INVESTMENT

Swiss bank UBS AG's caretaker chief executive Sergio Ermotti has ruled out a sale or spinoff of the investment bank and is planning to shrink the investment-banking unit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Some potential buyers of Yahoo Inc are balking at the Internet company's demands for confidentiality that would prevent them from discussing joint bids, according to several people close to the situation.

AT&T has asked the federal judge controlling the government’s suit to bar its takeover of T-Mobile USA for access to records of rival Sprint-Nextel. Sprint filed its own motion seeking to deny it.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated Patrick Foye, a top economic advisor, as executive director of the Port Authority, the bi-state agency responsible for regional bridges, tunnels and airports.

Zachary Quinto, who made headlines this week when he said he was gay, is best known for playing Spock in the 2009's Star Trek and for his role as the evil Sylar on the recent TV series Heroes.

The Chicago-based company will keep its diversified medical products division under the Abbott name and spin off its research-based pharmaceuticals unit.

The world population will reach 7 billion people on October 31, 2011. The milestone will be marked by achievements, setbacks, and paradoxes.

Major investors want United Nations to create a binding international treaty for climate change.

Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, but the Republican presidential contenders provided few concrete solutions to the crisis while debating in Las Vegas.

Citigroup Inc will pay $285 million to settle charges that its U.S. broker-dealer unit misled investors about a $1 billion mortgage bond deal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday.

Gold eased on Wednesday as growing hopes of a resolution to the Eurozone debt crisis persuaded investors to shrug off a downgrade to Spain's credit rating and buy riskier assets such as equities.

Agnico-Eagle is indefinitely suspending operations at its Goldex mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, because of water inflow and ground instability, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares sharply lower.

Asia's gold buyers trimmed purchases as prices rebounded, but demand is expected to stay firm as India approaches key festivals next week, underpinning sentiment in the precious metal.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) reported a third quarter net income of $651 million, or $0.53 per common share Wednesday morning, an increase of 4.7 perecent when compared with $622 million, or $0.51 per common share, in the third quarter of 2010. The results were a penny over mean analyst predictions of $0.52 per share.

Zachary Quinto, who made headlines this week when he said he was gay, is best known for playing Spock in the 2009's Star Trek and for his role as the evil Sylar on the recent TV series Heroes.

The Bank of Canada will keep rates on hold until the third quarter of next year amid slow global growth and the risk that Europe's debt crisis will linger on, according to a Reuters survey released on Tuesday.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. suspended operations at its Goldex mine in Val d'Or, Quebec, Canada, over concerns about flooding in the mine and will write down its investment in the project by an after-tax amount of $170 million.

BlackRock Inc , the world's largest asset manager, said its third-quarter profit increased 8 percent as investors sought out the firm's exchange-traded funds despite tough market conditions.

For decades, American workers and their machines advanced in tandem. As companies invested in technology, more workers were needed to operate machines.

Gold could fall below $1,500 an ounce in the near term, as bullion has underperformed other assets and appears to have lost its safe-haven appeal, CitiFX said on Tuesday.

Gold prices held steady on Wednesday, shrugging off the downgrade of Spain's sovereign credit rating, as investors wait for clarity on Europe's plans to tackle the debt crisis at this weekend's European Union summit.