WSJ.com: What's News US

Facebook Gets Ready For Its IPO Filing
Facebook could file papers for an IPO as early as this coming week and is looking at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion. The social network is close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter.







Apollo in Talks for El Paso Unit
A group led by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management has emerged as the lead bidder to acquire El Paso's oil-exploration unit for about $7 billion.







Economy Picks Up Steam
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in 18 months in the fourth quarter, but underlying weak demand pointed to slower growth in coming months.







Dow Snaps 3-Week Win Streak
Blue-chip stocks finished in the red, pushing the Dow to its first losing week this year, after a reading on domestic economic growth fell short of expectations.







Exxon Mobil to Sell Japan Arm
Exxon Mobil will sell its local subsidiary in a $3.91 billion deal that involves giving up its majority stake in Japan's second-largest refiner, TonenGeneral Sekiyu.







Investors Abandon Commodities
Amid plunging prices and soaring volatility, investors and traders reduced bets on 13 key commodity contracts by 19% in 2011.







Delta Weighs a US Air Deal
Delta Air Lines is studying US Airways as a possible acquisition target as U.S. carriers prepare for a new round of consolidation.







New Zealand Expects Asian Interest
Asian investors will increasingly target assets in New Zealand including government debt securities, natural resources and farms, pushing up the value of the nation's currency, Prime Minister John Key said.







St. Joe Pares Back Florida Vision
St. Joe signaled that it is again scaling back its development plans in Florida, an indication that efforts to turn the state's Northern Gulf Coast into a cluster of luxury second-home communities have been a flop.







Spanair Shutdown Sparks Disruptions
The Spanish airline canceled all of its flights Friday night and prepared to file for bankruptcy protection.







Home-Aid Program Expanded
The Obama administration said it would give troubled homeowners another year to enroll in its signature mortgage-assistance program and increase payments to banks.







Bidders for Dodgers Narrowed
The Los Angeles Dodgers said its advisers have approved about 10 groups of bidders who will be asked to move on to a second round of offers for the team.







Twitter's Censors Provoke Backlash
After years of touting itself as a champion of free expression, Twitter touched off a torrent of criticism after it announced it can remove messages from the online service within specific countries if asked to do so.







News Corp. in Talks to Hire Bloomberg Executive
News Corp. is in serious talks to hire former Bloomberg chief executive Lex Fenwick to be the new chief of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones.







Viacom Paid CEO $43 Million Last Year
Viacom's three top executives received $46 million dollars in cash bonuses in the company's 2011 fiscal year.







Chrysler to Add 1,600 Workers in Illinois
Chrysler is expected to disclose it will hire more than 1,600 workers at an Illinois auto-assembly plant, the first of a hiring wave that will add thousands of new production employees over the next three years.







Ford Motor Profit Lifted by U.S. Sales, Tax Gain
Ford reported a record fourth-quarter profit on a one-time tax allowance, though slower sales in Europe, growing pains in Asia and heightened competition at home signaled greater turbulence ahead.







Chevron's Profit Edges Lower
Chevron posted a 3.2% drop in profit, as a loss at its refining-and-marketing business offset higher oil prices.







P&G's Profit Drops 49%
Procter & Gamble posted a sharply lower profit for its fiscal second-quarter reflecting higher commodity costs and a hefty write-down for past acquisitions, including its $57 billion megadeal for Gillette.







FDA Finds Fungicide in Orange Juice
Five samples of orange juice from Brazil and six samples from Canada tested positive for the fungicide, the FDA said. Orange-juice futures settled 2.1% higher.







FBI Search Offices of 'Reverse Merger' Player
FBI agents searched the New York offices of private-equity investment and corporate-advisory firm New York Global Group, which has played a role in Chinese companies that list in the U.S. through reverse mergers.







More Fined in Greenlight Case
The FSA fined a former compliance officer at Greenlight Capital £130,000 for insufficient oversight in the sale of Punch Taverns shares ahead of a planned equity raising. A J.P. Morgan Cazenove employee was also fined.







Cattle Herd Shrinks to Smallest in 60 Years
A drought in the southern Plains has forced ranchers to cull hundreds of thousands of cattle, resulting in higher beef prices.







Mets Owners Seek Dismissal of Madoff Lawsuit
The owners of the New York Mets baseball team asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the court-appointed trustee seeking to recover money for victims of convicted Ponzi-scheme-operator Bernard Madoff.







Eastman Chemical to Buy Solutia
Eastman Chemical said Friday it has agreed to buy specialty-chemical maker Solutia Inc. for about $3.4 billion in a move that executives see paying off as auto, construction and consumer-electronics markets recover.







Legg Mason Profit Drops 54%
Legg Mason's fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 54% as the money manager saw a drop in advisory fees.







Altria Earnings Drop 9%
Altria's fourth-quarter earnings fell 9% as charges offset revenue growth, while the tobacco company named Vice Chairman Martin J. Barrington chairman and chief executive to succeed the retiring Michael E. Szymanczyk.







Murdoch to Quit Glaxo Board
As he grapples with the fallout from News Corp.'s phone-hacking scandal, deputy chief operating officer James Murdoch is resigning from the board of drug giant GlaxoSmithKline.