Massport says nine teams want to build affordable housing on land in Seaport

RETAIL

Walmart muscled through rising inflation and snarled global supply chains to put up strong fourth quarter results Thursday. The company also delivered an upbeat outlook for this year and boosted its dividend. Walmart used its size and clout to control prices with global inflation soaring, coordinating with suppliers to ensure price gaps with rivals where needed, CEO Doug McMillon said Thursday. Net income reached $3.56 billion, or $1.28 per share in the quarter ended Jan. 31. Per share earnings adjusted for one-time costs and benefits was $1.53, or 3 cents better than Wall Street expected, according to a survey by FactSet. Revenue rose 0.4 percent to $151.5 billion. Last year during the same period the company lost $2.9 billion due partly to costs related to the pandemic. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOOD DELIVERY

DoorDash stock climbed nearly 11 percent Thursday after the company reported a record number of people ordered from the food-delivery app in the fourth quarter, showing that pandemic eating habits are sticking despite COVID-19′s fading threat. Customers placed 369 million orders in the period, representing a 35 percent increase from a year earlier. People were also ordering more often and the value of those orders increased 36 percent to $11.2 billion. Wall Street expected $10.6 billion. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AVIATION

Airbus booked a record profit of 4.2 billion euros ($4.8 billion) last year as the aircraft maker delivered more planes with the global economy rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic. It is the first annual profit for the Toulouse, France, manufacturer since 2018, before the spread of COVID-19 reduced air travel to levels not seen since before the jet era. Airbus delivered 611 commercial aircraft in 2021, up from 566 the year before. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

CONSUMERS

Measured by consumer prices, US inflation is the highest in 40 years. Look at what Americans are actually getting for their money and the rate may be even higher, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. The academics publish a quarterly American Customer Satisfaction Index, which seeks to measure how happy consumers are with the goods and services they spend on. The latest edition, released earlier this week, found that there’s been a 5.2 percent decline in quality since 2018, with the bulk of it coming in the pandemic years. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

CLIMATE CHANGE

Rising temperatures are eroding Europe’s soils, putting at risk the production of wines, olives, and nuts, according to researchers in Greece and Sweden. Farms and orchards in Mediterranean countries risk turning into deserts because the level of organic material in soil there is falling while the level of salts is rising, according to findings by the Navarino Environmental Observatory in Greece and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Some soils are close to reaching a point at which they can no longer sustain farming or absorb carbon, the researchers said in a paper published in the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment. Falling levels of organic material, along with pollution, soil compaction, and erosion, are endangering the worms, ants and other organisms that provide biodiversity and enrich the soil, the researchers said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

MORTGAGE

Average long-term mortgage rates jumped again last week, approaching levels not seen since 2019. The average rate on a 30-year loan rose last week to 3.92 percent from 3.69 percent the previous week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday. A year ago, the long-term rate was 2.81 percent. The last time the 30-year rate was higher was in May of 2019 when it reached 3.99 percent. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, rose to 3.15 percent from 2.93 percent one week earlier. It stood at 2.21 percent a year ago. It last breached 3 percent in March of 2020, just at the pandemic was breaking in the United States. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUTOMOTIVE

AutoNation, the country’s largest dealership chain, posted record profit in the fourth quarter as it reaped gains from soaring vehicle prices and boosted sales of used cars. Adjusted earnings came to $5.76 a share, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based retailer said Thursday, surpassing the $5.00 average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue from used cars surged 55 percent from a year earlier while sales of new cars slipped 7 percent, a reflection of the ongoing chip shortage that has choked off supply of new inventory. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Britain’s highest court has ruled that a business executive who was investigated over suspected fraud had a right to keep his identity private — a ruling media groups said would make it harder for journalists to expose crimes by the rich and powerful. The Supreme Court’s ruling that Bloomberg News had breached the businessman’s “reasonable expectation of privacy” is the latest UK court judgment to side with an individual’s right to privacy over the public’s right to know. The case stems from a 2016 Bloomberg story that identified an executive and his company under investigation by UK law enforcement for possible corruption, bribery, and fraud offenses in a foreign country. The news agency had obtained a confidential letter from the UK law enforcement body to the foreign state requesting information. — ASSOCIATED PRESS