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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are lower in afternoon trading as commodity prices slip and investors remain worried about China after the country again cut the value of its currency against the dollar. The Dow fell 192 points to 16,428 as of 1:50 p.m. Eastern. The S&P 500 lost 22 points to 1,924 and the Nasdaq composite fell 55 points to 4,516. Crude oil sank more than 4 percent.
NEW YORK (AP) —Viacom is searching for a minority investor for Paramount Pictures as investors grow frustrated with the performance of the embattled media company's movie studio. Viacom shares rose about 3 percent on the news. There has been speculation about interest from Chinese firms, including e-commerce giant Alibaba.
ATLANTA (AP) — Home Depot continues to benefit from a recovering housing market. The home improvement retailer has reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and revenue, and increased its quarterly dividend by 17 percent. There are more signs today of strength on the housing front: The National Association of Realtors says U.S. home sales crept upward in January, when most economists were projecting a decline.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's is reporting a 31 percent decline in fourth-quarter profits due to store closings and other costs. But the results have beat Wall Street estimates, sending shares of Macy's up more than 5 percent. A warm start to winter plagued retailers during the most critical selling period of the year, but sales picked up in the final weeks of the quarter as winter finally arrived, driving up sales of coats and boots.
DETROIT (AP) — The auto industry is expected to announce the circumstances that cause Takata air bags to violently explode. A person briefed on the matter says scientists hired by the industry have found a number of factors must act in combination to cause the sometimes deadly explosion. Those factors include the presence of moisture, which degrades the ammonium nitrate Takata uses to create a small explosion to inflate air bags during a crash.
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