Cascade Financial Corp. officials said the company earned record profits in 2003. Executives also said the company increased its profits in the most-recent quarter – the 13th quarter in a row that it had done that. Year-end earnings per share will be in the range of $1.12 to $1.13 per share, which is in line with analysts’ expectations, they added. The Everett-based parent company of Cascade Bank will release its year-end earnings report on Jan. 27, and executives will discuss the year with analysts during a live conference call Jan. 28.

Eastman Kodak Co. plans to stop selling reloadable 35mm film cameras in North America and Western Europe this year, testifying to the swift rise of digital photography’s popularity. Sales of 35mm cameras in the U.S. market, in which Kodak is a minor player, fell below 8 million last year, down more than 20 percent from 2002.

A batch of new economic reports Wednesday provided fresh evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to gain momentum, with an unexpectedly sharp narrowing of the trade deficit and a strengthening of business activity in most parts of the country as the new year began. The Federal Reserve reported in a nationwide survey that the economy continued to rebound from late November to the early part of this year, with retailers reporting a boost from a late surge in holiday shopping and even growing signs that the nation’s battered manufacturing sector was beginning to pull out of its steep nosedive.

Federal regulators responded to the mutual fund scandal with proposals Wednesday requiring ethics codes for investment firms that manage funds and bolstering the independence of fund board chairmen and directors. At the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission is widening its fund investigation by delving into several cases in which brokerage firms steered clients toward certain funds in exchange for payments – inadequately disclosed – from those fund companies.

Intel Corp. posted better-than-expected profits and record revenue in the fourth quarter, a period marked by robust global demand for the company’s computer chips in laptop, desktop and business machines. For the three months ended Dec. 27, Intel earned $2.17 billion, or 33 cents a share, compared with $1.05 billion, or 16 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2002.

From Herald staff

and wire reports