The daily business briefing: February 3, 2016

1. Chipotle reports sales decline after food-borne illness cases

On Tuesday Chipotle reported that sales at restaurants open more than 13 months fell by 14.6 percent in the last three months of the year, as several food-borne illness outbreaks were linked to its restaurants. "The fourth quarter of 2015 was the most challenging period in Chipotle's history," CEO Steve Ells said. The company's stock fell by more than 5.5 percent in after-hours trading, capping a decline of nearly 40 percent over the last three months. Health officials this week declared an E. Coli outbreak believed linked to Chipotle to be over.

The Washington Post

2. Exxon cuts exploration spending as global oil glut continues

Exxon announced Tuesday that it was cutting its drilling budget to a 10-year low due to a global oil glut that sent crude prices plummeting. Exxon is the world's largest oil explorer, but it will be slashing spending on rig leases, oil platforms, and other projects by 25 percent, to $23.2 billion, in 2016. The news came as Exxon reported its smallest annual profit since 2002 last year. It also will save money by suspending stock buybacks that cost the company $500 million in the last quarter of 2015.

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Bloomberg

3. U.S. stock indexes take another dive despite several strong earnings reports

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 300 points, or 1.8 percent, on Tuesday, as a fresh 4.5 percent decline in oil prices intensified fears of a global economic downturn. The gloom offset encouraging earnings-driven stock surges by Mattel, Michael Kors, and Google parent Alphabet, which overtook Apple as the world's most valuable privately held company. U.S. stock futures edged higher early Wednesday as oil prices stabilized.

MarketWatch

4. California officials go after gas company over leak

On Tuesday Los Angeles prosecutors filed four misdemeanor criminal charges against the Southern California Gas company for allegedly failing to promptly report a huge methane leak that has forced thousands of people out of their houses since October. The move came on the same day that the state's attorney general, Kamala Harris, sued the company, accusing it of failing to report and control the leak from a ruptured underground pipeline in a timely fashion. The company said it would respond to the lawsuit in court.

Reuters

5. Toyota to compensate minority customers for loan bias

Toyota's financing arm reportedly has agreed to pay up to $21.9 million to thousands of African-American, Asian, and Pacific Islander customers to settle discrimination allegations. Federal regulators said Toyota Motor Credit Corp. charged minority buyers higher interest rates on auto loans than white borrowers with comparable creditworthiness. The automaker's dealerships can add extra interest above the financing company's base rates. Investigators found they added extra interest on loans for black and Asian customers.

Los Angeles Times