IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that its Kindle electronic book reader posted its best sales yet in the month of December, as the battle for the digital reader market heats up.

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

In the lucrative business of underwriting and selling company stock, J.P. Morgan led the world's banks this year, earning an estimated $2.2 billion in fees, or nearly double what it hauled from the deals last year.

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 better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Thursday as cost-cutting and a steadier order book helped offset weak sales in mature markets, and its shares rose more than 3 percent.

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)

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

Oracle Corp reported a surprise increase in new software sales and said growth could accelerate this quarter as corporate IT spending picks up, sending its shares 4 percent higher.

Research In Motion posted a big jump in profit and issued an even stronger outlook on Thursday, as sturdy demand from holiday shoppers helped the BlackBerry maker fend off the competition.

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.

Research In Motion posted a big jump in profit and issued an even stronger outlook on Thursday, as sturdy demand from holiday shoppers helped the BlackBerry maker fend off the competition.

Oracle Corp reported quarterly profit above Street expectations as the world's No. 2 business software maker posted an unexpected increase in sales of its programs, sending its shares up more than 4 percent.

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.

A shooting in Manhattan's Upper West Side region on Thursday has left four people dead, the New York Times reported.

Following this morning's BlackBerry email outage which has now been fixed, the smartphone maker, Research In Motion Ltd. released better than expected third quarter earnings after the closing bell.

Three people were shot and killed in their Upper West Side Manhattan apartment Thursday, a fourth man was found dead in the backyard, New York Times reported.

Discover Financial Services , the sixth-largest U.S. credit card issuer, posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings as bad loans grew and the value of transactions with its cards declined, sending its shares down more than 8 percent.

Following this morning's BlackBerry email outage which has now been fixed, the smartphone maker, Research In Motion Ltd. released better than expected third quarter earnings after the closing bell.

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.

(Corrects that net income rose 12.5 percent, not 25 percent, last paragraph)

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.

Former Cardinals bassist, Chris Feinstein, died Monday at the age of 42 according to a notice on the bands website.