Mexico seizes Kellogg’s cereal over labeling

MEXICO CITY – Mexico has seized 380,000 boxes of Corn Flakes, Special K and other Kellogg’s cereals, claiming the boxes had cartoon drawings on them in violation of recently enacted laws aimed at improving children’s diets.

While Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies are clearly not the worst thing Mexican children eat, the laws prohibit food companies from using marketing tactics that might appeal to children, like cartoons or mascots.

Mexico’s consumer protection agency also said Friday that the cereal boxes did not clearly state nutritional values like calories, fats, salt or sugar, or didn’t have the proper warning signs for levels of those ingredients that are considered excessive.

Agents raided 75 sales outlets and seized pallets of Kellogg’s products there, but the vast majority of the seizures were carried out at a warehouse north of Mexico City.

Kellogg’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wells Fargo beats revenue estimate for quarter

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Wells Fargo easily beat Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter with interest rates beginning to take off, likely another boost for the nation’s largest mortgage lender going forward.

The San Francisco bank earned $5.8 billion, or $1.38 per share, handily surpassing the $1.11 industry analysts were expecting, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet.

Wells took in $20.86 billion in sales in the quarter, also topping Wall Street projections of $18.8 billion. The bank had revenue of $18.49 billion in the same quarter last year.

For the full year, Wells collected $21.5 billion in profit, or $4.95 per share. Sales for 2021 came in at $78.49 billion, a 5% increase over 2020, when the bank reported revenue of $74.26 billion.

Wells said its position improved last year partly due its ability to reduce expenses while deposits grew as the economy bounced back from the coronavirus downturn of the 2020.

Wells reported $9.26 billion in net interest income in the period, down slightly from last year, but expected to bounce back this year with rates on long-term loans seem destined to rise quickly.

The Federal Reserve announced last month that it would begin dialing back its monthly bond purchases – which are intended to lower long-term rates – to slow accelerating inflation.

Even with the expected three or four rate increases in 2022, the Fed’s benchmark rate would still be historically low at around 1%.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this past week to 3.45%, their highest level since March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S. Economists expect them to rise further as the Fed tightens credit, meaning more profits for banks, especially Wells, which depends heavily on mortgages.

The company said it decreased the amount of money it held aside for credit losses by $875 million.

Banks set aside tens of billions of dollars to guard against customer defaults early in the pandemic; some of those billions are now being moved back onto the positive side of their balance sheets.

JPMorgan Chase profits fall 14% compared to 2021

NEW YORK – JPMorgan Chase says fourth-quarter profits fell 14% from a year earlier, due to a weaker performance from its trading desk and higher compensation expenses for employees.

Even with the weaker quarter, JPMorgan had a record annual profit, nearly $50 billion. The total is significantly more than what the bank brought in during 2019, before the pandemic.

The bank, like others in the financial industry, also continues to deal with the impact of near-zero interest rates. Low rates have kept JPMorgan’s revenue mostly flat for the past year.

The New York-based financial giant on Friday reported a profit of $10.4 billion, or $3.33 per share for the last three months of 2021.

That’s down from a profit of $12.14 billion, or $3.79 a share, in the same period a year ago.

While JPMorgan’s profits fell, the results were still better than what analysts had forecast, with the average per-share profit on FactSet being $3.01.

For the past several quarters, JPMorgan has made up for flat interest rates by having a strong performance out of its investment bank and by releasing billions of dollars from its so-called loan-loss reserves.

From wire reports