COMPANIES

Big gains in Latin America covered up U.S. declines at Colgate-Palmolive Co (CL.N) and Avon Products Inc (AVP.N), with the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics seen as having a harder road to recovery.

Scores of issuers in the U.S. municipal bond market, including cities, counties and school districts, were put on notice on Thursday by Moody's Investors Service that their top ratings could be cut if the United States' Aaa rating falls.

U.S. hog futures advanced on Thursday on renewed talk China may be seeking more U.S. pork, record high wholesale pork prices and higher live cash hog markets in the U.S. Midwest.

Online travel agency Expedia Inc (EXPE.O) said its quarterly net profit rose as bookings increased by 19 percent.

CME Group Inc (CME.O) is evaluating whether to move some operations to other states from Chicago to reduce its taxes, but it has not decided on an exact timeline, CEO Craig Donohue said Thursday.

Four IPOs were received with varying levels of interest on their market debut, signaling that investors were being very selective of where they want to put their money.

Expedia Inc. stocks jumped 7.6 percent after posting better than expected profit numbers on Thursday.

Astronomers have discovered a Trojan asteroid, which is orbiting the Sun along the same path as the Earth.

The U.S. Congress, known for moving painfully slowly, can kick into high gear when it is staring down a deadline important to the entire country -- or when lawmakers are approaching their cherished August recess.

The hotel maid who accused ex-IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her made an emotional public appeal on Thursday for people to believe her story as her lawyer threatened a civil lawsuit.

Starbucks had higher-than-expected sales increases at its U.S. stores in the company's fiscal third-quarter, pushing profits beyond the expectations of analysts. The company's stock rose in after-hours trading.

Stiff competition from Apple and other competitors using Google's Android system are dragging on the company's profits. The company forecast today it will likely miss estimates from analysts in the third quarter and for the full fiscal year.

A report says Apple is having discussions with bookseller Barnes & Noble about buying the chain. But don't believe everything you read. It's not going to happen.

Polygamous leader's request to represent himself at trial has been granted

Tropical Storm Don, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was churning northwestward across the southern Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coast.

JetBlue will offer customers in Boston and Long Beach the option of purchasing unlimited passes for certain markets. Sales for the offer will begin online on August 15.

Amazon has added 1,000 more streaming movies to its lineup for Prime customers. With another deal or two like the one Amazon announced Thursday with Universal Pictures and Amazon could have a streaming video library as big as Netflix's.

Some 100,000 South African gold miners went on strike on Thursday, but fuel workers ended a stoppage that had slowed commerce and caused panic buying.

Amazon has struck a deal with NBCUniversal to add 1,000 movies to its streaming video services offered to its Prime customers.

Jeffs is facing two counts of sexual assault

An analyst says Apple will push legal claims to protect its iPhone and other mobile technology patents "hard and unrelentingly." He says should Apple win, it could have an impact of $30 billion in additional revenue for the company.

Sony reported a $199 million loss in its first quarter because of the March earthquake and tsunami, softer TV sales, Playstation hacking, and a strong yen, and cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year by 25 percent.

Dunkin' Donuts had a successful IPO launch Wednesday, with shares increasing more than 40 percent on the first day of trading. But something about it smells a lot like Boston Chicken in the 1990s.

Gulliver had warned that Europe?s largest bank ?clearly [has] a cost problem."

South Koreans were cautioned about rogue landmines and explosives on Thursday after scores of deadly landslides in and around the capital swamped homes, a monastery and military sites after the heaviest rainfall in a century, officials said.

In a rundown patch of Detroit, enclosed by a cyclone fence and barbed wire, stands an unremarkable warehouse that investment bank Goldman Sachs has transformed into a money-making machine.

An Air Canada plane bound for Vancouver was forced to dump fuel and return to Sydney on Thursday after crew reported smoke coming from an oven in the galley, the airline said.

Exxon reported second-quarter earnings before the market open Thursday and the company showed an increase due to higher oil prices but the number was below Wall Street's expectations.

Nintendo is dropping the price of its 3DS handheld device by $80 on August 12 in hopes of improving slow sales.