Mattel Inc suffered a loss in the first quarter as the maker of toys reported that sales had fallen, weighed down by its Barbie.

CEO Bryan Stockton said during the first quarter revenues had been consistent with expectations, while working through inventories in a retail environment that is challenging on a global level.

The toy industry of late has been challenged due to increased interest in tablets and smartphones, which has lessened the appeal of many traditional toys. Mattel has during this time generally been able to post higher sales.

Results lately have been bolstered by the doll line Monster High, which has the characters that are children of famous past monsters with names such as Draculaura. Another strong performer has been the American Girl line.

Overall, Mattel however reported it had lost $11.2 million or approximately 3 cents per share compared to last year during the same reporting period a $38.5 million profit equal to 11 cents per share.

Net sales at the toymaker were down by 5% to end the quarter at $946 million. Analysts expected the toymaker to report profits of 9 cents per share on revenue of close to $953 million.

The company’s gross margin was narrowed from 54.2% to 50.9%. Sales in North America dropped by 2%, while the top line dropped by 7% internationally.

Sales of Barbie were down by 14%, while sales of Wheels, which includes Tyco, Matchbox and Hot Wheels, were off by just 2%. Other girls’ revenue was up 4%, thanks primarily to the Ever After High and Disney Princess, which was offset partially by Monster High.

Fischer-Prices’ preschool line saw its sales slip by 6% while American Girl sales were up by over 5%.

As sales of hand held electronics such as the tablet and smartphone continue to increase, the toy industry could suffer even more going forward due to consumers deciding what is more important or cost effective for them while they continue to struggle through the slowly improving economy and jobs market.

Just in time for this year’s grilling season, beef prices have risen to their highest point in 27 years. This has taken consumer and restaurants by surprise with relief likely not to happen anytime in the near future.

As cattle herds dwindle and the export demand increases from countries such as Japan and China, the average cost of retail fresh beef has climbed to $5.28 per pound as of February. That price was nearly 25 cents higher than in January and the highest the country has seen since 1987.

Everything being produced is consumed, said one analyst and prices likely will remain high for the next few years as producers of cattle start rebuilding their herds amidst questions about whether the Midwest and Southwest will have enough rain to help pastures replenish.

At the same time, trips to the local grocery store could take longer as shoppers search out the best cuts of beef that will not break the bank.

Restaurant owners must also deal with high prices. Menu prices are being increased regularly. Since the start of February, some restaurants have increased their prices by 5% a month. Some are trying to cut other costs so they do not have to pass along the additional cost of beef to their patrons.

Some restaurants are adjusting the portions of steak they serve making them look the same size but thinner to help offset the increasing price.

Some restaurants now are serving sirloin in 6-ounce portions compared to 8 or even 10-ounce portions that were previously served.

Fast food restaurants have trimmed cost through reducing menu items and offering other types of meats, including burgers made from turkey meat. Chain restaurants contain buying in volume, which means they usually receive better prices.

For one group, the higher prices have come as welcome news. Ranchers especially in Texas have for many years struggled amidst high feed prices and drought.

Despite the recent numbers showing the cattle herds are the smallest in the nation since 1951, prices for beef have yet to decline along with the herd size, as demand remains strong.

Beef is not the only type of meat with prices that are higher. Pork has increased and largely due to a virus that is killing millions of piglets.

Japanese automaker Toyota has announced five recalls that affect over 6.4 million vehicles across the globe. The recalls involve 27 Toyota models and include the Corolla, Camry, Highlander and Matrix – the Subaru Trezia and the Pontiac Vibe. Some vehicles were made back in 2004.

Toyota is planning to inspect, replace parts if necessary, including steering column braces, seat rails, windshield wiper motors, engine starters and cable for air bags, said a statement released by the automaker.

The announcement includes 2 million vehicles across North America, which might have problems with seat rails and air bag cables.

The company announced that it is not aware of a single crash, injuries or fatalities that the conditions caused.

On Wednesday, stock at Toyota was off by nearly 5% prior to ending the day in Tokyo off by 3%. The stock has fallen this year by over 15%.

The biggest automaker in the world sold close to 10 million vehicles in 2013. This is the second major recall for Toyota globally for 2014 and the latest in a line of headaches caused by poor quality control.

Toyota this past February recalled more than 2.1 million RAV4, Tacoma, Lexus and Prius vehicles due to a problem in the software that causes a car to stop without prior notice.

Earlier in the year, Toyota also agreed it would pay a fine of $1.2 billion, the largest of its type, to settle a problem that had been criminal into the company’s conduct while it carried out its unintended acceleration recall of over 10 million vehicles just four years ago.

That particular recall was for cars from 2009 to 2010 and related to an accelerator pedal that would stick. It cost the Japanese automaker over $2 billion in lost sales and repair costs prior to paying for the legal settlements.

In 2012, Toyota issued a recall for more than 7.4 million vehicles because of a problem with the power windows that could have posed a fire risk.

The action by Toyota comes following the major recall by General Motors. GM announced it would recall 4.8 million vehicles.

A clinical drug trial conducted with the palbociclib manufactured by Pfizer showed the medication was able to delay the progression of breast cancer by almost two years.

The trial was part of a study of Phase 2 on 165 women who had breast cancer. Researchers were able to find that women treated with the drug as well as letrozole a hormone drug lived for 20.2 months prior to the cancer becoming worse. Those results were compared to just over 10 months for those patients who received only letrozole hormone drug.

Pfizer said that palbociclib was one of the pharmaceutical giant’s most important medications. Some industry analysts claim that once this drug has been received regulatory approval, it most likely will have sales in excess of $5 billion annually.

The medication is to be used for women who are post-menopausal with newly diagnosed or locally advance breast cancer, which has spread into other areas of their body.

All the women that participated in the trial had estrogen receptor and HER2-negative cancer.

Recent statistics show 60% of the cases of breast cancer that is advanced are HER2-negative and estrogen receptor positive.

Letrozole is a drug than is an estrogen blocker which Novartis AG sells under the name Femara. Women treated with Femara alone have a 33.3 month overall survival rate.

Scientists found that when Letrozole is given together with palbociclib, the survival rate overall increased by over 37 months.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted palbociclib breakthrough status. It is not certain if manufacturers of the drug will decide to seek an accelerated approval due to the trial results.

However, researchers have said that even though just 30 patients that were in each section of the trial of 165 patients had died, more time was needed to make a definition of the impact on the survival rate the drug has.

Today, the second deadliest cancer amongst women in the United States is breast cancer. The cancer affects more than 200,000 annually, killing nearly 40,000 each year.

Experts estimate that one in every eight females will at some time in their lives develop breast cancer.

While there is no known cause risk factors do include late menopause, early puberty and certain types of genes.