UNITED STATES

The good times in the $850 billion U.S. junk bond market may be at risk of winding down as the economy slows, leveraged buyouts get bigger and an increasing amount of bond supply looms.

Bausch & Lomb announced on Tuesday that it had reduced its net profit guidance by as much as 80 percent, blaming the downgrade on a worldwide recall of its eye-care contact lens cleaner.

Shares of oil tanker companies that operate between the U.S. and the Middle East rose sharply on Tuesday after news broke that production out of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay may not normalize until 2007.

India's trade minister said on Tuesday that wealthy countries need to be more flexible on agricultural subsidies if global trade talks are to re-commence following the failed WTO talks in Geneva late last month.

U.S. wireless companies face new competition on Wednesday as they start bidding on licenses for advanced wireless services like high-speed Internet - from the satellite and cable television industries.

U.S. business productivity rose at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter but unit labor costs jumped sharply, according to a government report that gave the Federal Reserve a final piece of inflationary data as a pivotal meeting started on Tuesday.

After years of lackluster results, AOL is refocusing. Instead of pursuing new subscribers, it will focus on online advertising to grow in a highly competitive market.

Alltel Corp. the No. 5 U.S. cellphone provider, said on Tuesday it will provide a service to download audio clips from the Internet to cellphones in a bid to expand its business beyond voice services.

Expectations of a halt in the Federal Reserve's two-year campaign of interest rate rises kept the dollar near two-month lows on Tuesday, while auto firms led stocks higher in Asia and Europe.

BP Plc is shutting down its giant Alaska Prudhoe Bay oil field due to a damaged pipeline and fears of wider corrosion, slashing West Coast supplies and prompting the U.S. government to consider releasing emergency stockpiles as prices jump.

British Petroleum PLC, announced late Sunday that it would shut off its biggest U.S. oil field due to corrosive oil pipes.

The Bank of Japan, which last month raised interest rates for the first time in six years, is expected to keep its powder dry this week as it confirms that economic growth is slowing and with inflation yet to materialize.

European shares sank on Monday, pulled lower by BP which began shutting down the biggest oilfield in the United States, with weaker mining and auto stocks adding to the negative tone and trade remaining cautious ahead of Tuesday's Federal Reserve meeting.

Alien Technology Corp., maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) circuits, said on Friday that it will not proceed with the anticipated initial public offering of common stock.

Central Banks around the world are tightening credit due to economic growth that could spin out of control. Skeptics say they could be going too far, while other say the banks aren't going far enough.

Faced with the possibility of losing India's leading CDMA mobile operator, wireless technology company Qualcomm could soften its negotiating stance and reduce royalty rates it charges even as it hints that fresh negotiations with other providers around the world are in the offing.

Toyota released its fiscal first quarter earnings report for 2006 on Thursday, announcing a rise in net profit due to increased demand for its fuel efficient vehicles in the U.S. market.

Japan has decided to protect Japanese beef as its intellectual property by patenting the Japanese cow genes and monitoring semen stock distribution with bar-codes. The agriculture ministry says that it found there is no international law to prohibit the stock from flowing out to foreign countries for hybridization and reverse import.

Sun Microsystems issued a memo yesterday to employees, notifying them of nearly 2000 impending job cuts.

U.S. shipments of digital cameras grew 17 percent in the second quarter, fueled by gift-giving for graduating students and Father's Day, with Canon Inc. retaining its No. 1 rank in market share, according to an industry report.

Business activity in the U.S. services sector in July and new orders at U.S. factories in June were surprisingly weak, two reports showed on Thursday, signaling that economic growth was decelerating.