COMPANIES

Nintendo reported another loss Wednesday, saying its revenue has decreased nearly 10 percent year over year. But upcoming releases including the Wii U and the handheld 3DS XL could jump start the troubled company this fall.

Apple beat its own conservative quarterly estimate, reporting a strong jump in earnings and even sold a record number of iPads in Q3, but across the board, Apple did a rare thing: It missed analysts' estimates. Apple can rebound in Q4 if it decides to release its next iPhone, which many are already calling "iPhone 5," as long as the much-rumored "iPad Mini."

Social media is now a $16.9 billion business, according to 2012 estimates by Gartner.

Based on analyst estimates, Merck & Co. will report earnings of $1.01 a share on sales of about $12.16 billion -- an increase of 0.1 percent from the year-earlier quarter. The company posts its second-quarter earnings on Friday, before the opening bell.

The short answer: Many companies lie about their earnings results.

Most Apple fans couldn't wait to download OS X Mountain Lion, the eighth iteration of the OS X software line for Mac, and as a result, the Mac App Store was flooded early Wednesday morning with download requests for the $19.99 upgrade. Most early adopters of Mountain Lion love the beast, but most major software upgrades are not without their fair share of bugs, issues, errors and omissions. Would OS X Mountain Lion suffer the same fate?

Investors in Facebook stock are bracing themselves for something wild. The market is bracing for big swings in Facebook Inc (FB.O) shares after the social media company reports earnings for the first time as a public company.

A video involving a brutal 2008 near death attack on a sea world trainer by a wild whale was released in court and is now being used as evidence in an investigation for the Sea World vs US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Trial. During a show at San Diego Park's Sea World, a veteran trainer, 39-year-old Kenneth Peters was bitten and continuously held underwater by a 7,000 pound killer whale, 28-year-old female named Kasatka.

There's always a big buzz whenever Apple releases new hardware or software - or really, any time Apple does anything publicly - and today is no different. Apple released OS X Mountain Lion this morning, which is the eighth edition of its OS X software for Mac. Many will have upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion by now, but others are waiting to know if Mountain Lion is worth upgrading to immediately. Here's why you should wait.

Shares of The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) soared Wednesday after it said Mexico's Aeroméxico will buy as many as 100 single- and twin-aisle airplanes in a deal with a nominal value of $10.8 billion.

Apple promised a July release date for OS X Mountain Lion, the eighth edition of Apple's OS X software for Mac, and the company came through. As confirmed by Apple's fourth quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday evening, OS X Mountain Lion promptly released on Wednesday for $19.99. The upgrade is exclusively downloadable via the Mac App Store.

The UK government (which represents England and Wales) is expected to pass same-sex marriage by 2015.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), the largest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported a 67 percent jump in its second-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates and boosted its full-year outlook as demand increased from North American builders and overseas miners.

The hits kept coming for Penn State on Tuesday when State Farm, an official sponsor of the football program, announced it would no longer sponsor the team.

Based on a median estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, ExxonMobil will report earnings of $1.96 a share on revenues of about $115.08 billion -- a decline of 8.3 percent from the year before. The company will post its second-quarter earnings on Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The New York Yankees' trade for 10-time All-Star Ichiro Suzuki should help baseball's most popular team both on and off the field.

Apple will be rolling out Mountain Lion, the latest iteration of its Mac OS platform, tomorrow following its Q3 earnings report.

Shares of Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) plunged 14.5 percent, to $68.73, in Tuesday's after-hours trading even as it reported better-than-expected earnings.

Wal-Mart, in a bid to protect consumers, said it was not happy with the proposed $7.25 billion retailers' settlement with Visa Inc., and MasterCard Inc., over interchange and processing fees to cover credit and debit card payments.

In the first half of this year, 15 states managed to pass almost 40 laws that restrict women's reproductive rights.

Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), the world's largest social networking platform, is expected to post a profit in its first quarter as a publicly traded company following revenue growth in the April-through-June period.

U.S. companies have been finding it much easier to deliver earnings beats, or profits that are higher than expected, as analysts on Wall Street continue to trim their forecasts for earnings growth. However, they might have also come to realize that beating earnings expectations alone is not enough to help their stock prices.

Alexander Teves was a 24-year-old University of Arizona graduate student who risked his own life to save that of another. According to his girlfriend Amanda Lindgren, Teves was shot and killed while shielding her from bullets when a gunman fired during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in an Aurora, Colo.

Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX), the world's largest coffee chain, is expected to report higher second-quarter profit as growth in its ground coffee division offsets the cost of buying a bakery company.

Under Armour (NYSE: UA) shares jumped more than 12 percent on Tuesday trading after reporting better than expected second quarter earnings.

On Monday, Apple released its newest commercial for the iPhone 4S -- the first smartphone to feature Apple's AI assistant -- with Martin Scorcese as the company's latest spokesman. If Apple plans to do more commericals with these Hollywood types, we've got a few great ideas on who should be picked next, and why.

Arlene Holmes and the rest of the family of suspected gunman James Holmes have said they will support the Colorado shooting suspect, who allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. While Holmes's family members did not express the statement in person, when asked if they stand by the 24-year-old, lawyer and family spokeswoman Lisa Damiani said at a press conference today, Yes they do. He's their son.

Social games developer and creators of CastleVille Zynga is preparing to report second-quarter earnings, even though the company has seen massive dips in its user-base.

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), the maker of Lay's potato chips, Quaker oatmeal and its namesake Pepsi-Cola, is projected to report lower second-quarter profit as the food and beverage giant struggles to offset rising ingredient costs and marketing expenses with price increases.