Today’s top stories from Report on Business :

Obama proposes record deficit

President Barack Obama is proposing a $3.8-trillion (U.S.) budget with a record $1.56-trillion deficit. The budget sent to Congress would help fight the U.S. jobs crisis, raise taxes on high income earners and cap spending on many government programs. “Having steered the economy back from the brink of a depression, the administration is committed to moving the nation from a recession to recovery by sparking job creation to get millions of Americans back to work,” the Obama administration said in a statement. Read the story

Economists upgrade growth forecasts

Many of the economists consulted by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in advance of his March budget now project faster-than-expected economic growth this year. Bloomberg News polled 14 of the 16 forecasters Mr. Flaherty will meet tomorrow, and they now project growth of 2.7 per cent this year, up from the 2.3 per cent Mr. Flaherty cited in his fiscal update in September. Though they raised their projections for this year, they cut their forecasts for 2012 to 2015, Bloomberg said.

Toyota rolls out its fix

Even as it rolls out a fix for its malfunctioning accelerators, Toyota Motor Corp. TM-N is now facing new class-action lawsuits, including at least two in Canada, and another in the United States. The lawsuits must still be certified by a judge before it can go ahead. Its allegations have not been tested in court. Meanwhile, owners of recalled vehicles will be able to get their vehicles repaired starting this week, the auto maker said. The repair involves installing a steel reinforcement bar into the accelerator pedal assembly that will reduce tension that has caused pedals to stick. “With this reinforcement in place, the excess friction that can cause the pedal to stick is eliminated,” Toyota said in a statement. Read the story

Cinram units dive on loss of Warner deal

Cinram International Income Fund CRW.UN-T units dove on the Toronto Stock Exchange today after it lost its biggest exclusive contract with the world’s premier home entertainment studio, Warner Home Video Inc. Cinram said this morning its deal with Warner accounted for 28 per cent of Cinram International Inc.’s total revenues last year. The company, one of the world’s biggest makers of DVDs and CDs, said Warner’s decision to terminate the contract will impact its operations in North America, Mexico, Britain, France, Germany and Spain. “While we had been expecting material pricing pressure to ensue when it came time to renew the WHV contracts later this year, we’re quite surprised to see the termination of this key relationship,” wrote National Bank Financial analyst Adam Shine. Read the story

CBS sells out Super Bowl spots

CBS Corp. has now sold all ad spots for Sunday’s big Super Bowl game, the biggest marketing event of the year. Prices for a 30-second spot are about $3-million (U.S.), and there are usually 50 to 60 spots during the game, which draws about 95 million viewers in the United States. Among the top advertisers for this year’s game in Miami between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints on Feb. 7 are Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Budweiser and Bud Light beers. Read the story

Securities regulators take in millions

Canada’s securities regulators collected almost $252-million last year in penalties and restitution payments, dwarfing the total take in 2008 thanks to huge payments in two key cases. A report released today on 2009 enforcement activities shows penalties collected last year totalled $154-million, while regulators also collected $92-million in restitution and compensation payments plus an additional $5.7-million to cover investigative costs. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), an umbrella group for provincial securities commissions, said the huge increases were due primarily to settlements totalling $104-million reached with seven major brokerage firms over sales of non-bank asset-backed commercial paper, as well as a $68.1-million settlement reached by three executives of Research in Motion Ltd. over backdating of stock options. Read the story

Exxon Mobil profit falls

Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM-N shares rose today after the energy giant’s fourth-quarter profit of $6.05-billion (U.S.), or $1.27 a share, topped analysts’ estimates. Profit fell 23 per cent from $7.82-billion or $1.54 a share and revenue rose 6.1 per cent to almost $90-billion. This morning’s results marked the fifth consecutive quarter of declining profit. Read the story

Smart phone sales surge

Research in Motion Ltd. RIM-T , Apple Inc. AAPL-Q and Nokia Corp. NOK-N are all gaining market share as global smart phone sales surge to new heights. In a report this morning, Boston’s Strategy Analytics said RIM’s BlackBerry held a 20.2 per cent share of the market in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 18.6 per cent a year earlier.

Apple’s iPhone came on strong, boosting its market share to 16.4 per cent from 10.8 per cent. Nokia remained the leader at 39.2 per cent, the research company said in its fourth-quarter update. RIM, Strategy Analytics reported, shipped a record 10.7 million smart phones globally in the last quarter, remaining “comfortably” ahead of Apple’s 8.7 million. “RIM continues to expand its international footprint beyond the core territory of North America deeper into Western Europe and parts of Asia,” it said.

Global industry shipments hit a record 53 million in the quarter, a 30-per-cent surge from a year earlier, the company said, driven by stronger consumer demand and attractive new models. This will heat up this year. “The smart phone market will become ultra competitive in 2010,” Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston said in a statement. Samsung and LG have ambitious plans to grow volumes and expand their app stores, while emerging players like Dell and Huawei are strengthening their device portfolios and courting major operators. The smart phone wars will be good news for consumers, but the fierce competition will inevitably place downward pressure on vendors’ pricing and margins.”

EU warns on Greece risks

The EU believes Greece can work its way out of its fiscal mess, but warned the country today it may need to take further measures. Greece’s debt crisis has weighed down the euro and rippled through financial markets. Today, though, Ameila Torres, a spokeswoman for the EU’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner, told reporters there are “risks attached” to Greece achieving its targets and “this is why there will be a need to adopt additional measures if these risks materialize.” Read the story

Roubini worries about Norway

Nouriel Roubini is worried about threatened asset bubbles in Norway. The New York University professor, who has been warning of bubbles as the world climbs out of recession, told Bloomberg News in an interview in Oslo today that “even in Norway there is not a willingness to raise rates despite inflation and robust growth because of concerns about the currency that means you are feeding real estate and other bubbles.”

From today’s Report on Business

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