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Apple Inc. said in a report posted on its Web site Saturday that an audit of its suppliers found that three hired 11 underage workers to help build its iPhone, iPod and Macintosh computer in 2009.

“Apple discovered three facilities that had previously hired 15-year-old workers in countries where the minimum age for employment is 16,” the company said about its onsite audit of 102 factories.

The full report can be viewed by clicking here.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said the underage workers were “no longer in active employment at the time of our audit easy payday loans.”

The company said it also found eight cases where excessive recruitment fees were paid, three situations involving hazard waste disposal and three involving falsified records.

The company didn't name the suppliers where violations were found.

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Martek Biosciences Corp., fresh off its $200 million acquisition of Amerifit Brands Inc., is expanding its Columbia headquarters.

The company has leased an additional 22,000 square feet at the Columbia Business Center. Martek (NASDAQ: MATK), in taking the additional space, has also renewed its lease of 66,000 square feet at 6480 Dobbin Road.

The firm, which has other facilities in Colorado, Kentucky and South Carolina, was represented in its lease by Manekin LLC broker Adam Nachlas cash advance. Preston Partners brokers Danielle Schline and Athan Sunderland represented the landlord.

Lease terms were not disclosed.

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Manufacturing will remain at the forefront of a U.S. economic recovery that’s likely to extend at least through the middle of the year as companies invest in new equipment, reports today indicated.

The New York-based Conference Board’s measure of the outlook for the next three to six months increased 0.3 percent in January. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index rose to 17.6 in February from 15.2 as a measure of orders surged to the highest level in more than five years. Readings greater than zero signal growth.

The gains in production aimed at rebuilding inventories and satisfying increased global demand are leading to higher producer prices, a separate report showed. The strength in manufacturing has yet to translate into the hiring necessary to provide more impetus to the economic expansion.

“The manufacturing sector continues to be the sole bright spot in the economic recovery,” said Thomas Simons, an economist at Jefferies & Co. Inc. in New York. “Until employment picks up, the consumer will still be reluctant to make major purchases.”

U.S. stocks rose for a third day as a rally in commodity shares and the improvement in manufacturing offset disappointing sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a rise in jobless claims. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.7 percent to 1,106.75 at 4:10 p.m. in New York. The 10-year Treasury note fell, pushing up the yield six basis points to 3.8 percent.

Jobless Claims

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week, indicating improvement in the labor market will be uneven. Initial jobless claims rose by 31,000 to 473,000 in the week ended Feb. 13, the Labor Department in Washington said today.

Economists forecast claims would fall to 438,000, according to the median of 42 projections in a Bloomberg News survey.

Prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers accelerated more than anticipated in January, Labor Department figures showed. The 1.4 percent rise in the producer price index followed a 0.4 percent increase in December and reflected in part higher energy costs.

Raw materials prices surged 9.6 percent in January, the biggest increase since November 2006. Intermediate goods prices, such as lumber and steel mill products that require further processing, also rose.

Economists forecast the Philadelphia Fed’s factory gauge would rise to 17, according to the median of 58 projections in a Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from zero to 23.

The Fed bank’s gauge of factory employment rose to 7.4, the highest level since October 2007, while its new orders measure rose to the highest level since September 2004.

Sentiment Gauge

The overall index number isn’t composed of the individual measures, so some economists consider it a gauge of sentiment among manufacturers.

“Business is back in business,” Caterpillar Inc. Chief Executive Officer James Owens said Feb. 11 at a news conference for the Business Council’s survey on CEO sentiment. “While we may be expecting a bit of a sluggish recovery, at least solid economic growth, stability in compensation and maybe some growth there, and increasing investment,” is occurring.

Five of the 10 indicators in the Conference Board’s leading index contributed to the gain, led by the yield curve, supplier deliveries and the factory workweek. Four of the components fell. Higher jobless claims, a drop in the money supply and fewer building permits weighed on the index.

Helping fuel the gain in the leading index last month was an increase in hours worked at U.S. factories, to 40.8 in January, from 40.6 in December, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department. That was the highest since August 2008.

Manufacturing Jobs

Manufacturers added 11,000 jobs in January, the first increase in three years, Labor Department figures showed on Feb. 5. Overall payrolls declined by 20,000 during the month as construction companies and state and local governments cut back.

The world’s largest economy will probably expand at a 3 percent annual rate this quarter and 2.8 percent from April through June, according to the median estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg earlier this month.

Eaton Corp. is seeing demand increase in its auto and trucks unit, which Chief Executive Officer Sandy Cutler said is typical early in an economic cycle. The global recovery will be a more muted rebound with higher-than-normal growth from underdeveloped countries, he said.

“I think 2010 in many ways is a transitional year,” Cutler said in an interview. In the U.S., “part of what we are seeing now is the early cycle businesses are recovering.”

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Oil prices plunged Wednesday on a stronger dollar and amid investor concern that the Chinese government will continue to tighten its credit policy.

What prices are doing: Oil fell $1.87, or nearly 2%, to settle at $77.62 a barrel, after dipping as low as $76.96 a barrel earlier in the session.

On Tuesday, oil rose for the first time in six days, recovering from its lowest level so far this year.

What’s driving prices: Reports that China has asked major banks to cease lending until the end of the month in order to tighten the country’s credit market spooked investors. The news comes a week after the Chinese government raised bank reserve requirements for the first time since 2008.

"This shows us that China is serious about slowing down its explosive demand growth," said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at PFG Best. "If the Chinese government continues to take steps to slow the economy, it’s going to be bearish for prices in the short term fast cash now."

Meanwhile, the dollar rose as investors lost their appetite for risk, worrying about China’s attempts to slow its economic growth.

"That market seems to be on fire today," he said. "The dollar’s incredible strength is definitely going to put pressure on the market."

What analysts are saying: "It’s going to be harder and harder to maintain these prices," said Flynn. "There’s no doubt the economy is getting better, what is in doubt is whether that translates into $78 to $80 prices for oil."

Flynn said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a major sell-off in the next couple of months and he predicts that oil may drop as low as $40 a barrel. 

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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said Thursday that more needs to be done to regulate the financial system before the lessons of the recent crisis are forgotten.

"We must not shrink away from change but accept the need for basic financial reform," said Volcker, currently chairman of President Obama’s Economic Advisory Board, in remarks to the Economic Club of New York.

He said the economy appears to be growing slowly, and that the financial crisis is beginning to seem to some like a "bad dream."

But the magnitude of the crisis showed that the underlying problems are "more fundamental" and require "broad reform" of the financial system, he warned.

The former Fed chairman said the central bank should play a key role in overseeing the financial system. Among his ideas, he said the Fed should have the power to dismantle big banks that pose a systemic risk to the economy.

"The old question (about banks) colloquially described as ‘too big to fail’ looms larger than ever," Volcker said.

In a response to recent criticism of the Fed, he said the central bank is less subject to political pressure than other regulatory bodies.

"These days, best-selling books remind us that the challenges to that structure, and particularly to the Fed’s insulation from political pressure, arise from time to time," Volcker said, referring to a popular book by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.

"The sense of anger about the amount of funds required to bail out both institutions and markets is palpable," he added. "But that truly exceptional response to the financial crisis — drawing on long-dormant emergency powers — was a properly coordinated decision with the administration, not a misuse of independent authority."

The remarks came on the same day that President Obama called on Congress to tax the largest banks to ensure that U.S. taxpayers don’t lose a penny from the federal bailout of the financial, auto and insurance industries over the past year

Volcker said the proposed tax "seems to me to be a not unreasonable response." He said the banks subject to the tax have benefitted from taxpayer aid and "should carry their share of the burden."

The proposed "financial crisis responsibility fee" is aimed at large institutions that received significant federal aid during the height of the crisis, but have since recovered and are now poised to pay tens of billions of dollars in bonuses.

On Wednesday, four top bank chief executives went before a panel to answer questions about the role their institutions played in causing one of the worst financial shocks in a generation.

The CEOs of Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that they made mistakes but didn’t realize how bad they were at the time. 

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Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle on Monday released two lists of judicial nominees given to her by the Judicial Selection Commission to fill one vacancy each on the state Intermediate Court of Appeals and 1st Circuit Court in Honolulu.

The nominees for associate judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals are Sabrina S. McKenna, 1st Circuit Court judge; Steven M. Nakashima, partner, Marr Jones & Wang; Karen T. Nakasone, deputy public defender in Honolulu; Lawrence M. Reifurth, director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; and Michael K. Tanigawa, adjunct professor, Kapiolani Community College.

The nominees for circuit judge in Honolulu are R saving account pay day loan. Mark Browning, district family court judge; Colette Y. Garibaldi, district judge; Ed Kubo Jr., former U.S. Attorney; Lanson K. Kupau, partner, Kobayashi Sugita & Goda; Steven M. Nakashima, partner, Marr, Jones & Wang; and Dean E. Ochiai, vice president and managing attorney, First Insurance Company of Hawaii.

Lingle has 30 days to make her choice, which still must be confirmed by the state Senate.

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Russia’s economic decline abated in the third quarter as companies began restocking inventories depleted during a record slump in the first half of the year.

Gross domestic product fell 8.9 percent from a year earlier, in line with the government’s estimate, after a 10.9 percent contraction in the second quarter, the State Statistics Service said on its Web site today. On the quarter, output grew a non-seasonally adjusted 13.8 percent.

“The model of economic development has rapidly changed,” said Anton Struchenevsky, an economist at Troika Dialog in Moscow. “Investors are much more sensitive to risk. The euphoric component has gone and this is impeding lending. There is a slight improvement, but it would be a great illusion to think we will return to the pace of growth we had before the crisis.”

The plunge in output is slowing in Russia after the government pumped $26 billion of stimulus into the economy in the first 10 months and oil prices rebounded from the start of the year. President Dmitry Medvedev has called the country’s dependence on oil “humiliating,” even as it pushes the economy toward a 1.6 percent expansion in 2010 after a forecast 8.5 percent drop this year.

Almost 9 percentage points of the 10.4 percent plunge in output in the first half was because of “a massive inventory adjustment,” says Martin Gilman, former head of the Moscow office of the International Monetary Fund, and OAO Gazprom, the world’s No. 1 gas producer, accounted for most of the slump. European consumers tapped stored gas as the delayed effect of dearer oil drove up gas prices earlier this year.

Worst Performance

Russia’s economy is the worst performer among the so-called BRIC group of emerging markets that include Brazil, China and India.

The ruble strengthened 1.3 percent to 30.0150 against the dollar at 1:01 p.m. in Moscow. The currency gained 1.2 percent versus the euro to 44.2867. Russian stocks pared gains after the report, up 0.3 percent to 1308.97 at 1.02 p.m., after earlier rising as much as 0.9 percent.

Gazprom said last month that sales volumes to Europe and other export markets fell 24 percent in the first half from a year earlier as the economic slowdown eroded demand. Since July, Gazprom’s exports were higher than in the same periods of 2007 and 2008, the company said.

‘Major Driver’

“A major driver of Russia’s sharp contraction was the inventory correction and we are seeing the end of that,” said Vladimir Osakovsky, an economist at UniCredit Bank in Moscow, before the data was released payday loans. “Any improvement in Russia’s overall economic performance is linked to this process.”

The price of Urals crude oil has rebounded 70 percent this year as global demand for commodities recovered. Energy, including oil and gas, accounts for about 70 percent of Russia’s export earnings.

The recovery may be slow. Nine interest rate cuts since April failed to spur bank lending and rekindle growth in industry and a slump in manufacturing deepened last month after export demand sagged.

VTB Capital’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 49.1 from 49.6 in October. The index, which is based on a survey of 300 purchasing executives, in September rose above 50, signaling the industry’s first expansion in 14 months.

Output Contraction

A contraction in industrial output accelerated in October to 11.2 percent from 9.5 in the previous month, the statistics service said last month.

“Industry hasn’t returned to stable growth,” Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said this week. “There are still problems.”

Lenders’ corporate loan books fell 0.5 percent in October, after declining 0.7 percent in September, according to data published on the central bank’s Web site Dec. 3. Lending to consumers dropped 0.7 percent for a ninth consecutive monthly decline.

The contraction this year may have been as much as 3 percentage points deeper without anti-crisis spending, Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Dec. 10. The economy will probably shrink between 8.5 percent and 8.7 percent this year, he said.

As of Nov. 1, the government had spent 784 billion rubles ($26 billion) of 1.14 trillion rubles earmarked for stimulus measures, Deputy Finance Minister Tatiana Nesterenko said the same day.

Next year “there will be growth, but it will be growth after a big fall,” Kudrin said. The recovery will be complicated as governments retract stimulus programs and raise interest rates. “In the next two to three years this will be a factor that increases the cost of money and slows growth.”

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The euro is poised to decline to a three-month low of $1.4446, Gaitame.com Research Institute Ltd. said, citing trading patterns.

The 16-nation currency, which climbed to a one-year high of $1.5144 last month, has entered a near-term downtrend as the spot price has fallen below its 60-day moving average, said Tsuyoshi Okada, managing director at the research unit of Japan’s largest foreign-exchange margin dealer in Tokyo.

“The charts are now showing signs of change for the euro, and herald an end of its rising trend,” Okada said. “Should the decline of the euro gain traction, the immediate target will be mid-$1.46 and the next target will be the $1.4446 level.”

The euro traded at $1.4732 as of 9:34 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.4732 yesterday in New York. The currency has declined 2 no fax cash advance.7 percent since reaching a 15-month high on Nov. 25.

The single currency last traded below $1.4446 on Sept. 8. “This level has served as a key resistance level for the euro’s rising trend that began early this year and lasted until August,” Okada said. A resistance level is where sell orders may be clustered.

The euro’s 60-day moving average was $1.4844 yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency remained above the average from Aug. 19 until Dec. 4.

In technical analysis, investors and analysts study chart of trading patterns and prices to forecast price changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.

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Sales at U.S. retailers probably rose in November for the third time in the past four months, a sign consumer spending will sustain growth into 2010, economists said before a government report this week.

Purchases climbed 0.7 percent after a 1.4 percent gain the prior month, according to the median estimate of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department figures on Dec. 11. Other reports may show the trade gap widened in October and consumers grew more confident this month.

Gains in sales show American households have survived the worst employment slump in the postwar era and are poised to join in the emerging expansion. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the labor market is moving closer to a period of job creation instead of losses, which may give the economy an additional lift early next year.

“Job gains are in sight,” said Ken Mayland, president ClearView Economics LLC in Pepper Pike, Ohio. “With employment increases, we can expect people to begin buying some more homes, cars, appliances, etc.”

A Labor Department report last week showed the economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, the smallest decline since the start of the recession in December 2007. The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 10 percent from 10.2 percent.

The report showed “progress, but not good enough,” Geithner said in a Dec. 4 interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt.”

Geithner on Economy

“The key test is when you see companies across the country starting to create jobs and add to payrolls,” Geithner said. “We’re getting closer to that point — that’s the important thing. The economy is now growing and growth seems to be gradually strengthening.”

Auto sales are improving even after the federal “cash- for-clunkers” incentives ended in late August.

General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC all posted November sales that beat analysts’ estimates. The seasonally adjusted sales rate was 10.9 million vehicles, up from 10.45 million in October, according to industry figures released last week.

Excluding automobiles, retail sales probably rose 0.4 percent after a 0.2 percent increase the prior month, according to the Bloomberg survey. A gain would be the fourth straight.

Holiday shoppers are turning out. Sales on Black Friday and the weekend after Thanksgiving advanced 0.5 percent as discounts on electronics and toys drew budget-conscious crowds, according to the National Retail Federation.

Electronics Sales

Best Buy Co., the biggest electronics chain, had bigger early-morning crowds than last year, said Brian Dunn, chief executive officer and president of the Eden Prairie, Minnesota- based company. He said shoppers would continue to see discounted pricing into the year-end holidays.

“You’re going to see great values throughout the holiday selling season,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Nov. 27.

TJX Corporation Inc. reported sales up 15 percent in the four weeks ended Nov. 28 from a year earlier. The operator of T.J. Maxx and other low-priced apparel retailers forecasts strong sales through the end of the year.

“We are confident in our momentum,” said Carol Meyrowitz, chief executive officer of TJX, said in a statement on Dec. 3.

Gaining Confidence

The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for December probably rose to 69 from 67.4 a month earlier, according to the Bloomberg survey before the Dec. 11 release.

The economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the third quarter following four quarters of contraction that marked the deepest recession since the 1930s. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg early last month forecast growth will accelerate to 3 percent in the current quarter.

The recovery is spurring demand for imports. That probably caused the trade deficit to widen to $37 billion in October from $36.5 billion in September, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg before the Dec. 10 report from the Commerce Department. The collapse in trade earlier this year brought the deficit down to a near-decade low of $26.4 billion in May.

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Crude oil prices rose over $77 a barrel Wednesday, supported by lower-than-expected builds in U.S. oil inventories last week, a weak U.S. dollar and gains on Wall Street.

Crude stocks rose 1.0 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said, less than the 1.2 million barrel increase forecast.

U.S. crude for January rose $1.94 to settle at $77.96 a barrel.

"The EIA report prompted some modest price support as the 1 million barrel crude stock build was slightly smaller than expectations and well below yesterday’s API guidance," said Jim Ritterbusch, president, Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois.

On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute released a report showing a 3.3 million-barrel rise in stocks.

Prices were also buoyed when the U.S. dollar fell to a 15-month low after U.S. data on jobless claims, personal consumption and new home sales fed economic optimism.

Consumer spending rose more than expected in the world’s largest economy, while new jobless benefits claims dropped. New U.S. home sales in October rose to their highest level in a year.

Wall Street stocks rose after the data, boosting crude, which has more than doubled from below $33 in December, though far below its record of more than $147 hit in July 2008.

Soft fundamentals

Analysts noted that the EIA data showed demand for crude oil is still weak.

"Fundamentals remain soft … there’s no reason to open the champagne here. Refinery runs are nothing to write home about, under 14 million barrels a day," said Antoine Halff, first vice president, deputy head of research, Newedge Group, New York.

Refinery utilization rates, while up 0.9% from the prior week, were still 5.9% below year-ago levels, according to the EIA data.

Gasoline inventories rose 1 million barrels to 210.1 million barrels, above analyst expectations for a 300,000 barrel rise.

Distillate stockpiles, which includes heating oil and diesel, dropped 500,000 barrels to 166.9 million barrels.

"The (distillate) draw was slightly larger than consensus expectations, but puts only a small dent in the major surplus," said Timothy Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York.

U.S. crude was expected to average $75.40 a barrel in 2010, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday, but analysts said ample supplies would keep short-term price growth in check. 

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