COMPANIES

A new national study from UC Davis researchers of restaurant dining as related to income conveys that fast-food dining and consumption become more frequent as wages increase from low- to middle-class individuals and families.

U.S. regulators are investigating the safety of batteries used to power electric vehicles after a General Motors Co Chevrolet Volt caught fire following a routine crash test.

In an emailed statement, the Canadian-listed, China-focused company said that it is cooperating with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in their investigation, but gave no details. An RCMP spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Canadian railroads reported 80,439 carloads for the week ended Nov.5, 2011, up 2 percent compared with the same week last year, and 52,025 trailers and containers, up 7.2 percent compared with 2010, according to the Association of American Railroads.

The government and the Bank of Canada agreed on Tuesday to renew without change the central bank's five-year mandate to target a 2 percent overall inflation rate.

The Association of American Railroads reported gains in rail traffic for the week ending Nov.5, 2011, with U.S. railroads originating 298,465 carloads, up 3.4 percent compared with the same week last year.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 destroys more than buildings and players' social lives -- it is also blowing through a few sales records.

Brookfield Asset Management, the Canadian investment firm with around $150 billion in real estate, infrastructure and energy holdings, reported net income of $716 million in the third quarter, more than doubling its income of $342 million in the same period of 2010.

U.S. consumer sentiment perked up in November to its highest level in five months as Americans felt more upbeat about the economy's prospects, a survey released on Friday showed.

Texas-based homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. reported net income of $35.7 million, or 11 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter ending Sept. 30, up from a net loss of $8.9 million, or 3 cents per share, in 2010.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group is set to buy EMI's recorded-music unit for $1.9 billion, while a group led by Sony's music division will buy the publishing operation of the British music company for $2.2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is opposed to any move by the government to bail out debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines that cancelled flights to minimize losses.

FBR Capital Markets raised its profit estimates of Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), after the graphics chip maker reported solid third-quarter results that came in above Wall Street expectations.

Japan's Olympus Corp risks collapsing under a massive accounting scandal, but the company's big and profitable medical business is likely to emerge from any wreckage unharmed.

MF Global's liquidators are struggling to sell the Asian business as one concern because of problems unwinding trading positions, so they may now sell the various country units separately.

Chinese banks wrote 587 billion yuan ($92.5 billion) of new loans in October, much more than expected and a sharp jump from September, evidence of "selective" policy easing by the government to keep the world's second-largest economy on an even keel.

Japanese banks backed by more than $6 billion in spare cash are in talks to buy assets from European banks, sources familiar with the discussions said, as euro zone leaders try to coax foreign capital to help overcome the bloc's debt crisis.

Kingfisher Airlines is still a viable business and there is no dispute over its survival, its Chief Executive said on Friday, in an effort to dismiss widespread speculation that the cash-strapped airline was staring at bankruptcy.

The banking sector, enduring rounds of deep job cuts, faces the grim prospect of having nowhere to turn to for immediate employment in the industry, as nearly all branches of finance have pulled back on hiring.

India's industrial output growth probably slowed to an annual rate of 3.5 percent in September, weighed down by slower growth in infrastructure output and higher domestic borrowing costs.

Screen Gems has acquired the remake rights for the Indonesian action movie The Raid, the studio announced Wednesday.

The results of the collaboration between British luxury automobile manufacturer Rolls Royce and photographer Rankin, are to be displayed to the public at the Rankin Gallery in Los Angeles.

After 13 years together, Maggy Porter and Arlene Bronfman began to talk last June about marriage when New York State passed its Marriage Equality Act.

California's revenue in October came in $810.5 million below its projected level in the state budget, increasing pressure on its leaders to impose more spending cuts to keep the state's books balanced, the state controller said on Thursday.

Nordstrom Inc. reported a near 7 percent jump in third quarter profits after the market closed on Thursday, as affluent consumers showed no sign of shopping fatigue given the uncertainty in the economy and the volatility in the stock market.

U.S. oil and gas major Chevron Corp. said an oil leak off the coast of Brazil near its Frade field does not appear to be caused by the company's production activities in the area.

Moody's Investor Service said it has put Nomura Holdings Inc.'s credit ratings under review for possible downgrade.

The Walt Disney Company posted record earnings of $4.8 billion in 2011, up 21 percent from 3.96 billion in the year earlier period, mostly attributable to success in both the cable television and broadcasting division.

Kohl's Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. department store chain, said Thursday its third quarter profit rose 20 percent, helped by the launch of the exclusive brands such as lines by Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony.