UNITED STATES

Ford Motor Co. is expected to post its eighth straight quarterly loss on Thursday as investors focus on signs of progress in the automaker's turnaround and its sale of luxury brands, analysts said.

Siemens' new chief executive made his debut on Wednesday with a politically astute disposal, a surprise acquisition but a weak set of third-quarter results, sending Siemens shares down more than 4 percent.

Mortgage applications fell for the first time in four weeks, touching a five-month low and largely reflecting a drop in demand for home purchase loans, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Oil prices slipped for a fourth day on Wednesday on forecasts of higher refinery production in the United States that would ease worries over fuel supplies during peak summer demand.

Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to take part in LG Household & Health Care's acquisition of the South Korean bottling arm of Australia's Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd., a source familiar with the deal said on Wednesday.

WellPoint Inc. posted an 11 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Wednesday as the largest U.S. health insurer by enrollment increased its membership from a year earlier and better controlled administrative costs.

The dollar rebounded from recent record lows versus the euro on Wednesday, benefiting from rising risk aversion as global stocks fell and investors assessed how far contagion from the U.S. housing market might spread.

World number-two truck maker Volvo AB produced an unexpected fall in second-quarter profit on weakness in its key U.S. market and forecast more slippage there, sending its shares down 7 percent.

European stocks hit a one-month low and the yen and government bonds rose on Wednesday after disappointing U.S. earnings results fanned concerns that the U.S. mortgage sector's malaise may hurt the broader economy.

Accounting firm Ernst & Young plans to nearly double its transaction advisory team in Asia over the next three years, to meet rising mergers and acquisition activity in China and India, an executive said on Wednesday.

Japan's Nikkei average fell 0.8 percent on Wednesday as exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. lost ground on a tumble in U.S. stocks and a stronger yen, and lower oil prices hit energy stocks.

A surging U.S. market for initial public offerings has intensified competition between the two largest U.S. stock exchanges for new listings, with both markets campaigning for many of the companies that have recently gone public.

Amazon.com Inc. posted quarterly net profit on Tuesday that more than tripled, surprising Wall Street, as U.S. sales jumped, sending shares up 17 percent after-hours. The company also raised its forecast for full-year sales.

UAL Corp., parent of No. 2 U.S. carrier United Airlines, on Tuesday said its quarterly profit more than doubled as it controlled costs during the strong summer travel season.

Fallout from a crisis in the U.S. subprime mortgage market rattled the auto sector on Tuesday after the debt package for a General Motors asset sale was postponed and borrowing costs on automakers' debt surged.

XM Satellite Radio said on Tuesday that Hugh Panero, 51, its chief executive and a company founder, would step down in August, after earlier saying he would resign once a proposed merger with rival Sirius Satellite Radio was approved.

Stocks tumbled on Tuesday, with the three major indexes posting their worst single day performance since March 13, as disappointing results from DuPont Co. and Countrywide Financial Corp. heightened concerns about the housing market.

Countrywide Financial Corp. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo said the U.S. housing market is unlikely to recover before 2009, as lenders and homeowners work through oversupply, stagnating home prices, and the excesses of recent lax lending standards in much of the mortgage industry.

Sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console rose by 21 percent in the month of June, but it was still outsold by rival Xbox360 from Microsoft and Wii from Nintendo, according to a market research firm.

DuPont Co., the No. 2 U.S. chemical company, on Tuesday reported lower-than-expected second-quarter profit as weak U.S. housing and auto markets slowed demand and overshadowed growth in other regions.

While young people embrace the Web with real or virtual friends and their cell phone is never far away, relatively few like technology and those that do tend to be in Brazil, India and China, according to a survey.