Following the recommendations seemed the fairest way to test the basic concept of the Supercharger network.
Once it's established that the Supercharging network is functional (and how well it works when used according to the manufacturer's recommendations,) perhaps then it might be educational to push the envelope a bit and see how far one could stray before the system fails.
Now we know it can work and that using it needn't be especially onerous.
How was the car?
I think it's a phenomenal car and well worth its admittedly hefty price tag.
This isn't a case of paying an electric car "premium," either. Given its performance and luxury, the Model S competes well against similarly priced gasoline-powered cars from BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
Infographic: What's different inside the Tesla Model S
Were there any glitches with all that fancy car tech?
Yes, a couple minor ones.
Early in the drive, the driver's side door began refusing to open. Then the touch screen that controls most of the car's functions froze up. A call to Tesla got both problems fixed in a few moments.
Are there enough Superchargers to do the job?
If the job is simply to get a Tesla Model S car to go between Boston and D.C., there are, but just barely.
That 200 mile stretch between Newark, Del. and Milford, Conn., seems needlessly sweat-inducing. It also limits flexibility, reducing the system to simply a way of shuttling cars between two distant points.
Adding more Superchargers will allow drivers a little more leeway to, perhaps, take a side trip every now and then. (There actually are some really beautiful spots in New Jersey, you know.) Tesla says it's working on getting more Superchargers up and running.
Did you see any other Tesla's getting charged while you were on your trip?
Nope, but that just made us feel special.
Could you have any fun on an all-electric road trip?
Sure, there were places and times when range was not really an issue.
In fact, that was the case in all but the long middle leg of the trip between Delaware and Connecticut. When range wasn't issue, I simply drove as I normally would -- kind of fast but not fast enough to get handcuffed -- and I enjoyed the car's performance.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 6:05 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Soros cut his investment in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) in half during the fourth quarter, according to a regulatory filing.
The $8.5 billion Soros Fund Management now owns 600,000 shares of the gold ETF, worth an estimated $97 million. That's down from 1.3 million shares, worth more than $227 million, in the third quarter. The ETF is one of the most widely held gold-backed ETFs.
Soros also sold his stake in gold miner Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC), which was worth about $18 million, but held onto 1.7 million shares of Freeport-McMoran (FCX, Fortune 500), worth about $46 million.
It's not the first time he's shunned gold. In 2011, Soros sold various gold-related investments worth $800 million.
Recently, gold has been pressured by concerns about waning demand as the global economy continues to struggle.
After climbing near $1,800 an ounce in October, gold prices have tumbled to about $1,600 an ounce.
Related: Gold is not just a lunatic fringe investment
Gold demand reached a record value of $236.4 billion in 2012, according to a report this week from the World Gold Council. But in terms of tonnage, gold demand fell 4% last year, marking the first decline since 2008.
The council said growth in jewelry and central bank demand helped offset declines in gold demand from investors and the technology industry.
Looking ahead, the council says it expects demand for gold jewelry to remain stable in China and India, while investment demand will be supported by monetary policies around the world.
"We expect gold to remain a core asset in portfolios," said Marcus Grubb, managing director of investment at the World Gold Council.
Meanwhile, another well-known hedge fund manager, John Paulson, held onto his gold position.
Paulson & Co. maintained its 21.8 million shares in the gold ETF, according to a regulatory filing. The investment was was worth $3.5 billion as of the fourth quarter, down 8% from the prior quarter.
Related: Gold: It's the end of the world as we know it
Gold prices have been rising steadily for over a decade, but some analysts say prices are nearing their peak.
Goldman Sachs recently predicted a turn in the long-term bull market in gold.
Gold has gained 481% since 2002, when it traded for about $275 an ounce. It hit an all-time high above $1,900 an ounce in September 2011. Last year, gold has gained about 8%.
In a report last month, Goldman said gold prices could rebound in the coming weeks as concerns about U.S. fiscal policy resurface ahead of the March deadline to raise the debt ceiling. But beyond that, Goldman still anticipates gold prices to peak in the second half of the year as the U.S. economy improves and interest rates rise.
First Published: February 15, 2013: 12:10 PM ET
| By Mark Glendenning | Friday, February 15th 2013, 17:30 GMT |
Dragon Racing has responded to Katherine Legge's threat of legal action by acknowledging that it has ended its relationship with the Briton, although it has refrained from commenting on the details of the split.
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| By Stephen D'Albiac | Friday, February 15th 2013, 17:32 GMT |
Former GT1 world champion Lucas Luhr has joined Jota Sport for the Le Mans 24 Hours
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| Friday, February 15th 2013, 18:39 GMT |
Ex-Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella plans to rejoin Superstars for its newly-announced season finale at his home track, Vallelunga
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, February 14th 2013, 18:21 GMT |
Former GP3 racer Gabby Chaves has joined reigning champion team Schmidt Peterson Motorsport for the 2013 Indy Lights season
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, February 14th 2013, 18:37 GMT |
Extreme Speed Motorsports will move up from the GT class to LMP2 for this year's American Le Mans Series
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, February 14th 2013, 22:00 GMT |
IndyCar has delayed the introduction of its next-generation Indy Lights car and engine until at least 2015
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, February 13th 2013, 17:51 GMT |
Tech 1 Racing has faith that Mikhail Aleshin can deliver a 'great season' in 2013 despite a disappointing campaign in Formula Renault 3.5 last year
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, February 13th 2013, 18:09 GMT |
Katherine Legge is planning legal action following yesterday's announcement that she will be replaced at Dragon Racing by Sebastian Saavedra for the 2013 IndyCar season
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, February 13th 2013, 21:36 GMT |
Conquest Racing has sold its DW12 IndyCar chassis and will focus exclusively on sportscars in 2013
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| Tuesday, February 12th 2013, 16:59 GMT |
The Croatian round of the European Rally Championship will move from June to September, in a change that also switches Rally Poland's date
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| By Jonathan Noble and Stephen D'Albiac | Tuesday, February 12th 2013, 17:34 GMT |
Mika Hakkinen believes Mercedes' early form from last week's Jerez test makes it unlikely that Lewis Hamilton will be able to challenge his former team McLaren this year
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, February 12th 2013, 21:26 GMT |
Dragon Racing has signed Sebastian Saavedra to partner Sebastien Bourdais for the 2013 IndyCar season
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, February 11th 2013, 15:38 GMT |
The new Williams-Renault FW35 has passed the final crash test ahead of its track debut at next week's Barcelona test.
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| By Gary Watkins | Monday, February 11th 2013, 15:48 GMT |
Formula 1 refugees Kamui Kobayashi and Karun Chandhok are among a raft of new drivers testing for the factory AF Corse Ferrari team in Spain this week.
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