Management company takes control of local Hampton Inn

PORTLAND — Island Hospitality Management LLC, a hotel management company, has assumed management of the 122-room Hampton Inn Portland Downtown — Waterfront Hotel.

The property brings Island Hospitality’s total management portfolio to 78 hotels in 22 states.

The six-story hotel at 209 Fore St. opened in August 2011.

“This hotel has been open only a short time and is still ramping up,” said Tim Walker, president and chief executive of Island Hospitality. “We have an affinity for helping hotels realize their full potential.”

The Hampton Inn has 122 rooms, a business center, indoor poor and fitness center. The ground floor of the hotel includes the separately owned and operated Sebago Brewing Co.

Wall Street gains amid reports of economic recovery

NEW YORK — The stock market bounced back Tuesday following a surge in U.S. home prices and signs of recovery in Europe’s economy. Strong earnings reports also helped power the gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day 99.22 points higher at 13,979.30, erasing a large part of its loss from Monday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 15.59 points to 1,511.29. The Nasdaq composite was up 40.41 points to 3,171.58.

EPA: Greenhouse gases decrease as less coal burned

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency says heat-trapping gases from U.S. power plants fell 4.6 percent in 2011 from the previous year as plants burned less coal.

The report said power plants remain the largest stationary source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trigger global warming. Power plants were responsible for 2,.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011.

The reduction from 2010 reflects a relative decline in the use of coal, the dominant U.S. energy source, and an increase in natural gas and renewable sources that produce lower amounts of greenhouse gases.

Power plants produced roughly one-third of total U.S. emissions, followed by petroleum and natural gas systems, with refineries the third-largest pollution source.

Eurozone economy seen stable despite debt problems

LONDON — Further evidence emerged Tuesday that the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro has started 2013 in better shape than many had expected.

Markit, a financial information group, said its purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone economy — a closely watched gauge of activity similar to that of the Institute for Supply Management in the U.S. — rose to a 10-month high of 48.6 in January from 47.2 in December.

Though the index remains below the 50 mark that would indicate expansion, the survey echoes other findings that the eurozone economy may be over the worst. Both main pillars of the eurozone economy, manufacturing and services, are off their lows, according to Markit.

However, the eurozone economy continues to face some headwinds, not least related to the debt problems afflicting many of its members.

Jet battery problem in Japan similar to incident in Boston

TOKYO — An investigation into a lithium ion battery that overheated on a Boeing 787 flight in Japan last month found evidence of the same type of “thermal runaway” seen in a similar incident in Boston.

The Japan Transportation Safety Board said CAT scans and other analysis found damage to all eight cells in the battery that overheated on the All Nippon Airways 787 on Jan. 16, which prompted an emergency landing and probes by both U.S. and Japanese aviation safety regulators.

They also found signs of short-circuiting and “thermal runaway,” a chemical reaction in which rising temperature causes progressively hotter temperatures. U.S. investigators found similar evidence in the battery that caught fire last month on a Japan Airlines 787 parked in Boston.