Wells Fargo names new chief financial officer
Wells Fargo & Co. named John Shrewsberry chief financial officer, succeeding Timothy Sloan, who takes over wholesale banking after a year of record profit at the biggest U.S. home lender. Shrewsberry, 48, currently head of Wells Fargo Securities, will become CFO on May 15 and report to Sloan, the San Francisco-based bank said. David Hoyt, 58, wholesale banking chief, will retire after 32 years at the company, the firm said. Shrewsberry has overseen the investment-banking, capital markets, trading and research businesses since 2006 and earlier served as head of Wells Fargo Commercial Capital, according to the statement. Sloan, 53, has been CFO since 2011, the firm said.
Eurozone OKs rescue loans for Greece
Eurozone finance ministers, meeting under tight security in Athens, approved the release of 8.3 billion euros in rescue loans to Greece, pointing to signs that the country is emerging from its economic crisis. "It has been an arduous process, but now we have a positive outcome," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said at a news conference announcing loans, worth $11.5 billion. Dijsselbloem said a seven-month review by Greece's international lenders — the troika consisting of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — "can now be closed" after the Greek Parliament's approval of a raft of economic overhauls Monday.
Chick-fil-A broadens lead over KFC in U.S.
Chick-fil-A widened its lead over rival KFC as the No. 1 chicken chain in the U.S. last year. Preliminary data from food industry researcher Technomic shows that Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A held the lead because its locations are much busier, even though there are far fewer of them. Chick-fil-A first surpassed KFC as the top chicken chain in 2012. KFC is still much bigger globally. KFC, owned by Yum Brands Inc., has been struggling in recent years, despite a variety of new menu items like boneless chicken pieces and snack cups designed to fit in a car cup holder. It even began testing a more upscale restaurant concept called "KFC eleven." Sales at established locations nevertheless fell 2 percent last year.
Apollo Education says it received subpoena
Shares of Apollo Education Group Inc. fell in late trading after the owner of the University of Phoenix disclosed that it received a subpoena from the U.S. Education Department for certain marketing and recruitment records. The Mid-Atlantic Region of the department's Office of the Inspector General demanded records going back to the beginning of 2007 related to marketing, recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, fraud prevention, student retention and other issues at a regional Centralized Service Center in Columbia, Md., according to a filing by Phoenix-based Apollo. The shares fell 5.3 percent to $33.30 in after-hours trading. The stock had risen 2.7 percent to $35.16 at the close.
Construction spending up, but housing down
U.S. construction spending posted a slight increase in February as a rebound in construction of hotels and other nonresidential buildings offset a decline in housing. But housing construction fell as activity was still being depressed by the harsh winter. Construction spending increased a scant 0.1 percent in February after a 0.2 percent drop in January, the Commerce Department reported. The increase left construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $945.7 billion, 8.7 percent above the level of a year ago. The small increase in February came from a 1.2 percent advance in nonresidential projects, led by a 3.5 percent rise in construction of hotels and motels. Spending on government projects edged up 0.1 percent, helped by a big gain at the federal level. Residential construction dropped 0.8 percent, the biggest setback since July.
FBI looks at high-frequency stock trading
The FBI is looking into the practices of high-frequency stock trading firms, adding to the scrutiny that is being placed on the practice. Brokerage firms use high-frequency trading to get a jump on their competitors. Powerful computers analyze market information and then execute buy and sell orders for stocks within a fraction of a second. One way that high-frequency traders have gained an edge is by receiving market-moving information, such as corporate earnings releases, before other traders and investors. They then exploit that advantage by placing buy or sell orders before other investors. Until recently, the firms have been able to access crucial financial information by subscribing directly to companies that publish corporate reports, rather than accessing it through financial news wires such as Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones and Bloomberg.
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