Finances

Facebook, Inc. (FB), a social media website, reported its fourth quarter results on January 30.

Facebook reported revenue of $1.6 billion for the quarter. This represents an increase from the same period last year when the company reported revenue of $1.1 billion.

The company reported quarterly net income of $64 million. This represents a decrease from the same period last year when the company reported net income of $302 million.

"In 2012, we connected over a billion people and became a mobile company," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. "We enter 2013 with good momentum and will continue to invest to achieve our mission and become a stronger, more valuable company."

Facebook is the operator of the popular social networking site of the same name. The site currently has over 1 billion users worldwide.

Facebook, Inc. (FB) shares ended the week at $29.75.

Amazon Announces Strong Fourth Quarter Results

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), an online retailer, reported its quarterly earnings on January 29.

Amazon reported quarterly sales of $61.1 billion. This represents an increase of 27% from the same period last year when the company reported sales of $48.1 billion.

The company reported operating income of $676 million for the quarter. This represents a decrease of 22% from the same period last year when the company reported operating income of $862 million.

"We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast—up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We're excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle and our ever expanding ecosystem and selection."

Amazon.com began in 1995 as an online book retailer but has since grown to be the largest online retailer of a vast array of products.

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) shares ended the week at $264.90.

Viacom Reports First Quarter Results

Viacom, Inc. (VIAB), a global media company, reported its quarterly results on January 31.

Viacom reported revenue of $3.31 billion for the quarter. This represents a decrease of 16% from the same period last year when the company reported revenue of $3.95 billion.

The company reported operating income of $797 million. This represents a decrease of 22% from the same period last year when the company reported net income of $1 billion.

Philippe Dauman, President and CEO of Viacom, said, "Throughout the quarter, we kept our focus on creative excellence and strategic programming investment. Our ongoing investments in programming continue to produce results, with positive ratings trends and growing consumer engagement in new hit content, despite difficult short-term comparisons based on the mix of film releases and the lingering effect of ratings softness last year. Our television brands continue to be highly valued by distribution partners, highlighted by our double digit organic affiliate revenue growth. Paramount is well positioned for the future, with several upcoming tentpole releases, including G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain & Gain, Star Trek Into Darkness and World War Z. In addition, we are working closely with existing distribution partners and new digital distributors to continue to launch robust and consumer-friendly content experiences."

Viacom is the world's fourth-largest media conglomerate and its subsidiaries include MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, among others.

Viacom Inc. (VIAB) shares ended the week at $60.54.

The Dow started the week at 13,894 and closed at 14,010. The S&P 500 started the week at 1,503 and ended at 1,513. The NASDAQ started the week at 3,150 and finished at 3,179.

An unexpected increase in the U.S. unemployment rate coincided with a gain in Treasuries on Friday, February 1. The unemployment rate increase smoothed concerns that the Federal Reserve would begin to decrease purchases of U.S. government debt.

Yields on 10-year notes fell from nearly nine-month highs of 2.02% to 1.96% early Friday after the Labor Department released its unemployment figures. The 30-year bond fell from 3.19% to 3.17% after the release of the jobs report.

The jobs figures showed the unemployment rate increased to 7.9% from 7.8% and U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January. The number of jobs added was below the forecast of 165,000 jobs, but was encouraging, especially in light of December's revised figure of 196,000 jobs.

"This job's figure today indicates that the engine of the economy is revving, but the car isn't going anywhere," said Thomas di Galoma, a managing director at Navigate Advisors LLC, a brokerage for institutional investors in Stamford, Connecticut. "Buyers will come back into the market now."

Earlier in the week U.S. debt gained after the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% in the fourth quarter. The unexpected contraction led the Federal Reserve to reiterate its commitment to asset purchases to encourage growth.

"This week's data—from the jobs report, weaker gross domestic product and lower inflation prints—buys the Fed more time to act," said David Ader, head of U.S. government-bond strategy at CRT Capital Group LLC in Stamford, Connecticut.

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 2.04% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 3.21%.

Freddie Mac released the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) on January 31. The results show fixed mortgage rates continuing their trend upward as the economy grows and the housing market recovers.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.53% this week. This represents an increase from last week when it averaged 3.42%. Last year at this time the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.87%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 2.81% this week. This represents an increase from last week when it averaged 2.71%. One year ago, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.24%.

Frank Nothaft, Vice President and Chief Economist at Freddie Mac said, "Mortgage rates continued to trend upwards this week amid a growing economy led in part by the recovering housing market. For instance, new home sales totaled 367,000 in 2012, the most in three years and reflected the first annual increase in seven years. Pending home sales in 2012 averaged its highest reading since 2006. And the S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite house price index rose 5.5% over the 12-months ending in November 2012, the largest annual growth since August 2006. All of these factors helped residential fixed investment to add nearly 0.4 percentage points to real GDP growth in the fourth quarter alone."

The money market fund finished this week at 0.5%. The 1-year CD finished at 0.6%.