diane eastabrook says weathe helped monsanto, but it could be a wild card for the rest of the year. >> reporter: most farmers in the midwest will hit the fields for the first time next week to plant corn, but some got a jump on planting thanks to unusually warm weather in the corn belt. early sales of corn seed helped monsanto post better-than- expected profits in the quarter that ended in february. standard and poors equity analyst kevin kirkeby said supply worries also had farmers buying early. >> but there was also some concerns earlier on that there wouldn't be enough seeds availabldue to drought conditions lasyearn so of the growing regions. and so there was a lot of pre- purchases of seeds, and that came into play as well. >> reporter: farmers are expected to plant nearly 96 million acres of corn this spring, about four million acres more than last year. but kirkeby says that could be a negative for monsanto down the road. >> there is less room for upside surprise for the remainder of the fiscal year. and then people are going to start looking at next year's planting intentions

diane eastabrook has the details. >> reporter: this time around, the fly in the ointment for the global auto industry is a chemical used in the resin that coats brake and fuel lines. the only company that supplies the chemical was rocked by an explosion at a german plant late last month. rebecca lindland follows the auto industry for i.h.s. global insight. she says finding a replacement for the chemical could be costly and potentially dangerous. >> because it's used in safety- related supplies like brake lines, there could be future consequences because if anything would happen in the future with the performance of this product in a vehicle, you could have lawsuits, you could have a problem that haunts the manufacturer and supplier for a long time. >> reporter: ford and chrysler say they are monitoring the situation and at this point are not experiencing any production disruptions. general motors says it's trying to secure existing supplies of the resin to avoid future production glitches. the problem is affecting auto companies worldwide. lindland says the resin shortage is less of a p

as diane eastabrook reports, a strengthening u.s. economy and rising pump prices were the fuel behind those strong numbers. >> reporter: for g.m., sales of small cars like the chevy cruze and sonic packed a big punch in march. the auto maker said sales in the small and compact segment were up more than 60%. still, consumers weren't ignoring larger vehicles. last month, they snatched up nearly 40% more mid-sized cars like the malibu than they did at the same time last year. what was going on? g.m.'s vice president of u.s. sales credits $4-plus gasoline, coupled with a new line of fuel- sipping models. don johnson says, today, almost half of g.m.'s fleet get an average fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon. just a few years ago, only about 15% of its products were that fuel efficient. >> when you look at the fuel economy asct of it, early, coumers are looking to replace some of their older vehicles with more fuel efficient vehicles. and for us, that paid off very well because we have the best fuel efficient portfolio that we've ever had.

diane eastabrook, "nightly business report." >> tom: while michelin is adding u.s. jobs, tonight's commentator is worried the slowdown in hiring last month will have uncle sam itching to spend again. here's simon constable, columnist at "the wall street journal." >> friday's disappointing jobs numbers should have the white house and the congressional democrats panicked. the problem is that our leaders are likely to do exactly the wrong thing to fix things. they'll probably want to spend more government money. the problem everyone sees is that the 120,000 jobs created in the u.s. during march is just woefully inadequate to keep up with population growth, let alone make a dent in the backlog of the millions of long-term unemployed. the solution the government opted for in the depths of the financial crisis was massive government stimulus and bailouts of near-dead companies. it was at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. but new research shows that this sort of mass spending does little to help. a paper published in this month from the mercatus center at george m

diane eastabrook, "night business report." >> tom: it was last night's earnings from a couple of tech heavyweights that really weighed on the market today. the s&p 500 spent the entire session in theed trying to muster some rallies mid-morning and mid-afternoon, but buyers just couldn't overcome the sellers, with the index finishing down a fraction. technology along with financial stocks were the biggest sector losers, off 0.8%. telecom fell 0.5%. lackluster earnings from two tech stocks that are also dow industrial stocks put an end to a two-day rally. i.b.m. sank 3.5%. volume tripled. this is a five-week low. i.b.m.'s disappointing first quarter revenue was the culprit. intel also fell after its earnings. shares dropped almost 2%. volume was heavy in intel shares, too. analysts blame the lack of a big upside surprise from intel for the profit-taking. elsewhere in technology, a couple of disc drive makers were rallying. seagate jumped almost 4%. it was able to raise prices for its disc drives in the last quarter, driving better than expected profits. western digital added 5%, trading

. >> reporter: i'm diane eastabrook in chicago. unseasonably warm tempertures are making it tempting to get out and shop for a home. the good news for the spring the bad news: a flood of foreclosures could hit the market later this year, driving prices down even more. >> i think you'll see foreclosures and short sales part of the market for a number of years, yes. i believe they'll be in our market place for a number of years just because there are so many of them that haven't come to market. >> reporter: foreclosures have been especially troubling for chicago's condo market. in february prices were down a little more than 15% from the previous year. but real estate experts think sky rocketing rents could put a floor under the condo market by encouraging renters to buy. >> reporter: the sparkling strip has come roaring back and is teeming with tourists. gaming revenue on the vegas strip is up nearly 30% compared to last year but beyond the glitter. nevada has the triple crown of bad economic indicators. first in the nation for numb

diane eastabrook reports. >> reporter: better world books is an orphanage of sorts for used books. they come into the company's mishaiwaka indiana warehouse by the hundreds where they get sorted, recycled, re-sold or donated to charity. better world's shelves are crammed with some four million hard covers and paperbacks with nearly 2.5 million unique titles. >> right here we're looking at a book understanding nutrition that could have come in from the university of nebraska or who knows where. and it's right next to a book about donald rumsfeld, yep it's a completely random put away. >> reporter: kreece fuchs is one of better world's three co- founders. the trio of former university of notre dame students hatched the idea for the company in their dorm. they found they could make more money selling their used text books over the internet than back to the school bookstore. >> over the course of that summer after i graduated, i would get an email saying your book sold and i would run to the post office and ship the book and you know a few days later i sold another book. >> reporter: l