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Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday it agreed to pay $1.2 billion to resolve certain civil claims government regulators had pending against the company. The claims were related to the bank’s Federal Housing Administration lending program from 2001 through 2010, and other potential civil claims. As a result of the payment, Wells Fargo said it reduced its 2015 earnings by $134 million, or 3 cents a share. “Although the company and the Federal Government have reached an agreement in principle to resolve these matters, there can be no assurance that the company and the Federal Government will agree on the final documentation of the settlement,” Wells Fargo stated in a regulatory filing. The stock, which tacked on 0.5% in premarket trade, has dropped 9.4% over the past year, while the S&P 500 has lost 7.2%.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Private-sector employment gains increased in January but at a slower pace than in the prior month, according to a report released Wednesday. Employers added 205,000 jobs in January, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP tweaked December’s gain to 267,000 from a prior estimate of 257,000. Economists use ADP’s data to get a feeling for the Labor Department’s employment report, which will be released Friday and covers government jobs in addition to the private sector. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect the government’s report to show that nonfarm payroll rose by 180,000 jobs last month, down from the torrid pace of 292,000 in December.

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Mondelez International Inc. reported on Wednesday a fourth-quarter loss of $729 million, or 46 cents a share, compared with a profit of $500 million, or 29 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a one-time accounting charge of $778 million to remove its Venezuelan operations from its balance sheet, adjusted earnings per share came to 46 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 48 cents. Revenue fell 17% to $7.36 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $7.27 billion. Unfavorable currency movements reduced revenue by 11 percentage points. For 2016, the snacking giant said adjusted EPS is expected to grow at a double-digit percentage rate on a constant currency basis, with currency translation expected to reduce EPS by about 13 cents. The FactSet consensus for 2016 EPS is $1.99. “In 2015, we delivered another year of very strong results despite the highly volatile macroeconomic environment,” said Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld. “Our aggressive cost-savings programs drove significant margin expansion.” The stock, which inched up 0.1% in premarket trade, has lost 9.6% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has declined 9.8%.

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Supervalu Inc. has named Mark Gross chief executive officer, effective Feb. 5. Gross joins after a decade with Surry Investment Advisors, a private consultancy to grocery distributors and retailers that he founded. He succeeds Sam Duncan, who announced his retirement in October. Duncan will step down from the company’s 11-person board, effective Feb. 29, Supervalu said in a release. Until then he will act as a special adviser to the board. Gross will join the board on Mar. 1. Supervalu shares are inactive in premarket trading and down 57.1% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 7.2% for the past year.

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Merck & Co. said Wednesday it had net income of $976 million, or 35 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down from $7.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings that exclude acquisition and divestiture costs, as well as restructuring and litigation charges, came to 93 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 91 cents. Sales fell to $10.2 billion from $10.5 billion, slightly below the FactSet consensus of $10.3 billion. Looking ahead, the company said it expects full-year adjusted EPS of $3.60 to $3.75, compared with the current FactSet consensus of $3.72. Sales are expected to range from $38.7 billion to $40.2 billion, compared with a FactSet consensus of $40.3 billion. Shares were slightly lower premarket, and are down 17% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has lost 7%.

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Ireland will hold a general election on Friday, Feb. 26 following the dissolution of parliament, according to news reports Wednesday. Polls suggest the election will result in another coalition government, according to Sky News. The Fine Gael party has been in a coalition with the Labour Party over the past five years. Fine Gael leader and Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny in a video posted on his Twitter page said the election “is about who will keep [the] recovery going,” five years after Ireland was on the verge of collapse. Ireland exited an international bailout program in 2013.

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Editas Medicine Inc. priced shares for its initial public offering at the low end of the range, according to media reports late Tuesday, for what will be 2016’s first IPO. Editas will price 5.9 million shares at $16 a share, at the low end of its $16 to $18 range, to raise $94.4 million. That give Editas a market valuation of $571 million, according to Reuters. Cambridge, Mass.-based Editas develops treatments for genetic-based diseases via editing gene sequences.

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