Money, Money: Stocks are up slightly this morning after a 326 point drop yesterday. Investors were spooked by a report that said manufacturing had dropped to its lowest level in eight months. But analysts also said January’s cold weather was a dampening influence on production and things may not be as bad as the report makes it look. The stock market, which has been on an upward trajectory for a year, is also due for a minor reverse, if not a technical correction of prices.

Nation: The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has brought attention to a rising use of heroin on the US. Heroin use has more than doubled in the last five years.

  Hoffman became addicted to heroin in his early 20s but was able to kick it until last year. The NY Post reports that police found 70 glassine packets of heroin and eight empties in Hoffman’s apartment after he died. Some bags were labeled “Ace of Spades” and “Ace of Hearts”. The paper reported that the police were searching for Hoffman’s dealer. The Post also reported that Hoffman had recently been kicked out of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend of 14 years and three children because he had relapsed into his addiction.

>Shrinking publisher Time, Inc. is expected to announce as many as 500 layoffs today. The company publishes the model-thin Time, as well as People, Time, Sports Illustrated and In Style.

Megastorm: A new winter storm stretches all the way from the Rocky Mountains to Maine, threatening to dump snow and freezing rain. The storm covers an area from Chicago to the Texas panhandle and the Canadian border to Northern Virginia.

Jersey: Former Chris Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly yesterday informed an investigative panel that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination and refuse to testify about the closing of traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge. And in a unique twist, she will also invoke her Fourth Amendment privacy rights to withhold letters, diaries, and electronic devices.

Tech: Microsoft has chosen company insider Satya Nadella to be only its third chief executive following Bill Gates and the soon to depart Steve Ballmer. The 46-year-old Nadella is an engineer born in India who’s been with Microsoft since 1992. He’s recently been in charge of cloud computing. Nadella is described as a quiet but hyper-energetic leader who plays cricket.

  Founder Bill Gates says he will step down from being chairman and devote more time to developing new technology.

The Obit Page: Raymond Weil, the watch titan who made the wrist watch into a fashion statement and saved the Swiss watch industry, has died at age 87. In the 1970s and 80s, when quartz movement watches were killing the finely crafted spring and gear watches of Switzerland, Weil offered watches that were a personal style statement about the people who wore them. The Swiss watch business, part of the country’s identity, rebounded and now accounts for half the watches sold in the world.

Fail: Eleven students have been expelled from Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, Calif., accused of hacking into teachers’ computers and changing grades. One of the students told police that he and a 28-year-old tutor installed a key logger on the computer of a science teacher. From that they were able to get password and test information. Their grades will surely be changing again.

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