P2JW030000-5-A00100-1--------XA CMYK Composite CL,CN,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SC,SL,SW,TU,WB,WE BG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,CT,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LA,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO TODAY IN ARENA XLIX: PUMP IT UP The Ultimate Homes for Wildlife Watchers FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 ~ VOL. CCLXV NO. 24 ***** DJIA 17416.85 À 225.48 1.3% NASDAQ 4683.41 À 1.0% NIKKEI 17606.22 g 1.1% STOXX 600 368.76 g 0.1% i WSJ.com OIL $44.53 À $0.08 i Business & Finance T he surging dollar is roiling currencies world-wide amid efforts to boost economic growth, spurring a wave of bets by investors. A1 By Gregory Zuckerman, Laurence Fletcher and Chiara Albanese n Alibaba said profit fell 28%, largely due to expenses, and defended itself against claims it let fake goods be sold. B4 n Ford posted a sharp drop in quarterly net, largely because of accounting moves, but issued a strong 2015 forecast. B5 n Deutsche Bank swung to a profit on lower litigation reserves and higher investment-banking revenue. C3 n Blackstone beat earnings expectations as the world’s largest private-equity firm set several full-year records. C3 n Spotify is working with Goldman on a new round of fundraising, potentially delaying an IPO for another year. B3 i i i World-Wide n Obama will ask Congress in his budget to boost government spending by $74 billion, or 7% above levels fixed in a 2011 deficit-cutting deal. A2 BATTLE WOUND: A government soldier is treated at a hospital in the town of Artemivsk while civilians in eastern Ukraine tried to flee renewed fighting. A8 Network Aided Terror Escape Paris Killer’s Wife Spirited to Syria by Group Set Up to Recruit Jihadists, Officials Say PARIS—When a young Frenchwoman showed up early this month at an Islamic State border checkpoint in northern Syria, the extremists controlling that arid expanse were expecting her. They waved her right through and let her bodyguards accompany her, according to Western counterterrorism officials. The militants had been told to give Hayat Boumeddiene special treatment by the network of chaperones who had arranged her n The Senate voted 62-36 to approve the Keystone pipeline, moving Congress closer to a showdown with Obama. A5 n EU foreign ministers agreed to extend by six months targeted sanctions against individuals and companies in Russia and eastern Ukraine. A8 n Egypt’s military said assailants attacked police stations and military bases in Sinai, killing at least 20 people. A6 n The Mexican government plans to make spending cuts to offset a drop in revenue from falling oil prices. A9 n MIT researchers found that they could identify individuals with only limited metadata. A3 n The U.S. rate of homeownership fell to a 20-year low in the fourth quarter of 2014. A2 n Dartmouth is banning hard alcohol and warning fraternities they must reform. A3 CONTENTS Corporate News......B2,3 Global Finance.............C3 Heard on the StreetC8 In the Markets.............C4 Movies.................D7,10,12 Opinion.....................A11-13 Sports...........................D1-4 Technology.....................B4 Television..............D1,6,10 Theater.......................D9,11 U.S. News...................A2-5 Weather Watch..........B6 World News.............A6-9 > s Copyright 2015 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved Hard-Driving Uber Gives Compromise a Try 42% 35% 31% 27% 16% 11% ’13 35% BY DOUGLAS MACMILLAN AND LISA FLEISHER 20% ’12 West. They no longer need to be part of a terror group’s rank-andfile to benefit from its resources, according to Western counterterrorism officials and people close to militant networks. There isn’t any evidence Mr. Coulibaly took orders from Islamic State, although he pledged his allegiance in a video that circulated online after his death. But he didn’t act in isolation either. Instead, he tapped into a Please turn to page A7 18% 18% 13% ’14 Uber Technologies Inc. has followed a pugnacious expansion strategy as it rolled into 277 cities around the world, sometimes skirting local laws and daring regulators to stop the smartphone-based car service. But as fierce challenges from regulators and taxi operators pile up from Portland, Ore., to Paris to Phuket, Thailand, executives at the San Francisco company are trying a new tactic: compromise and diplomacy. Instead of defying government officials, Uber executives say their lawyers and lobbyists are increasingly trying harder to negotiate agreements that bring the company into compliance with existing N/A Note: Facebook reported earnings on Wednesday, remaining companies reported on Thursday. Source: the companies The Wall Street Journal BIG EXPENSES: Recent earnings reports show that technology companies continue to spend freely on research and development, with Facebook and Google outpacing Web rivals Alibaba and Amazon. B1, B4 Falling Prices Spread Pain Far Across The Oil Patch BY ERIN AILWORTH AND DAN MOLINSKI DALLAS—Rumor became reality here last week when dozens of workers lost their jobs at Laredo Petroleum Inc. The Oklahoma-based energy outfit said it closed its regional office to cope with plunging oil prices. The layoffs were “kind of like a death in the family,” says Robert Silver, age 62, a geophysicist who had helped Laredo decide where to drill in the Permian Basin in West Texas. Trouble has been looming over the oil patch since crude prices began falling last summer, from over $100 a barrel to under $50 today. But only now are the long-feared effects of a bust starting to ripple through the complex energy ecosystem, Please turn to the next page Many global central banks are weakening their currencies as they try to counter signs of economic gloom, signaled by falling commodity prices, declining inflation and softening growth expectations. Those shifts, together with moves such as this month’s surprise decision by the Swiss National Bank to abandon its three-year-old policy of limiting gains in the Swiss franc against the euro, have fed a jump in the price swings of currencies. These dynamics are tempting investors to make large bets on currency moves, potentially fueling further exchange-rate shifts. Denmark’s central bank cut its deposit rate for the third time in two weeks on Thursday, charging banks more to hold their money, as it sought to defend its long-established currency peg against a weakening euro, which has tumbled since last week when the European Central Bank adopted a €1 trillion-plus ($1.129 trillion) stimulus package. On Thursday, the dollar climbed to an 11-year high against a basket of currencies and is up 15% in the past year. The Turkish lira slumped to a low against the dollar amid Please turn to page A8 U-TURN Capital expenditures and R&D as a percentage of revenue for latest quarter Composite n Jordan demanded proof from Islamic State that a captured pilot was still alive as a deadline for a possible prisoner swap expired. A6 travel. The reason would soon be clear: The same day she crossed the border, her husband, Amedy Coulibaly, unleashed his terror spree in Paris, and she became the most-wanted woman in France. No charges have been filed but authorities are eager to question Ms. Boumeddiene. “She is the Hefty Spending by Tech Players n Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah eased and Israel said the Lebanese group had asked for a cease-fire through U.N. intermediaries. A6 n The U.S. has formed ties with Houthi rebels who seized control of Yemen’s capital, in a sign of a shift in Washington’s approach in that country. A6 prize—a high-value asset—because she knows a lot about the preparation of the attack,” said a counterterrorism official. Her journey from the gritty suburbs of Paris to the Syrian border followed a circuitous route that—much like an underground railroad—allowed her to slip away covertly. Islamic State’s ability to provide safe harbor to friends and family removes potential obstacles for would-be attackers in the By Noémie Bisserbe, Benoît Faucon and Stacy Meichtry laws, even if it leads to lower profit margins at the company. In cities where new laws are being written for app-based car services, Uber is more willing to go along with requirements such as providing wheelchair-accessible vehicles and capping fares charged by its “surge pricing” system. Executives say they are aiming to make Uber explicitly legal everywhere it operates, up from just 22 cities and states now. Many cities lack rules for car services like Uber, which says it isn’t bound by traditional taxi regulations because it owns no cars and employs no drivers. “We are trying to intensify our partnerships Please turn to page A10 Fans of PDX’s Magic Carpet Don’t Want It to Disappear i i i Portland Airport Flooring Fans Scrap For a Swatch; 28,000 Square Feet of Teal BY RYAN KNUTSON Many collectors own a piece of the Berlin Wall. Ticket stubs from 1960s Beatles concerts are for sale on eBay. And for a few hundred dollars, you can own a seat from the old Yankee Stadium. Collectors will soon be able to get their hands on another piece of history: a piece of carpet from the Portland International Airport. The 28,000 square feet of teal is more than just a rug. It’s a legend, a monument to muffled footsteps, a selfie magnet that is the background for more than 31,000 Instagram photos of feet. The rug has more than 1,500 followers on Twitter. People have dressed as the carpet for Halloween. There is a 176-square-foot mural in its honor hanging in concourse D. Emma Milkin, a 21-year-old Portland resident, tattooed the pattern on her back. Carpet fan with matching T-shirt The carpet has large, dark blue, purple and red X’s that resemble the pattern of the airport’s crisscrossing runways as seen from the control tower. Through the pictures people post online when arriving or departing the airport, the pattern has become an icon. Soon, though, it will be gone. Despite a regular regimen of steam cleaning and vacuuming, the carPlease turn to page A10 P2JW030000-5-A00100-1--------XA n U.S. prosecutors are dropping insider-trading charges against five men in the wake of an appeals-court ruling. C1 Petr David Josek/Associated Press n Google’s revenue grew more slowly than expected in the fourth quarter. The firm cited the strong dollar as a factor. B4 n Ally’s CEO reacted angrily to ex-parent GM’s decision to squeeze the lender out of the car-leasing business. C1 Currency Tumult Attracts Big Bets A surging dollar is pummeling currencies around the globe amid efforts to boost economic growth, prompting a wave of investor bets to profit from the upheaval. n Amazon posted higherthan-expected quarterly net despite sales growth below forecasts. Shares rose sharply in after-hours trading. B1 n U.S. stocks rose as earnings reports helped lift consumer shares. The Dow climbed 225.48 points to 17416.85. C4 HHHH $3.00 GOLD $1,254.60 g $31.30 EURO $1.1321 YEN 118.29 Ukraine Suffers as Clashes With Russia-Backed Rebels Intensify What’s News i 10-YR. TREAS. g 10/32 , yield 1.755% Getty Images MANSION MAGENTA BLACK CYAN YELLOW
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