Also. . .

* Fannie Mae, the No. 1 U.S. mortgage finance company, reported a 12.1% rise in fourth-quarter operating profit, propelled by strong growth in its loan portfolio. The company, which buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities for investors, earned $1.16 billion, or $1.12 per share, compared with $1.04 billion, or 99 cents, in the year-ago period. That was in line with analysts’ estimates.

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* PG&E; Corp.’s Pacific Gas & Electric Co., California’s largest utility, will reduce its payroll of temporary and contract workers by 325 jobs as part of a plan to save $180 million, Chief Executive Gordon Smith said in a memo to employees. The 325 jobs will be cut immediately, and 675 more would be eliminated in the next several months if the San Francisco-based utility doesn’t get more cash, Smith said. Pacific Gas & Electric has lost more than $6.6 billion since about May buying electricity as prices began to soar.

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* Troubled auto parts maker Federal-Mogul Corp., which faces an estimated $900 million in asbestos-related lawsuit costs, named its third chief executive in less than a year, as well as an heir apparent to the new CEO. Frank Macher, who previously headed the former ITT Automotive after 30 years at Ford Motor Co., replaces interim Chief Executive Robert Miller, a former outside director who stepped in last September after Dick Snell resigned abruptly.

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* Eaton Corp. said it will fire 100 workers and reorganize its truck-parts business because of slowing demand. The Cleveland-based company said it expects to take a charge of $55 million throughout the year as a result of the moves, which it expects to result in savings of about $40 million within 18 months.

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