UNITED STATES

Palm Inc reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as consumers cooled to its new smartphones in the face of fresh competition including devices based on Google Inc software.

Nike Inc forecast a return to sales growth this quarter as it expands market share and rides stronger consumer spending, and on Thursday pledged to stand by Tiger Woods, the face of Nike's golf brand.

Activist investor Carl Icahn reported an 11.3 percent stake in U.S. video game publisher Take Two Interactive Software Inc , sending its shares up 3.5 percent.

Brian Moynihan may be about to run the largest U.S. bank at a time of massive change in the crisis-damaged industry but he seems to be restricting his public comments about strategy to one word: Execute.

When it is about pushing climate policies, the debate often surrounds the costs of implementation. Nations debate with nations, while citizens debate with their leaders. Locally, proponents often stress that new policies will create new jobs, 'green jobs,' as they say in the US. What is often not mentioned is that there are also costs, both in increasing prices and old jobs which are vanishing in turn.IBT's full coverage of Copenhagen

Palm Inc reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss as consumer demand for its smartphones was hurt by increased competition, sending shares down 4 percent on Thursday.

Nike Inc reported lower quarterly net income on Thursday, as weak sales in mature markets cut into profit at the world's largest athletic shoe and apparel maker.

(Corrects drop in net income to 4 pct from 5 pct)

Concerns over the surge in excess reserves in the U.S. banking system and its potential to fire up inflation are largely unwarranted, according to two New York Federal Reserve economists.

(Deletes incorrect references in paragraphs 1 and 4 to Barclays winning a larger role as a Kraft adviser, as Kraft has denied that has happened)

Barclays Capital, one of the banks providing $9.2 billion of loans to help fund Kraft Foods Inc's hostile bid for Britain's Cadbury Plc , has suspended coverage of Cadbury because of its role.

Stocks fell on Thursday as the dollar's rebound spurred a safe-haven trade, cutting demand for riskier assets, while a soft profit outlook from economic bellwether FedEx sank transportation shares.

Court papers proving that former presidential candidate John Edwards is the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter Frances were published yesterday by Radaronline.com.

The Screen Actors Guild has unveiled its nominees or the 16th annual SAG Awards to be held on January 23, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

Global spending on oil and gas exploration and production will rise 11 percent to $439 billion in 2010, reversing a drop in pending in 2009 as energy prices climb, according to a survey conducted by analysts at Barclays Capital.

FedEx Corp forecast on Thursday profit for the current quarter below analysts' expectations, raising concerns that the U.S. economy was not recovering as fast as had been expected, and sending its shares down more than 6 percent.

Factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region hit a 4-1/2-year high in December and a gauge of future economic conditions rose last month, adding to evidence of a pick-up in the pace of the economy's recovery.

Three library associations have asked the Justice Department to oversee Google's plans to create a massive digital library to prevent an excessively high price for institutional subscriptions, the groups said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as the dollar's rebound spurred a safe-haven trade, cutting demand for riskier assets, while a soft profit outlook from economic bellwether FedEx sank transportation shares.

Citigroup Inc shares fell to their lowest level in four months on Thursday, a day after the bank's $20 billion stock and bond offering drew a cool reception on Wall Street and prompted the U.S. Treasury to delay plans to start selling off its Citi holdings.

The Obama administration released details on Thursday of a $2 billion program in grants and loans to help dramatically expand Americans' broadband Internet access and create tens of thousands of jobs.