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Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Local gas prices inching back up

Drivers' enchantment with twelve weeks of falling gasoline prices has come to an end as the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday that prices crept up almost one cent last week. The nine-tenths of a cent increase put the cost of a gallon of regular at $1.979 in Los Angeles, which the Auto Club said resulted from oil refineries entering into annual turnaround to produce summer-blend gasoline.

Ex-TV Guide exec settles fraud case

A former executive with Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. has agreed to pay more than $305,000 to settle federal fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency said Friday.

Jonathan B. Orlick, who served as general counsel, executive vice president and was a member of the media and publishing company's board of directors, is also prohibited from serving as officer or director of a public company for 10 years, the SEC said.

General Electric profits leap 18%

STAMFORD, Conn. - General Electric Co.'s profits jumped 18 percent in the fourth quarter, saying acquisitions and a strong global economy are ushering in a return to double-digit earnings growth at the nation's largest company.

The Fairfield-based industrial, financial and media conglomerate said Friday it earned $5.37 billion, or 51 cents per share, in the October-December period, up from $4.56 billion, or 45 cents a share, a year ago.

The results beat the consensus estimate of 50 cents per share of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Consumers' mood low early in month

NEW YORK - Consumers' outlook on the economy was less rosy in the first half of the month, according to a leading survey released Friday that attempts to gauge the mood of the nation's shoppers.

The University of Michigan's mid-month report on consumer sentiment for January showed that its headline index fell to 95.8 from 97.1 in December, according to people in the market who have seen the subscriber-only report.

The average forecast for the index was 97.0, according to a Dow Jones Newswires/CNBC survey of economists.

Discover joining up with Wal-Mart

NEW YORK - In the latest challenge to the Visa and MasterCard dominance of the American credit card market, Discover Financial Services Inc. announced on Friday that it is teaming up with Wal-Mart to issue a new credit card to customers of the world's largest retailer.

It is Discover's first major card deal since the U.S. Supreme Court last October let stand an antitrust ruling that forced Visa and MasterCard to stop preventing their member banks from issuing rival cards.

That made it possible for Discover and the American Express Co. to begin seeking American partners to issue their cards.