STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with a sign of confidence at Ford.
The Ford Motor Company is out with its latest earnings report, and the automaker says it made almost $13.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. That is thanks mostly to an accounting change. Ford moved some tax assets back onto its books. It has created a reserve fund; set some money aside in effect back in 2006 when the company was falling on hard times. Getting rid of the reserve now is considered a signal that Ford believes that it expects to continue to be profitable in years to come.