T oday’s top stories from Report on Business : Toyota pedal fix in works The supplier that builds the accelerator pedals at the centre of a massive recall by Toyota Motor Corp. TM-N is ramping up production on a redesigned part at three factories, the company’s chief executive officer said today.

M icrosoft Corp. MSFT-Q said Thursday its earnings in the most recent quarter jumped 60 per cent, helped by a rebound in personal computer sales. The PC industry bounced back during the 2009 holiday shopping season after one of its roughest years to date.

C anadian Oil Sands Trust COS.UN-T , which holds the largest stake in the Syncrude Canada Ltd. partnership, said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit fell 23 per cent despite strengthening oil prices as it wrote down the value of some Arctic gas fields. The trust said its net income fell to $96-million, or 20 cents per unit, from $124-million, or 26 cents, in the fourth quarter of 2008

H eavy oil producer Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ-T is teaming with a smaller partner to build a technologically advanced upgrading plant near Edmonton aimed at reducing its carbon emissions. The Calgary-based company said Thursday it will acquire 50 per cent of the assets of privately held North West Upgrading Inc

A mazon.com Inc. AMZN-Q said Thursday its fourth-quarter earnings skyrocketed 71 per cent, as shoppers spent more than ever during the holiday season – a time that was somewhat brighter this year than last for retailers on and off the Web. Shares in Amazon fell, however, in after-hours trading

A friend in the mutual fund business, whom I respect, has shared some observations about money market funds that are alarming and worthy of note. He observes that, according to recent statistics from the Investment Company Institute, nearly 70% of all cash sitting in money funds is institutional. That’s is an extremely high percentage, and even more alarming is that institutions now account for more than 80% of all the cash sitting in government money funds

Syracuse University, Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University were the top five losers among the 100 largest college endowments for the fiscal year ended in June 2009 Each school’s endowment fund lost around 30% from a combination of market losses and spending. A report released today by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute, measured the market values of college endowments.