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SOME PRINTING GOES GREEN

Every time you print out a page on a laser printer you're using toner made from petroleum-based products. Now there's a greener choice that shows promise: a toner product derived from soybean oil. While some customers might be wary, potential benefits are clear. It's easier to recycle paper printed with soy. And perhaps more important in a sour economy, soy toners can cost less than the standard alternative. Soybeans are a renewable resource whose price is likely to be more stable than that of oil. Newspaper, magazine and book publishers have shifted to soy-based ink in recent years. Early results suggest soy toners work as advertised. In a recent test involving identical documents from two identical printers -- one with a new Hewlett-Packard cartridge and the other a soy cartridge -- the printouts were indistinguishable, equally dark and smudge-proof.

CABLE ADS ON HOT SEAT

Congress will review cable television operators' plans to roll out targeted advertising amid fears that consumer privacy could be infringed if the companies were to track and record viewing habits. The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold a hearing today that will look at new uses for digital set-top boxes, the devices that control channels and perform other tasks on the TV screen. Cable TV companies plan to use such boxes to collect data and direct ads more targeted to individual preferences. The Center for Digital Democracy is concerned about the interactive targeted TV ad system on both antitrust and privacy grounds.

J.C. PENNEY UPGRADES OUTLOOK

J.C. Penney Co. raised its first-quarter earnings outlook Wednesday, saying business is stabilizing, but the department store chain forecast consumer spending will remain weak this year. "(Business) is more predictable," Myron Ullman III, chairman and CEO, said at an analysts' meeting in New York. But he said he expects consumers' overall spending to remain low this year amid stock market volatility and a weak job market. Even when the economy does recover, Ullman said, "we are preparing ourselves for a different consumer mind-set." Penny said it expects first-quarter earnings per share to be "flat to slightly positive."

TRAVELERS GET A BREAK

Airline booking fees charged by Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia are on vacation through May. The fees generally run around $7 per transaction. But in April, first Expedia (the biggest online travel agent) and then Travelocity and Orbitz suspended airline booking fees on tickets bought through May 31. Priceline.com had already dropped airline booking fees almost two years earlier. Airlines have aimed to get customers to book directly on their Web sites with frequent-flier bonus miles for booking directly, and guarantee that fares elsewhere will be no lower than those offered directly by the airline. Southwest Airlines Co. didn't offer tickets on the travel sites.

BANK WORRIES LIFT GOLD

Gold prices closed slightly higher Wednesday, as worries about banks sent investors in search of safety.

Gold for June delivery added $9.80 to settle at $892.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

May silver jumped 24.5 cents to $12.3050 an ounce, while July copper futures slipped 1.95 cents to $2.0605 a pound.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose 30 cents to settle at $48.85 a barrel. In other Nymex trading, heating oil lost 3.3 cents to $1.3149 a gallon, while gasoline for May delivery was down 4 cents to $1.3745 a gallon.