UNITED STATES

U.S.-based Pizza Patrón's move to take Mexican currency at its stores initially sparked a backlash in January. But business has been booming.

Gold changed course to trade higher on Wednesday, but investors remained cautious because of weaker equities and fears about the global economy.

Walk into any large office, and you will most likely hear the telltale computer bleeps of chat programs and online games, accompanied by furious mouse-clicking. Employees may seem busy, but many are wasting time on the Internet, or cyberslacking.

Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, unveiled on Wednesday a new online music store, new top-end handsets and a global gaming service as it takes on recent rival U.S. rival Apple.

New evidence of damage wrought by the U.S. mortgage sector surfaced in the United States and Europe on Wednesday while banks demanded a record amount of cash at a euro zone money market auction.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a second consecutive week, reflecting a drop in demand for home purchase and refinancing loans even as interest rates sank, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Oil edged higher on Wednesday as investors balanced concern over the health of the U.S. economy against the prospect of declining fuel stocks in the world's top consumer.

Prospects that U.S. equity markets would bounce back on Wednesday after two days of falls lifted European markets, suppressing fears about weakness in the U.S. economy and global financial system.

Japanese stocks hit their lowest close in a week after earlier falling by nearly 3 percent as a strong yen sparked sales of exporters such as Sony Corp after fears about the U.S. economy set off a Wall Street tumble.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc bond analyst pleaded guilty on Tuesday to helping lead a far-flung insider trading scheme involving tips about pending mergers and stolen copies of BusinessWeek magazine that netted more than $6.7 million in illicit gains.

U.S. consumer sentiment took its sharpest plunge in nearly two years during August while home prices swooned in the second quarter, according to reports that show a heavy toll from the housing crisis.

Mexico's economy, hobbled in recent months by a U.S. slowdown and less demand for exports, expanded 2.5 percent in June from the same month last year, modestly less than analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll.

Seagate Technology, the world's largest maker of disk drives, has dashed speculation that a Chinese firm wanted to buy the firm, saying it had received no such offer and had no intention of selling.

The U.S. poverty rate fell for the first time this decade but more people are living without health insurance and the bulk of the nation's poor are children, government data released on Tuesday showed.

U.S. stock indexes tumbled more than 2 percent on Tuesday after Merrill Lynch warned that ailing credit markets will hurt bank profits, while reports showing eroding consumer confidence and falling home prices added to concerns about the economy.

House prices suffered their worst decline since at least 1987 in the second quarter from a year earlier as the housing downturn has deepened, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index.

Wall Street should keep its eye on a little-known coterie of investment companies run by European banks called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, which are having a tough time raising short-term funding.

One week into the Federal Reserve's effort to grease the rusty wheels of the U.S. credit system, Wall Street is wondering just who needs the money because there's no line at the window.

Economic confidence among U.S. small business owners fell in August as a slowing housing market soured sentiment, and 41 percent said they had recent cash flow troubles, according to a survey released on Monday.

The multi-billion-dollar market for securitized student loan debt, a financial mainstay supporting U.S. higher education, is facing new stresses as Congress moves to reshape the troubled student loan industry.

Tokyo shares slipped in thin trade on Tuesday as investors watchful of currency moves sold Toyota Motor Corp and other exporters on a stronger yen, and banks and brokerage firms fell after their U.S. peers slipped the previous session.