WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday downplayed the unemployment rate as a guide to the U.S. economy’s health. But Janet Yellen, the new Fed chair, didn’t leave investors in the dark.

Instead, she listed five gauges that make up her “ d a s h -board” for tracking the e c o n o m y. She also specified, in some cases, when those m e a s u r e s would sig-nal a healthy economy.

The issue arose because Fed policymakers, like many economists, worry that the unemployment rate might be overstating the health of the economy. The rate has fallen by a full percentage point in the past year. But much of the drop occurred because fewer Americans are working or looking for work. The govern-ment doesn’t count people as unemployed unless they’re actively searching for jobs.

For those who want to track the economy along with Yellen, here are the items she listed during a news confer-ence Wednesday, her first as Fed chair:

The U-6It might sound like the

name of an Irish rock band. But it’s a broader measure of the job market. It includes not only the unemployed but also those working part time who would prefer full-time work and those who have stopped searching for jobs. Last month, the U-6 rate was 12.6 percent, much higher than the unemployment rate of 6.7 percent. Yellen said the num-ber of Americans forced to work part time is “unusually

large.” It suggests that she believes the Fed could do more to boost the economy.

Long-term unemployedOne particularly brutal as-

pect of the Great Recession and its aftermath is that mil-lions of laid-off people have struggled to find jobs. In April 2010, 45 percent of the unem-ployed had been out of work for six months or longer, a record. This proportion has since declined to 37 percent. But that’s still far higher than the pre-recession figure of just 17 percent. Yellen said it “has been immensely high and can be very stubborn” to bring down.

Labor force participation rate

This measure is critical to evaluating the job market’s health. It tracks how many peo-ple are either working or look-

ing for work. In December, itfell to its lowest level in 35years before recovering slight-ly. More retirements by baby boomers account for much ofthe drop. But Yellen said thisrate has also fallen becausesome of the unemployed havegiven up looking for work.They could start searchingagain as the economy improves.If so, they could push up theunemployment rate.

Quitting and hiringIn a healthy economy, more

Americans quit their jobs.That’s because they either havea new job — usually with high-er pay — or they’re confidentthey can find another. Thatmakes quitting a reliable mea-sure of the job market’s health.The government also tracks theoverall number of people hiredeach month. That’s separatefrom the net increase in jobsincluded in each month’s em-ployment report, because astrong net job gain can reflectmainly very few layoffs. Yellenwants to see whether employ-ers are actively adding workers.The number of people quittingjobs has partly recovered fromthe recession. But Yellen notedthat hiring “remains extremelydepressed.”

Wage growthYellen highlighted what

everyone who has gone with-out a decent raise for severalyears knows: “Wage growthhas really been very low.” Av-erage pay is rising at a 2 per-cent annual pace, before infla-tion, she said — well belowthe 3 percent to 4 percent rateshe cited as typical of ahealthy economy.

Many of these indicatorspoint to a weaker job marketthan the unemployment ratewould suggest. That’s proba-bly why Yellen said the econ-omy is “not close to full em-ployment,” despite the steadydecline in the unemploymentrate.

Thursday, March 20, 2014 THE DERRICK. / The News-Herald – 7

12,006770,17712,158,037192,6527,815,6092,131,730154,234523,627207,71275,964

NEW YORK (AP) — Higher interest rates are coming. And they are coming sooner than you think.

That’s the message investors took away from the Federal Re-serve on Wednesday. In re-sponse, they sent stocks and gold prices lower and bond yields sharply higher.

The Dow Jones industrial av-erage lost 114.02 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,222.17. The Dow fell as much as 209 points be-fore erasing some of its loss.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 11.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,860.77 and the Nas-daq composite lost 25.71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,307.60.

The Fed voted to cut its month-ly bond purchases from $65 bil-lion to $55 billion, in line with what analysts were expecting.

Petroleum- Crude Grades

Ergon American North Sea BrentW. Texas Intermed

$1,341.40, down $17.60

$20.80, down 3.6 cents

On Wall Street

Gasoline pricesPRECIOUS METALS

Wed.

New York Stock ExchangeMost active shares

Leading losersLast Pct

Tables from LPL Financial

Gold:

Silver:

RegularMid-gradePremiumDiesel

MARKET

$3.69 $3.79$3.99$4.29

Bank Of America Corporation 17.44 +0.25 104,770,451Oracle Corporation 38.55 -0.29 45,133,365General Electric Co 25.28 -0.37 35,234,960Verizon Communications Inc 46.36 -0.34 34,973,750AT&T Inc 32.96 -0.02 31,800,436Citigroup Inc 48.94 +0.80 30,303,340Advanced Micro Devices Inc 3.98 +0.09 28,458,054Wells Fargo & Co 47.81 -0.59 28,274,608Petroleo Brasileiro SA 10.90 +0.34 25,850,563Ford Motor Co 15.48 -0.01 24,367,033

Bioamber Inc 2.11 -17.26% Citigroup Inc 0.04 -17.15% Renren Inc 3.40 -9.81% BlueLinx Holdings Inc 1.32 -9.59% Mcewen Mng Inc 2.75 -9.24% Orbitz Worldwide Inc 8.13 -9.16% Bioamber Inc 11.85 -8.49% Coupons Com Inc 27.10 -7.92% Tremor Video Inc 4.45 -7.29% Oxford Resource Partners Lp 1.31 -7.09%

94.70 93.08 94.70 93.08 105.88 106.62 100.37 99.70

Stocks spooked on interest rates

Last Chg Volume

Leading gainers

Global Geophysical Svcs Inc 5.85 +44.09% 42,994Global Geophysical Svcs Inc 0.57 +24.65% 8,308,797Wsp Holdings Limited 2.40 +15.44% 127,146China Digital TV Holding Co 3.28 +9.70% 1,490,555Marcus & Millichap Inc 18.24 +8.51% 73,978Box Ships Incorporated 2.50 +8.23% 308,280Hyperdynamics Corp 2.07 +7.81% 564,939Higher One Hldgs Inc 8.08 +7.45% 535,123New York & Co Inc 4.81 +7.13% 467,397Empresas Ica S A De Cv 6.78 +6.10% 1,769,726

VolPctLast

Gas prices as of 3:30 p.m. the previous day from the Gulf station on Riverside Drive

Vol

Tue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Toyota agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle an investigation by the U.S. government, admitting that it hid information about defects that caused Toyota and Lexus vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly and resulted in injuries and deaths.

Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the penalty is the largest of its kind ever imposed on an auto company. The four-year criminal investigation focused on whether Toyota promptly reported the problems related to unintended acceleration.

The company admitted to mis-leading consumers and regulators by assuring them that it had adequately addressed an acceleration problem stemming from ill-fitting floor mats— which attracted widespread publicity in 2009 following a car crash in San Diego that killed a fam-ily of four — through a limited safety recall of certain models.

Toyota knew at the time that it had not recalled other models sus-ceptible to the same problem and also took steps to conceal from regu-lators a separate acceleration prob-lem related to a faulty pedal, accord-ing to the Justice Department.

“In other words, Toyota confronted a public safety emergency as it if were a simple public relations problem,” Holder said at a news conference.

According to a statement of facts filed in the case, an exasperated Toyota employee was said to have remarked at one point, “Idiots! Someone will go to jail if lies are

repeatedly told. I can’t support this.”

Toyota said in a statement that in the four years since the recalls it had “made fun-damental chang-es to become a more responsive and customer-fo-cused organiza-tion, and we are committed to continued im-provements.”

The company’s finances have re-covered from the recalls, as well as the recession and the 2011 tsunami in Japan. But its once-sterling reputa-tion for quality and reliability has been tarnished, and its market share is still below where it was in 2009.

Prosecutors filed a criminal charge Wednesday alleging the company de-frauded consumers by issuing mislead-ing statements. They said they’ll move to dismiss the charge in three years if Toyota complies with the terms of the settlement. An independent monitor will review policies, practices and pro-cedures at the company.

No Toyota executives were charged under the deal. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, whose office brought the case, said he expected the agreement

to be a “final resolution.”Starting in 2009, Toyota issued

massive recalls, mostly in the U.S., totaling more than 10 million vehi-cles for various problems including faulty brakes, sticky gas pedals and ill-fitting floor mats. From 2010 through 2012, Toyota paid fines to-taling more than $66 million for de-lays in reporting safety problems. Toyota agreed last year to pay more than $1 billion to owners of its cars who claimed to have suffered eco-nomic losses because of the recalls.

The company still faces wrongful death and injury lawsuits that have been consolidated in California state and federal courts. In December, Toyota filed court papers after say-

ing that it’s in settlement talkson nearly 400 U.S. lawsuits,but some other cases aren’tincluded in the talks.

The negotiations began lessthan two months after an Okla-homa jury awarded $3 million indamages to the injured driver ofa 2005 Camry and to the familyof a passenger who was killed.

The ruling was significantbecause Toyota had won allprevious unintended accelera-tion cases that went to trial. Itwas also the first case whereattorneys for plaintiffs arguedthat the car’s electronics — inthis case the software con-nected to a midsize Camry’selectronic throttle-control sys-tem — were the cause of theunintended acceleration.

At the time, legal expertssaid the Oklahoma verdict mightcause Toyota to consider a broadsettlement of the remaining cases.

Toyota has blamed drivers, stuckaccelerators or floor mats thattrapped the gas pedal for the accel-eration claims that led to the big re-calls of Camrys and other vehicles.The company has repeatedly deniedthe electronics are flawed.

No recalls have been issued re-lated to problems with onboard elec-tronics. In the Oklahoma case, Toy-ota attorneys theorized that the drivermistakenly pumped the gas pedalinstead of the brake when her Camryran through an intersection andslammed into an embankment.

The price of oil rose above $100 a barrel for the first time in a week Wednesday on signs of increased demand for pe-troleum products.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery gained 67 cents to close at $100.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Ex-change. The April contract ex-pires Thursday and the more heavily-traded May contract rose 29 cents to $99.17.

The Energy Department said that demand for gasoline rose 1.5 percent over the four-week period ended March 14, compared with the same peri-od last year. And supplies of distillates, which include heat-ing oil and diesel, fell by 3.1 million barrels, more than three times the decline ana-

lysts were expecting. Both figures were seen as signs of strengthening demand.

Oil also got a boost from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s de-cision to further reduce bond purchases aimed at stimulat-ing economic growth. Traders saw that as a sign the Fed is more confident the U.S. econ-omy can grow on its own.

Brent crude, used to set prices for international variet-ies of crude, fell 94 cents to $105.85 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

Wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $2.87 a gallon.

Heating oil lost 1 cent to $2.90 a gallon.

Natural gas added 3 cents to $4.48 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Toyota to pay $1.2 billion to settle criminal probe

Fed chair’s ‘dashboard’ of job-market gauges

NEW YORK (AP) — Plain old Cheerios are no longer made with genetically modified ingre-dients, but the switch hasn’t yet translated to a boost in sales.

General Mills, the company that makes the cereal, in January announced it would start making its plain Cheerios without GMOs, or genetically modified organisms. The move came after a campaign by the group Green America, which prompted fans to express their support on the Cheerios’ Facebook page.

On Wednesday, CEO Ken Powell said in a phone interview that the Minneapolis company has gotten supportive letters and on-line comments for its decision. But he said the company was “not re-ally seeing anything there that we can detect” in terms of a sales lift.

Attorney General Eric Holder announces a $1.2 bil-lion settlement with Toyota over its disclosure of safety problems.

AP

Oil above $100 on signs demand for fuel improvingBy The Associated Press

Cheerios get no lift from GMO switch

WASHINGTON (AP) — Janet Yellen tried at her first news conference as Federal Reserve chair to clarify a question that’s consumed investors: When will the Fed start raising short-term interest rates from record lows?

Yellen stressed that with the job market still weak, the Fed intends to keep short-term rates near zero for a “considerable” time and would raise them only gradually. And she said the Fed wouldn’t be dictated solely by the unemploy-ment rate, which Yellen feels overstates the health of the job market and the economy.

Fed clarifies guidance on short-term interest rates

Yellen