Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) were off about 4% in premarket action Thursday after the bank said it plans to raise $1.7 billion in common equity to pay back about half the funds it received from the government during the financial bailout. Fifth Third after Wednesday’s closing bell also reported fourth-quarter net income rose to $270 million, or 33 cents a share. -MarketWatch
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) ranked last out of 29 global technology companies in terms of responsiveness and transparency to health and environmental concerns in China, according to a Beijing-based nonprofit group. BT Group Plc and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) were among the highest ranked companies, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Environmental and Public Affairs said in a phone interview today. Apple refused to confirm suspected polluters were among its suppliers and avoided taking responsibility for environmental problems related to its products, he said. -Bloomberg
Automakers recalled more U.S. vehicles last year than in any of the last six years, the federal government said Wednesday. Safety recalls affected 20.3 million vehicles, the highest number since 2004, when owners of 30.8 million vehicles received notices to bring their vehicles in for repair. The number of recall campaigns last year (648) is second only to 2008, when car manufacturers initiated 685 campaigns, The Detroit News reported. The rise in recalls was driven largely by Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), which recalled millions of cars and trucks to fix problems related to unintended acceleration. Toyota also suffered from numerous other safety woes, including glitchy brakes on its popular Prius gas-electric hybrid, as well as handling problems that surfaced when Consumer Reports magazine tested its new version of the Lexus GX 460 luxury SUV. In total, Toyota called back 7.1 million vehicles in 19 separate recalls last year, making it the worst year for recalls on record for the world’s largest automaker, The Detroit Newsnoted. The automaker also agreed to pay $48.8 million in fines for failing to initiate three of the recalls more quickly. -Daily Finance
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