Oregon’s largest employer, Intel, saw sales rise 3% in the fourth quarter, its best growth in six quarters. This came despite a continued decline in PC shipments.  The company is projecting no sales growth in 2014. (Market Watch)

GE profits rose 8% and sales were up 3%.  CEO Jeff Immelt says the company saw good conditions in emerging markets, strength in the US and a mixed environment in Europe. (Reuters)

If you like technology you might have been one of the first to own a Nest Thermostat.  Google is buying the company for $3.2 billion in cash as they branch into even more technologies.  Nest just introduced a smoke alarm product that you can also control from your phone. (Yahoo Finance)

The Fed’s posted the largest budget surplus for any December on record in 2013 thanks to $25 billion in dividend payments from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  That puts the US budget deficit at $123 billion for the first half of the fiscal year. (Fox Business News)

US housing starts were just shy of a million in 2013 at 999,000. New starts were down almost 10% in December after a huge November boom. (CNBC)

Join us Saturday at 10 for Financial Focus when Tyler and I will take your questions and talk Obama Care with health insurance expert Don Klippenes of Health Insurance Strategies.