Economy: March 9, 2001

Add Minneapolis-based Target Corp. to the short list of retailing giants that have weathered the economic downturn thus far with better-than-expected fourth-quarter results; Target, the nation’s fourth-largest retailer, beat Wall Street analysts’ earnings estimates by two cents per share, with fourth-quarter profits of $552 million, or 61 cents per share, compared to $522 million, or 56 cents per share, from one year ago.