TIRES
Rubber substitute progressing
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. says it sees progress in a $6.9 million program aimed at exploring whether the industrial crop guayule can be used as a source of rubber for tires and also as a biofuel.
The consortium that includes Findlay-based Cooper said Tuesday it is making progress on guayule plant genome sequencing, irrigation studies to maximize rubber content and laboratory work to develop a tire-grade rubber polymer from the plant.
Cooper and partners Yulex Corp., Arizona State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year announced their consortium had a $6.9 million federal grant to develop guayule as a natural rubber and biomass fuel source.
ACQUISITIONS
Timken buys U.K. company
The Timken Co. in Canton has purchased U.K-based Interlube Systems Ltd., which makes and markets automated lubrication delivery systems and related components.
Terms were not disclosed.
Interlube had 2012 sales of about $13 million. It has 90 employees and operations in Dayton and a joint venture in China. The markets it sells to include commercial vehicles, construction, mining, and heavy and general industries.
Interlube will expand Timken’s power transmission product line.
ECONOMY
Retail sales report is positive
Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in February, boosting retail spending 1.1 percent compared with January. About half the jump reflected higher gas prices, but even excluding gas purchases, retail sales rose 0.6 percent.
The Commerce Department report Wednesday showed Americans kept spending last month despite higher Social Security taxes that took effect Jan. 1. The retail sales report is the government’s first look each month at consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of economic activity.
Core retail sales, which exclude the volatile categories of gas, autos and building supply stores, rose 0.4 percent in February compared with January.
Economists were encouraged by the stronger-than-expected gains. Some said the increase means the economy might be growing faster this quarter than forecast.
U.S. CEOs express optimism
Chief executives at the 200 largest U.S. companies are much more optimistic about their sales prospects than they were three months ago, although many remain cautious about hiring.
The Business Roundtable said 72 percent of its members expect sales will increase in the next six months. That’s up from 58 percent at the end of last year. And 38 percent plan to invest more in plants and equipment, up from 30 percent in December, when the Roundtable released its last report.
Still, the better outlook hasn’t made the group more optimistic about hiring. Twenty-nine percent of CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months, the same percentage as the last two surveys.
TECHNOLOGY
Galaxy S III successor coming
Samsung Electronics is taking to the Big Apple to reveal its next big challenge to Apple Inc.: a successor to its top-selling Galaxy S III smartphone.
The Korean company has rented New York’s Radio City Music Hall for an event tonight. The company has hinted that it will reveal the Galaxy S IV phone. Judging by the announcement of the S III in last May, this means the new phone will be available in stores in a month or two.
It’s not known what the new phone will look like or how it will differ from its predecessor, but there’s speculation Samsung will increase screen size. Every successive generation of the Galaxy line has been bigger, and the S III sports a screen that measures 4.8 inches on the diagonal, substantially larger than the iPhone 5’s 4-inch screen.
Netflix unveils sharing feature
Netflix is adding a feature that will allow the Internet video service’s 27 million U.S. subscribers to automatically swap movie and TV show recommendations with their social circles on Facebook.
The sharing tool, announced Wednesday, is rolling out 18 months after Netflix Inc. introduced the feature to its 6 million international subscribers.
Netflix withheld the tool in the United States to avoid breaking a 1988 law that banned the disclosure of video rental records without a customer’s written consent. After several years of lobbying, the Los Gatos, Calif., company persuaded Congress to revise the law so that subscribers could choose to activate a video-sharing feature.
If the sharing tool is turned on, Netflix subscribers will see new rows within their accounts showing what their Facebook friends have been watching.
Compiled from staff and wire reports