Financial life in a big town

Public but personal details from more than 170 million Facebook profiles were harvested from the site and made available in a downloadable torrent file this week.

Ron Bowes, a security researcher and blogger, wrote a software program to scan Facebook’s public directory of profiles. Users can choose to opt out of that directory, but most stick with Facebook’s default setting and allow their name and a few other personal details to publicly searchable.

"Once I have the name and URL of a user, I can view, by default, their picture, friends, information about them, and some other details," Bowes wrote on his blog at SkullSecurity.org.

Bowes’ exploit did not involve breaching users’ privacy settings or obtaining any passwords, and all of the information he gathered is openly available on Facebook’s site. However, the sheer size of his data haul is significant: Bowes’ chunky 2.8 gigabyte file includes names and URLs for 171 million Facebook profiles. Facebook has an active user population of 500 million.

Bowes created a torrent for his cache, making it available through sites such as Pirate Bay. He also did some preliminary data mining: Facebook’s most-common user name is "jsmith," and the most popular first names on the site are Michael, John and David, Bowes found.

While Bowes called the information’s easy accessibility "a scary privacy issue," Facebook downplayed his exploit.

"This information already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook. No private data is available or has been compromised," Facebook said in a statement. "Similar to the white pages of the phone book, this is the information available to enable people to find each other, which is the reason people join Facebook."

The company reiterated that its privacy controls allow users to adjust their settings so that they do not appear in a search on Facebook or through search engines.

Though the information Bowes culled is public, his approach still violated Facebook’s terms of service. The site prohibits collecting user information "through automated means," which includes harvesting scripts like the one Bowes created.

Facebook is typically aggressive in cracking down on policy violators. The company said Wednesday that it deleted all applications created by Pencake, a top outside developer whose widgets were used by 45 million Facebook members, because Pencake broke Facebook’s rules.

But Bowes doesn’t seem concerned. He’s already planning the next phase of his Facebook data dive. Bandwidth constraints stopped him from gathering users’ public photos and other openly available details, this time around.

"So far, I have only indexed the searchable users, not their friends," he wrote in his blog. "I’d like to tackle that in the future, though, so if anybody has any bandwidth they’d like to donate, all I need is an ssh account and Nmap installed." 

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Another Johnson & Johnson manufacturing plant — this one making heartburn and gas relief drugs Pepcid, Imodium and Mylanta — was cited for a pattern of quality lapses similar to those seen at the company’s shuttered Tylenol plant.

Earlier this month, safety inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration issued a "Form 483" to Johnson & Johnson’s Lancaster, Pa., plant.

A Form 483 is issued after an FDA inspection finds problems with a company’s manufacturing practices.

The Lancaster plant is owned by Johnson & Johnson-Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture of J&J and Merck (MRK, Fortune 500), but is operated by the company’s McNeil division.

McNeil, which makes pain and cold drugs such as Tylenol and Motrin, is under investigation by the FDA and lawmakers in connection with successive recalls of those drugs over the past year. McNeil shut its plant in Fort Washington following a scathing FDA inspection report of the factory in May that cited 20 manufacturing violations.

This latest setback for Johnson & Johnson is raising questions about lax quality standards at its over-the-counter drug factories and the possibilty of a pattern that could result in the FDA hitting the company with another warning letter or tougher oversight at its plants.

Disturbing pattern

The latest inspection report on the Lancaster plant, released by the FDA on Wednesday, cites 12 violations of good manufacturing processes, at least five of which were also observed at the Fort Washington plant.

One expert said the violations observed at the Lancaster plant are "very serious."

"If this is going on in Johnson & Johnson plants that make over-the-counter drugs, is this indicative of what is going on in other parts of the company’s business?" said David Rosen, who worked at the FDA for 14 years. Rosen is now with with law firm Foley & Lardner and advises major pharmanceutical companies on FDA regulations and compliance.

In an conference call with analysts this week, Johnson & Johnson’s chief financial officer Dominic Caruso declined to comment on whether other company plants had received Form 483 reports payday loans.

At both plants, inspectors questioned whether lab procedures and controls were adequate to assure products "conform to appropriate standards of strength, quality and purity."

Both plants were cited for failing to properly review an unexplained manufacturing discrepancy in a batch of drugs and for not properly following up on consumer complaints about products made at the facilities.

Specifically, the FDA’s report on the Lancaster plant noted that the staff failed to follow up on several consumer complaints, including instances where consumers said they found mint-flavored Pepcid tablets mixed inside the same bottle as berry-flavored tablets. There were also multiple complaints about a product lot for "lack of effect."

Experts said "lack of effect" could mean that the product was not producing the desired result when used. The FDA report did not name the product. Also, inspectors said the plant’s complaint coordinator did not initiate an investigation of the product.

However, the report did not mention the possibility or need for a product recall.

Additionally, regulators said the Lancaster factory didn’t properly document equipment malfunctions or keep adequate maintenance records. Inspectors said they found unlabeled test tubes filled with product sitting out on a counter. The factory also didn’t properly clean utensils used in the drug making process.

One industry expert, who did not want to be named, said he would not be surprised if the FDA is pondering further action on the Lancaster plant, such as a warning letter or a consent decree. Under a consent decree, the plant would be able to continue production, but would have constant third-party inspection.

The FDA and Johnson & Johnson declined to comment on the possibility of further enforcement action against the company. 

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In a desperate attempt to fill a $70 million budget hole, Newark’s mayor is taking a chainsaw to the town’s budget — even going so far as to cut toilet paper from the 2010 budget.

"Every single contract that does not go to the core function of our city in providing safe streets, providing fire protection, or other things to keep our city afloat will now be cut," Mayor Cory Booker said during an emergency press conference Wednesday.

The reductions include not buying toilet paper for city offices, cutting the work week to four days for non-uniformed city workers, which is equivalent to a 20% pay cut, scrapping city holiday decorations, and closing city pools. These extreme measures, most of which will take effect beginning in August, are expected to save the city between $10 million and $15 million.

The city came to this impasse after the city council deferred a vote to create a Municipal Utilities Authority, a key component of Booker’s method of balancing the budget no fax cash advance. Because Newark could issue bonds on the Authority, it would have cash inflow to cover the immediate deficit. Without that infusion, the mayor said they can’t make ends meet.

While he accepts the council’s decision, Booker said that the move leaves Newark without a budget and "an incredible financial issue."

"If the council chooses to rely on a tax increase to fill this budget hole, our homeowners will receive an entire year’s worth of that tax increase in the fourth quarter — people will see tax bills into the thousands," Booker warned.

He added that raising property taxes will likely result in massive foreclosure rates, which is unacceptable.

Booker said he is making the severe cutbacks "to avoid a tax shock to our city." 

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AirTran Airways plans to expand its Caribbean service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Punta Cana will mark the fifth Caribbean destination the Orlando-based low-cost airline offers service to, including Aruba and Cancun, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Nassau/Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Roundtrip, nonstop flights between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Punta Cana International Airport will be conducted twice weekly beginning Feb. 16, 2011.

Connections to Punta Cana will be available from more than 40 cities throughout the AirTran Airways network via Atlanta, including Orlando, New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore, Milwaukee and others.

“Punta Cana is a very popular vacation destination, and we are happy to offer our passengers the chance to explore such a beautiful area beginning this winter,” said Kevin Healy, AirTran Airways’ senior vice president of marketing and planning. “Our new flights to Punta Cana represent the next phase of our growth strategy in the Caribbean.”

AirTran Airways has been flying to Punta Cana since 2008 using chartered service.

AirTran Airways is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) and a Fortune 1000 company.

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Stocks end little changed Thursday, erasing bigger losses after weaker than expected reports on the economy revived worries about growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost a few points and broke its seven-day winning streak. The S&P 500 (SPX) index ended just above breakeven, and the Nasdaq (COMP) composite lost a few points.

Stocks tumbled through most of the session, but managed to cut losses near the close thanks to a late-session advance in financial and commodity shares.

After the close, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) reported quarterly earnings that missed forecasts on revenue that beat estimates, sending shares lower in after-hours trading.

JPMorgan’s profit report added to bets that quarterly earnings will hold up despite the slower growing economy. But that wasn’t enough to distract investors from a spate of mixed-to-weaker economic reports, particularly in the aftermath of a big rally over the past week.

"We’re coming off a strong rally over the last few days that was earnings driven," said Kim Caughey, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "Today we took a rest from looking at the earnings and took another look at the economy."

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast for GDP growth this year. On Thursday, a report showed that weekly jobless claims fell to a two-year low — but continuing claims, a measure of long-term joblessness, rose. Weak reports on manufacturing in the New York and Philadelphia regions added to the jitters.

China also reported strong GDP growth of 10.3% in the second quarter. Still, that fell short of the 11.9% growth recorded in the first quarter.

On Thursday afternoon, the Senate approved the most far-reaching financial reform bill since the 1930s, which President Obama is expected to sign into law next week.

The legislation is designed to limit big banks, protect consumers and prevent the future reoccurrence of financial crises like the one that hit in 2008.

Results: Dow component JPMorgan Chase posted a second-quarter profit of $4.8 billion, or $1.09 per share, trouncing expectations. The bank’s strength in the quarter was due partly to a decline in the number of consumers defaulting on loans. However, JPMorgan’s shares slipped amid the broader market selloff.

"It’s great to have earnings surprises but what we really need to see are companies issuing upbeat forecasts for the second half of the year," she said.

Earnings for the S&P 500 are expected to have risen 28% versus a year ago, according to the latest from earnings tracker Thomson Reuters.

Economy: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week fell to 429,000, the lowest level since August 2008. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would drop to 450,000 from a revised 458,000 in the previous week.

However, the drop in weekly claims was largely a result of seasonal factors. Continuing claims, a measure of Americans who have been receiving benefits for a week or more, rose to 4,681,000 from 4,434,000 in the previous week payday loans with no fax. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would fall to 4,400,000.

The NY Fed-Empire Manufacturing survey plunged to 5.08 in July from 19.57 in June, surprising economists who were expecting it to dip to 18.

The Philadelphia Fed index fell to 5.1 in July from 8.0 in June, surprising economists who thought that manufacturing activity would rise to 10.0.

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, fell 0.5% in June after falling 0.3% in May. Economists thought it would fall 0.1%. The so-called core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1%. Economists expected it to rise 0.1% after it rose 0.2% last month.

Industrial production rose 0.1% in June after rising 1.3% in May. Economists thought it would hold steady. Capacity utilization held steady at 74.1% in June, versus forecasts for a rise to 74.2%.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast for GDP this year to a range of between 3% and 3.5% versus the previous forecast of a range of 3.2% to 3.7%.

BP: Shares of the beleaguered oil company rallied 7.5% after BP (BP) said that it has managed to temporarily stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, nearly three months after the explosion that caused the leak.

Company news: Private-equity firm Carlyle Group is buying vitamin maker NBTY (NTY) in a $3.8 billion cash deal that values NBTY’s shares at $55 per share, a 47% premium above the stock’s closing price Wednesday. Shares gained 43%.

World markets: European markets fell, with Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0.8%, Germany’s DAX off 1% and France’s CAC 40 down 1.4%.

Asian markets ended lower. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2% and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.6%.

Currencies: The euro gained versus the dollar, hitting a two-month high. The dollar fell versus the Japanese yen.

Commodities: U.S. light crude oil for August delivery rose 26 cents to $76.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for August delivery gained $1.20 to $1,209.50 an ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 2.98% from 3.05% late Wednesday. Debt prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth: Breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by a narrow margin on volume of 1.12 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers 2 to 1 on volume of 1.99 billion shares.

How much of a hit did you take in the recent correction? Are you worried about a bear market? What changes have you made in your portfolio and what changes do you plan on making for the rest of the year? E-mail your story to realstories@cnnmoney.com and you could be featured in an upcoming article. For the CNNMoney.com Comment Policy, click here. 

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A North Carolina software developer has picked up Sunbelt Software Inc., which employs 250 people in Clearwater and offices around the world. The sale will soon create a spin-off company offering Sunbelt’s software distribution business.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GFI Software, based in Cary, N.C., was most interested in Sunbelt’s Vipre technology, which the software infrastructure products provider said it could use in its e-mail security and Web security services group, according to a release.

Alex Eckelberry, Sunbelt’s chief executive officer, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in an e-mail that the extent of the impact the acquisition will have has not been worked out yet. He will remain with the newly merged company, as will Mark Patton as vice president of research and development, Eric Sites as chief technology officer, and Bill Emerick as senior vice president of products and services.

Sunbelt co-founder Stu Sjouwerman will retire but remain with Sunbelt’s various publications including WServerNews, Win7News and SecurityNews online payday loans.

“It’s an exciting day for us here at Sunbelt, and I believe sincerely that this acquisition was in the best interests of all parties,” Eckelberry said. “Not only our shareholders and employees, but most importantly, our customers and partners.”

Both companies are working to integrate various sales, marketing, finance and technology teams.

“Our goal is to make the combination as seamless as possible to our customers and partners,” Eckelberry said.

GFI already has plans to sell Sunbelt’s software distribution business, which was started more than 16 years ago and has operated separately from the technology side of the company, it said in a release.

Sunbelt Software, a TBBJ Best Places to Work finalist last year, presented at the Florida Venture Forum’s 2009 Venture Capital Conference in Naples. The company was founded in 1994.

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Less than three weeks after gold surged to record highs, the precious metal has scaled back about 5% and is hovering once again around $1,200 an ounce.

On Thursday morning, gold for August delivery — the most actively traded contract — was down $7.50, or 0.63%, at $1,191.40 an ounce.

But the two major factors behind the precious metal’s recent highs around $1,250 — Europe’s debt woes and volatile stock markets — are still major concerns. So what gives?

For the first clue, look no further than July 1 — the day gold fell nearly $40.

Good news for Europe, bad for gold

Facing the expiration of about $554 billion in debt last Thursday, the European Central Bank announced it would assist 78 banks in refinancing their loans, a move that would essentially roll over a quarter of that debt.

The euro rose after the news, and institutional investors, who just weeks earlier had been betting in favor of gold and against the euro, suddenly rushed to close out their bets and reap profits at gold’s still relatively high prices, said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist with futures broker Lind-Waldock.

Traders had previously been taking advantage of the euro’s weakness amid growing concerns about Europe’s debt crisis. Gold, as a tangible asset, was perceived to be a safer alternative to the paper currency, Streible said. But in light of the ECB’s news, that trade may have run its course.

So investors seem temporarily content to take their profits and put their fears about Europe’s debt crisis on the back burner, and that’s one factor driving gold down. But there’s another.

Deflation, not inflation, fears

Disappointing economic data on this side of the Atlantic may also be leading investors to sell gold. On Friday, readings on U.S. manufacturing, housing and jobs all came in worse-than-expected, sending stocks to fresh 2010 lows.

It’s a bit curious that gold, a so-called safe haven, has slipped despite some dismal economic reports. But gold is also considered a hedge against inflation — a trend investors now have little reason to fear.

Michael Cheah, a bond fund manager with SunAmerica, said the most recent economic reports have fed increased fears of deflation, a persistent decline in the prices of assets and consumer goods fast cash advance loan.

In a deflation scenario, Cheah said investors would be wise to put their money behind a different safe haven: U.S. Treasurys.

That’s because Treasurys pay interest regularly, and although the yield may be low, it’s still better than taking a loss in stocks or gold should double-dip recession fears come true, Cheah said.

Gold rush not over yet

But with all these factors in mind, analysts still say gold prices could climb higher. Streible forecasts gold to rebound to as high as $1,325 by the end of the year.

Jeffrey Nichols, a senior economic advisor to Rosland Capital, a precious metals firm, has even loftier expectations. He anticipates the metal to rise as high as $1,500 an ounce by year-end — a prediction he has stuck with for the last several months.

Nichols points out that gold is a very small market when compared to Treasurys or currencies, so it’s easily swayed in one direction, especially during weeks of low trading volume.

The recent dip may be entirely the work of institutional investors at big banks and hedge funds who are taking profits during light trading surrounding the July 4 holiday and summer vacations, Nichols said.

And those are quite "possibly the very same people who will come back in the next few weeks and push gold higher again," he added.

Meanwhile, Streible said he thinks concerns about Europe’s debt crisis are likely to resurface, pushing the euro down and gold up once again.

Investors will be watching for the results of the ECB’s so-called financial "stress tests" of 91 banks, which it plans to release on July 23, as a barometer of the region’s economic health.

Cheah also expects gold to rise later in the year because he thinks a double-dip is likely. If that happens, he said, investors probably would eventually lose faith in the U.S. dollar and Treasurys, sending gold once again to record highs, he said. 

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Toyota Motor Co. plans to start recalling luxury vehicles possibly affected by engine problems on Monday.

Toyota will submit documents to recall of 90,000 vehicles in Japan on Monday, company spokesman Mieko Iwasaki told CNN. Recall announcements in other regions will subsequently be handled by each country individually.

On Thursday, Toyota said it was investigating engine problems affecting 270,000 vehicles worldwide. Small valve springs that were made from low-quality metal could crack, potentially causing engines to stall, said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.

In most cases, owners will experience only abnormal idling or engine noise, Toyota said in a written statement, although even that was described as a "remote possibility."

Approximately 137,000 vehicles in the U.S. are potentially affected, the automaker said. The cars sold in the U.S. that could be affected include the Lexus IS 350, GS 350, GS 460, GS 450h, LS 460, LS 600hL. All are luxury sedans and two, the GS 450h and LS 600hL, are hybrid cars.

Only cars from model years earlier than 2010 could be involved, Toyota said.

Also involved is the Toyota Crown, a large luxury car that is not sold in the United States.

Toyota has not received any reports of injuries or fatalities related to the issue, the automaker said instant payday loan.

Toyota’s Lexus luxury division will announce a remedy for the problem as soon as possible, the automaker said in its statement.

"In the meantime, we sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and request that they contact their nearest Lexus dealer if they believe there is a problem with their vehicle," said Mark Templin, general manager for Lexus in the U.S.

Toyota has been dealing with a long-running spate of quality and safety problems.

Toyota has, in recent months, recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for a variety of potential safety issues including possible unintended acceleration and problems with anti-lock brake software.

Most recently, the automaker recalled some Lexus SUVs because of problems with electronic stability control software.

In a recent J.D. Power survey of initial quality, Toyota slipped to 21st place this year from 6th place last year.

CNN’s Yoko Wakatsuki and CNNMoney.com senior writer Chris Isidore contributed to this report. 

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Birmingham stocks closed a tough week Friday with none of the local companies posting gains for the week.

Book retailer Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM) took the biggest hit with a 15 percent decrease for the week. It opened Monday at $6.57 to close at $5.57 on Friday.

The stock price for Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP) dropped around 11 percent to close the week at $13.89. It opened on Monday at $15.66.

Regions Financial Corp (NYSE: RF) ended the week at $6 .24 after opening at $6.95.

Superior Bank (Nasdaq: SUPR) saw its prices fall 10 percent to $2.03 after starting the week at $2.26.

Meanwhile, prices for HealthSouth (NYSE: HLS) were down 8 percent to close the week at $17.71. It opened Monday at $19.43.

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This year’s week-long Alzheimer’s conference is expected to attract 5,500 international attendees to Hawaii and add $26 million in statewide spending.

The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease will be held July 10-15 at the Hawaii Convention Center, resulting in 44,000 booked hotel rooms.

“This is excellent news for Hawaii’s tourism economy and we look forward to providing a world-class venue — conveniently in the Asia Pacific — for professionals to come together to discuss this important work,” said Mike McCartney, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and CEO no teletrack payday loan.

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