Sponsored by Merck & Co.

Retail clothing stores such as Ann Taylor are leading the way so far on strong retail report by the Institute for Supply Management

U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday as concerns over increasing disorder in Egypt and signs of exhaustion in the recent market rally weighed on investor sentiment.

Merck & Co warned investors that it could no longer vouch for its long-term profit forecast due to pressure to curb prices on its drugs and dimmed hopes for an experimental blood clot treatment.

U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday as concerns over increasing disorder in Egypt and signs of exhaustion in the recent market rally weighed on investor sentiment.

Wall Street tumbled on Thursday as concerns over increasing disorder in Egypt and signs of exhaustion in the recent market rally weighed on investor sentiment.

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday as investors weighed hints of an improving economy against increasing disorder in Egypt and signs pointing to an end to the recent rally.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Thursday as investors weighed the prospects of some solid U.S. economic data against increasing discord in Egypt and worries that a rally that may be losing steam.

Scientists have found a protein that acts as a master switch to determine whether certain white blood cells will boost or dampen inflammation, a finding that may help the search for new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.

Stocks edged lower on Thursday, hurt by a slide in drugmaker Merck and as falling commodities prices hit shares of natural resource companies.

Stocks edged down on a disappointing labor market data

The Dow industrials fell on Thursday, hurt by a slide in Merck shares, but the market was near 28-month highs as investors saw stocks' upward trend continuing despite disappointing jobless claims data.

U.S. stocks barely budged on Thursday as investors looked past disappointing jobless claims while a jump in Marathon Oil's shares boosted the oil sector.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday, paring losses after weaker-than-expected jobless claims and helped by a rise in Marathon Oil.

Medtronic Inc Chief Executive Officer William Hawkins plans to retire in April after a tenure of more than three years in which the medical device maker's stock performance disappointed investors.

Investors hoped a leadership shake-up at Pfizer Inc might bring divestitures, share buybacks or other moves to kick-start the company's sluggish stock price, but they were wary of disruption stemming from the abrupt change.

Pfizer Inc. announced that its chief executive Jeffrey Kindler has retired from the company and he will be replaced by Ian Read, currently head of its global biopharmaceutical operations.

The chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc,, the world's largest drugmaker, retired in an unexpected move to recharge his batteries after completing the mega merger with rival Wyeth.

Pharma giant Merck said it discontinued Isentress once daily study in treatment-naïve adult HIV-1 patients after it failed to show non-inferiority to the treatment regimen that included Isentress twice daily.

A recent study states that people taking a commonly used class of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates for more than five years may be doubling their risk of developing cancer of the gullet or esophagus.

People who take a commonly used class of osteoporosis drugs called bisphosphonates for more than five years may be doubling their risk of developing cancer of the gullet or esophagus, a British study found on Friday.

Adding an experimental drug to chemotherapy helped wipe out brain cancer cells in mice, offering a promising new treatment approach for the deadly cancer, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

Merck and Co issued a more cautious 2010 profit outlook on Friday and reported disappointing second-quarter sales of its vaccines and Singulair asthma drug, sending its shares down 2 percent.

Wall Street stocks fell on Friday after weak economic growth figures for the second quarter and disappointing earnings from Merck painted an uncertain outlook for the rest of the year.

Merck & Co reported higher-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Friday, helped by strong sales of its treatments for diabetes, arthritis and HIV.

Wall St stock index futures pointed to a lower start on Friday as investors stayed cautious ahead of U.S. GDP data, with S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures down 0.3 to 0.4 percent at 5:11 a.m. ET.

A widely used class of blood pressure drugs may slightly increase the risk of cancer, U.S. researchers said on Sunday, and they are calling on U.S. regulators to take a closer look.

U.S. drugmakers Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co posted better-than-expected first-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday, but Merck gave a 2010 earnings forecast that could fall short of Wall Street's target.

U.S. stocks were set for a sharply lower open on Tuesday as Greece's debt problems continued to rattle investors and after a broad rally in the previous session that took the S&P 500 to its biggest day in two months.

U.S. stock index futures sank on Tuesday on continued worries over Greece's financial state and after a broad rally in the previous session that took the S&P 500 to its biggest day in two months.