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Starbucks Corp.’s reported the biggest quarterly revenue gain since the recession began, but investors worried after the company issued a modest full-year forecast.

The Seattle-based coffee company reported on Thursday after the stock markets closed that fiscal first-quarter revenue grew 16 percent as it attracted new customers by adding stores in China and Morocco, upgrading locations in the U.S. and rolling out single-serve coffee and other new items at grocery stores.

“Starbucks is firing on all cylinders and taking full advantage of the many global opportunities that lie ahead,” CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement.

Starbucks reported that earnings rose 10 percent to $382.1 million, or 50 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Jan. 1. That’s up from $346.6 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. And its total revenue increased to $3.44 billion with growth from all its business lines.

Starbucks said revenue from its stores open at least a year _ an important measure because it strips away the impact of recently opened or closed stores _ increased 9 percent as more customers visited its cafes and spent more each trip. It was the company’s most successful holiday season ever, with customers buying more peppermint mochas, gingerbread lattes and Starbucks gift cards.

Starbucks also benefited from the addition of 241 new stores during the quarter. It now operates 17,244 stores worldwide, with plans to open 800 new stores in the coming year.

Additionally, the company delivered major gains in its consumer products business, which sells its new single-serve coffee products, Via instant coffee, Starbucks ice cream and other items for sale in grocery stores and other retailers payday loans online. Revenue from this segment increased 72 percent and Starbucks expects the business to continue to grow

But the solid quarterly performance was followed by a full-year forecast that was slightly below Wall Street expectations as Starbucks acknowledged that it continues to struggle with higher costs for coffee beans, dairy products and other ingredients it needs.

Starbucks said these costs were $105 million higher for the quarter than this time last year, sending its operating margins down from 17 percent to 16.2 percent for the quarter. Starbucks said commodity costs will add $230 million in costs for the full fiscal year but it anticipates the pressure will lesson in the second-half of the year.

As a result, Starbucks nudged up the lower-end of its earnings guidance. It now expects to earn $1.78 to $1.82 per share for the full year, up from prior guidance of $1.75 to $1.82 for the year. This falls just short of analyst expectations of $1.83 per share.

Jack Russo, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the modest outlook and lower margins drove some investors away in after-hours trading. On the news, the company’s shares fell 54 cents to $47.80 in after-hours trading.

Starbucks remains a strong growth company, Russo said, but the stock is already rich. It hovered near record highs this week. Its shares have traded between $30.75 and $48.39 in the past 52 weeks.

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Schoolchildren’s favorite lunch _ the ubiquitous frozen pizza _ is about to get healthier.

First lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are expected to announce Wednesday that most school meals, including pizza, will have less sodium, more whole grains and more fruits and vegetables as sides. The popular pizzas will still be on school lunch lines but made with healthier ingredients.

Mrs. Obama and Vilsack were making the announcement at an elementary school in Alexandria, Va., with celebrity chef Rachael Ray.

The new rules, the first major nutritional overhaul of school meals in 15 years, won’t be as aggressive as the Obama administration had hoped. Congress last year blocked the Agriculture Department from making some of the changes the department had sought, including limiting french fries and pizzas.

A bill passed in November would require USDA to allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The initial draft of the department’s guidelines, released a year ago, would have prevented that. Congress also blocked USDA from limiting servings of potatoes to two servings a week. The final rule to be announced Wednesday will have to incorporate those directions from Congress.

The congressional changes had been requested by potato growers and food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, among others in the food industry. Conservatives in Congress called the guidelines an overreach, saying the government shouldn’t be telling children what to eat. School districts had also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far and would cost too much online payday loans.

The new guidelines would apply to lunches subsidized by the federal government, and a child nutrition bill signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 would help school districts pay for some of the increased costs. Some of the changes could take place as soon as the next school year, while others would be phased in over time.

The guidelines are also expected to limit the total number of calories in an individual meal and require that milk be low in fat. Flavored milks would have to be nonfat.

While many schools are improving meals already, others are still serving children meals high in fat, salt and calories. The guidelines are designed to combat growing childhood obesity and are based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The subsidized meals that would fall under the guidelines are served as free and low-cost meals to low-income children and long have been subject to government nutrition standards. The 2010 law for the first time will extend nutrition standards to other foods sold in schools that aren’t subsidized by the federal government, including “a la carte” foods on the lunch line and snacks in vending machines.

Those standards, while expected to be similar, will be written separately and have not yet been proposed by USDA.

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With Islamists comprising the overwhelming majority of its lawmakers, the parliament elected in Egypt’s first legislative vote after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster nearly a year ago held its inaugural session on Monday.

The convening of the new parliament is a significant benchmark in the timetable provided by the generals who took over from Mubarak for the handover of power to a civilian administration.

It is also a step forward for Islamist groups on the road to becoming the strongest political force in the nations that experienced Arab Spring revolts. Islamists dominated elections first in Tunisia and then in Egypt, and Libya’s Islamists are also expected to do well in parliamentary voting later this year.

The Egyptian chamber’s top priority is to elect a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution, which will have to be put to a vote in a referendum.

The next major step in the transition will be presidential elections, scheduled to be held before the end of June, when the generals are due to step down.

“The era of political exclusion is over,” said Saad el-Katatni, an Islamist lawmaker from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best organized political group. El-Katatni, secretary general of the Brotherhood’s political arm _ the Freedom and Justice party _ was elected as speaker by a vast majority of the 508-seat chamber.

The Brotherhood was banned for most of its 84-year history, legalized only after the 18-day popular uprising in early 2011 that ousted Mubarak.

The elections, which started on Nov. 28 and ran into January, were the freest in Egypt in decades. Elections for parliament’s upper chamber, a largely toothless body known as the Shura Council, will begin later this month.

The outcome of the elections reflect the strength of the Islamists in Egypt, a mainly Muslim nation of some 85 million people that has grown steadily more religiously conservative over the past 40 years.

The Brotherhood spearheaded the Islamist victory in Egypt, winning just under half of all the seats.

In second place to the Brotherhood came another Islamist group, the ultraconservative Salafis, with nearly a quarter of the seats.

The liberal and left-leaning groups that organized the anti-Mubarak uprising garnered less than 10 percent of the seats. Many of them were not as well prepared for the vote as the Islamists, particularly the Brotherhood, whose members have over years of underground work acquired a high degree of discipline and loyalty.

Several of these lawmakers wore yellow scarves saying, “No to military trials for civilians,” a reference to the hauling of at least 12,000 civilians before military tribunals since the generals took over power in February last year.

The Islamists’ dominance was obvious in Monday’s session, where many lawmakers sported long beards, clerical turbans or flowing robes.

“We are here because the People’s Assembly (parliament) is all Islamists,” said Mina Samir, a protester in his early 20s who was among several thousand demonstrators near the parliament building calling for an end to military rule Online payday loans. “Now we have a military power supporting a conservative power. That’s why I am here.”

Some of the protesters wore masks made out of photographs of those killed or wounded by security forces during the anti-Mubarak uprising, or in subsequent protests against the generals. “Down, down with military rule!” they chanted, and, “No military and no Brotherhood.”

What was supposed to be a quiet procedural session turned briefly chaotic when some lawmakers improvised additions to the text of the oath they were taking in turn, provoking angry protests from the interim speaker, Mahmoud El-Saqqah of the liberal Wafd party.

The oath ends with a pledge to respect the constitution and the law, but several Islamist lawmaker added “God’s law” or “as long as there are no contradictions with God’s law.” Pro-reform lawmakers also improvised, with two of them pledging to “continue the revolution” and “be loyal to its martyrs.”

The convening of parliament is a moment of triumph for the Brotherhood, whose members endured decades of arrests and intimidation by Mubarak’s feared security agencies.

The Brotherhood has contested parliamentary elections since the 1980s, circumventing the ban on the group by fielding candidates as independents. They won 20 percent of parliament’s seats in 2005, but could not win a single seat in elections held in November and December 2010, thought to be the most fraudulent since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.

On Monday, Brotherhood volunteers escorted their lawmakers into the parliament building.

“I want to make sure that my representatives are safe. I want to celebrate and make sure that no one ruins this atmosphere. There are many who want to ruin it,” said Fathy el-Sayed, a 35-year-old Brotherhood supporter outside parliament.

Others waited outside parliament with flowers they said they planned to give to their lawmakers. They chanted religious songs to the beat of drums.

“Democracy brought the people (who are) inside the building now. They were elected by the people,” said Adel Musbah, a supporter of the Salafi el-Nour party.

He questioned planned protests by pro-democracy groups marking the first anniversary of the start of the uprising. “Why are they coming to object?” he said.

Security was tight in the area around the parliament building, scene of recent deadly clashes between troops and protesters demanding that the generals immediately step down. The building is also a short distance away from Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising that topped Mubarak’s 29-year regime.

Monday’s session was chaired by el-Saqqah, because he was the oldest lawmaker.

He began the proceedings by ordering lawmakers to stand in silence for a minute in memory of the hundreds of protesters killed during the protests.

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The smarter you are, the more stock you probably own, according to researchers who say they found a direct link between IQ and equity market participation.

Intelligence, as measured by tests given to 158,044 Finnish soldiers over 19 years, outweighed income in determining whether someone owns shares and how many companies he invests in. Among draftees scoring highest on the exams, the rate of ownership later in life was 21 percentage points above those who tested lowest, researchers found. The study, published in last month’s Journal of Finance, ignored bonds and other investments.

Economists have debated for decades what they call the participation puzzle, trying to explain why more people don’t take advantage of the higher returns stocks have historically paid on savings. As few as 51 percent of American households own them, a 2009 study by the Federal Reserve found free 3-in-1 credit report. Individual investors have pulled record cash out of U.S. equity mutual funds in the last five years as shares suffered the worst bear market since the 1930s.

“It’s what we see anecdotally: Higher-IQ investors tend to be more willing to commit financial resources, to put skin in the game,” said Jason Hsu, chief investment officer at Research Affiliates. “You can generalize a whole literature on this. It seems to suggest that whatever attributes are driving people to not participate in the stock market are related to the cost of processing financial information.”

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Another set of successful bond auctions in Europe and a decline in applications for unemployment benefits are pushing U.S. stock futures higher Thursday.

Dow futures are up 38 points to at 12,542. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose 5 points to 1,307. The Nasdaq composite is up 10 points to 2,431.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008. The decline added to recent evidence that the job market is strengthening one hour payday loan.

Solid earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley bolstered the prevailing optimism. Bank of America returned to profit in the final three months of the year while Morgan Stanley narrowed its losses.

The gains in U.S. futures follow increases in European and Asian markets.

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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said investors largely priced in the euro-area sovereign downgrades from Standard & Poor

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A newly formed investigative panel on Japan’s nuclear disaster will use its subpeona powers wisely and cut deeper into the accident than the government’s probe, the leader of the independent commission said Monday.

The panel appointed by parliament last month has gained attention here because its 10 members include outspoken critics of Japan’s nuclear policy who long ago questioned the seismic risks to the country’s 54 nuclear reactors.

It is expected to examine the extent to which the 9.0-magnitude earthquake contributed to the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, as well as the ensuing tsunami and radiation alert system. Interim reports by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. focused on the tsunami and deny the quake itself caused damage that led to fires, reactor meltdowns and radiation leaks from the plant.

“We will get to the bottom of the case and compile a proposal for the future as we strive to live up to the people’s expectations,” panel Chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa told a news conference after the commission had its first full open meeting. “We will seek how we can be different from the government panel.”

The panel is the first bipartisan investigative panel appointed by parliament in its modern political history, said Kurokawa, an expert of internal medicine and a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

It is also the first that can request parliament subpoena witnesses and documents, although the lack of a penalty for objectors raises questions on its effectiveness low interest rate personal loans. The panel will submit its findings to parliament around June for action to be taken.

The panel includes legal, nuclear and medical experts. Seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi has long warned of tsunami risks in the earthquake-prone country where all 54 nuclear reactors are built on the coastline. Engineer Mitsuhiko Tanaka designed nuclear reactors at Babcock-Hitachi K.K. and has suggested the March quake damaged the Fukushima reactors before the tsunami.

The separate government-appointed panel released preliminary findings last month and found plenty to criticize. It said management of the crisis was marred by erroneous assumptions about equipment, delayed disclosure of radiation leaks and other problems.

The government panel had no subpoena power and the more than 400 witnesses it interviewed were allowed to stay anonymous. Kurokawa said he might seek those transcripts to avoid overlaps.

He said the panel has not decided whether to try to question former Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other top officials responsible for the initial crisis response in public. Kan resigned in August amid widespread criticism of his handling of the nuclear and tsunami disasters and recovery efforts.

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Confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in January, reaching its highest level in eight months on signs the labor market is improving.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment climbed to 74 from 69.9 at the end of December. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for 71.5. The measure has increased 9.9 points in the last two months, the biggest such gain since April-May 2009.

The lowest jobless rate in almost three years and cheaper gasoline prices since mid-2011 are giving Americans reason to be more upbeat. While the pickup in optimism will probably help sustain household purchases, limited wage gains and falling real estate values may temper the consumer spending that accelerated in the fourth quarter.

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Spain and Italy gave financial markets a boost Thursday as they successfully raised nearly euro22 billion ($27.98 billion) in two keenly watched debt auctions that showed renewed investor confidence in the countries’ attempts to get a grip on their debt problems.

Spain sold nearly euro10 billion ($12.7 billion) in auctions of bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016, with demand strong and the amount sold double the maximum sought. Italy saw its borrowing costs drop sharply as it sold euro12 billion ($15 billion) in what was also its first test of market sentiment this year.

Both debt-laden countries have been the focus of worries that they might be dragged further into the crisis threatening the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency that has already forced Greece, Ireland and Italy to seek billions in bailout money.

Buyers also took euro8.5 billion in 12-month Italian bonds at a yield of 2.735 percent, sharply down from last month’s rate of 5.95 percent. They also bought euro3.5 billion ($4.45 billion) in bonds maturing in May at 1.644 percent interest, down from 3.251 percent last time.

Market reaction in both countries was good. In the secondary market, where issued bonds are then traded openly, the yield for Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond dropped to 6.6 percent from around 7 percent, a perilous level that forced other eurozone nations to seek bailouts.

The rate for the Spanish 10-year bond also dropped back to 5.15 percent after opening at 5.32 percent.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank maintained its lending rate at 1 percent Thursday with President Mario Draghi saying there were “tentative signs of stabilization of activity at low levels” in the troubled eurozone.

Boosting liquidity has been the institution’s principal tool against the crisis as it aims to encourage banks to continue lending to companies so they can operate and grow.

Europe’s other leading central bank, the Bank of England, also kept its lending rate at a record low of 0.5 percent.

Nicholas Spiro of London-based consultancy Spiro Strategy said the Italian auction showed that ECB efforts to pump liquidity into the sector were working.

“Few would have predicted as recently as last month that Italy would be paying as little as 2.7 percent for 1-year paper,” he wrote. “This is on a par with Italy’s borrowing costs before it got sucked into the eurozone crisis in July.”

He noted that Spain’s auction also went well but said Italy’s funding challenges are of a “different order of magnitude.”

Chiara Cremonesi of UniCredit Research called the auction “extremely positive” and a good omen for a sale of longer-term debt on Friday.

Noting that while demand for shorter maturities has been strong in recent weeks, she said the auction Thursday “was even better than our expectations personal loans for bad credit.”

Italy’s euro1.9 trillion ($2.42 trillion) in government debt and heavy borrowing needs this year have made it a focal point of the European debt crisis.

Italy has passed austerity measures and is on a structural reform course that Premier Mario Monti claims should bring down Italy’s high bond yields, which he says are no longer warranted.

Monti took over in November after Premier Silvio Berlusconi stepped down under market and political pressure.

The former EU commissioner said Thursday that Europe needs to focus not only on fiscal discipline, which is to be enshrined in a fiscal compact still being negotiated, but also coordinate measures to promote growth.

Monti said the EU goal of reducing total debt to 60 percent of GDP in 20 years was “severe, but doable.”

Italy’s debt currently stands at 120 percent of GDP. Spain’s is at 66 percent.

Spain’s auction was the first since the conservative Popular Party took office last month after its landslide election win Nov. 20. It came a day after Parliament approved the government’s first austerity measures, a euro15 billion ($19.1 billion) package aimed at reining in the swollen deficit.

Spain has a 21.5 percent unemployment rate and its economy is expected to fall back into recession.

The Treasury sold euro4.27 billion in three-year paper with an average interest rate of 3.38 percent. A Dec. 15 three-year bond sale had a 4.02 percent rate. Yields were also down on two other bond types sold.

Marc Ostwald, strategist for Monument Securities described the demand as “very impressive” and said the sale indicated a warm welcome for the government’s efforts to quickly bring the deficit under control.

Spain’s borrowing costs shot up last year but have eased in auctions since the election.

The country has pledged to slash its deficit from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2009 to within the European Union limit of 3 percent by 2013.

Meanwhile, crucial Greek talks continued between the government and its private investors to reach a deal on a bond swap that would reduce the country’s debt load and is an integral part of its second bailout package.

Finance chief Evangelos Venizelos said Wednesday the negotiations had “advanced and are now at a very good point.”.

____

Barry reported from Milan. Daniel Woolls in Madrid contributed to this report.

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