Foreclosure actions in Mass. increase in January

Nearly 800 foreclosures were recorded in January, the highest number of Bay State homes lost during a single month since August 2007, according to the Warren Group. There were 799 foreclosure deeds in January, up 128.3 percent from 350 in January 2007, the firm said, and January 2008 also marks the highest number of deeds during any month since August 2007, when there were 1,018. There were 1,792 auction announcements in January, up 77.8 percent from 1,008 in the year-ago period. (Chris Reidy)

US money manager Eaton Vance Corp. posted a higher first-quarter profit, but the results fell short of Wall Street's estimates as weaker equity markets hurt the fees it earned and its costs rose. Net income for the Boston firm rose to $57.9 million, or 46 cents a share, from $2.6 million, or 2 cents a share, in the same quarter of last year. Analysts had on average expected earnings of 49 cents for the quarter, according to Reuters Estimates. One-time expenses cut earnings by 34 cents a share in the year-ago quarter, the company said. Assets under management, on which money managers earn fees and in turn drives their earnings, rose to $152.9 billion at the end of January from $135.5 billion a year ago. (Reuters)

VMware Inc. is working with some of the world's biggest security software makers to better protect computers running on its virtualization software, said people familiar with the plans. Partners in the effort - dubbed VMsafe - include Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc., the Internet Security Systems division of IBM Corp., EMC Corp.'s RSA security unit and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., they said. The sources asked not to be identified because VMware wants to unveil the initiative next week at the VMworld Europe users conference in Cannes, France. (Reuters)

NStar, the Boston gas and electric utility, said it hopes to soon pass lower electricity prices on to some of the state's largest businesses. Many of the company's commercial and industrial customers will likely see second-quarter power prices that are 3 percent lower than current rates, NStar said. The decreases can be largely attributed to a drop-off in prices for fuels used to generate electricity, NStar said. Rate changes require the approval of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. If the rate change is approved, it would go into effect April 1. (Chris Reidy)

A dissident investor group that is now the largest shareholder in The New York Times Co. said it was disappointed in a board slate recommended by the publisher and was preparing a proxy battle. The group, comprised of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners and investment firm Firebrand Partners, disclosed in regulatory filings that it had increased its stake in Times Co. to 15.6 percent from about 12 percent. Times Co. said it was still reviewing the investor group's four board nominees, but in a preliminary proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it recommended that shareholders vote for its own slate of directors. (Reuters)

Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, will begin selling processors designed for portable computers costing as little as $250. The processor will debut in computers called Netbooks by the middle of the year, said Uday Marty, an Intel marketing director. The product is part of chief executive Paul Otellini's plan to create markets for the company, whose processors power more than 70 percent of the world's personal computers. Intel expects to sell tens of millions of the new chips by 2011, Marty said. (Bloomberg)

The British Parliament passed legislation that will allow the government to make Northern Rock PLC the first sizable British bank to be nationalized in 25 years. News of an emergency loan to the struggling Northern Rock from the Bank of England last September had triggered the first run on a British bank in more than a century. The House of Commons approved the nationalization legislation by a margin of 126 votes. The bill then went back to the House of Lords, where legislators first rejected three provisions of the bill. They later dropped their opposition without a vote. (AP)