Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.
Toyota today reported a massive hit to production following the earthquake earlier this month. The Japanese carmaker said output plunged 30 percent. And the company says it may fall behind GM and Volkswagen in total global sales. Honda’s output has been cut in half.
Nintendo says it will launch a new version of its popular Wii gaming console later this year. The company is reporting a 66 percent drop in profits last quarter thanks to increasing competition from other gaming devices that allow people to use body motion to play. It’s also facing more competition from gaming on smartphones.
Kimberly-Clark makes Kleenex and Huggies — and it says its first-quarter net income fell 9.5 percent because it shelled out more for materials to make its products.
RadioShack says its quarterly profit fell on weakness in its T-Mobile business and higher costs, prompting the U.S. consumer electronics chain to cut its full-year profit outlook.
Oil prices are up four-tenths of a percent to about $112 a barrel this morning. That after rebel forces in Libya, who control some of the most important oil-producing areas in the country, said oil facilities have been damaged in the fighting.
Here in this country — it’s box office receipts that are up. Movie theaters made about 39 percent more on ticket sales over the weekend than the same weekend last year. Much of that because of animated films like “Rio,” “Hop” and “Rango.”
News this morning that the Huffington Post has snatched another reporter away from the New York Times.
Over the past few months, women’s clothing sales have been on the rise according to market research firm NPD Group. A lot of that, apparently, thanks to jeggings. Those are jean-legging hybrids that look like jeans but have a lot more stretch. Sales were up 200 percent last year. In related news, the New York Times reports there’s a push to standardize women’s clothing sizes to do away with vanity sizing — that’s when stores mark sizes as smaller than they are. So the next time I go jean shopping I’ll know exactly what size I really wear. Maybe I will take a pair of those jeggings.
To Las Vegas, where apparently there isn’t enough gambling going on. Nevada lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow casinos to offer their guests tablet computers to gamble with. So now you’ll be able to play some online blackjack from your hotel room — or while you’re at the theater taking in the latest Cirque du Soleil show. Or to put it another way — the amount of money it’ll cost you to see a show in Vegas just went up.
You can read the rest of today’s stories from the Marketplace Morning Report here.
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