On the docks: Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham says the fall shrimp season will close at sunset Thursday in most remaining southeast Louisiana waters. He says the open waters of Breton and Chandeleur sounds and some other outside waters will remain open to shrimpers. The department extended the fall shrimp season in some areas in December. Barham says biologists have found that white shrimp in waters to be closed this week average more than 100 per pound. Closing those waters will protect them so they can grow to more valuable sizes, and protects juvenile brown shrimp that begin entering those waters in early spring. More details and a map of waters that will remain open is available on the department’s website here.
Electric avenue: Entergy Corp.’s net income dropped 33% in the fourth quarter on charges related to the sale of one of its businesses. The power provider earned $154.1 million, or 87 cents per share, for the three months ending Dec. 31. A year earlier it earned $228.3 million, or $1.26 per share. Excluding one-time costs tied to the planned sale of its electric transmission business, earnings were 94 cents per share. The latter results still beat the 90 cents per share that analysts polled by FactSet predicted. Revenue edged down 2% to $2.49 billion from $2.53 billion; missing the $2.72 billion that Wall Street expected. Full-year net income increased 8% to $1.35 billion, or $7.55 per share, from $1.25 billion, or $6.66 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue fell 2% to $11.23 billion, from $11.49 billion.
Market forces: The stock market lost ground this morning, but still appeared headed for its best January finish in more than a decade. An unexpected drop in consumer confidence dragged stocks down after a strong first half-hour. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 42 points at 12,611 just after 10 a.m. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was down three at 1,310. The Nasdaq composite index was down six at 2,805. For the month, the S&P 500 is up 4.1%. That would be its best performance to start a year since a 4.1% gain in January 1999. Last year, the market added 2.3% in the first month. Check out the full story from The Associated Press here.
