Also

* Toyota Motor Corp. set the starting price of its hybrid Highlander sport utility vehicle about $9,000 above the gasoline-only model.

* Best Buy Co. said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 22% to $572 million, or $1.69 a share. Revenue rose 9% to $9.22 billion. It also said it would phase out mail-in rebates over the next two years, bowing to customer complaints.

* Yahoo Inc. hired Scott Moore, a former Microsoft Corp. executive and publisher of online magazine Slate, to help develop content for the company’s websites that feature movies, games and finance information.

* The cost of funds index for savings institutions in the Federal Home Loan Bank’s 11th District edged higher in February to 2.317% from 2.183% in January. The index is a popular benchmark for adjustable-rate mortgages on the West Coast and tends to lag behind changes in market interest rates by several months.

* The previously announced sale of Westlake Village-based market information provider J.D. Power & Associates to McGraw-Hill Cos. has closed. Terms weren’t disclosed.