UNITED STATES

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's public support for a strong dollar on Tuesday failed to fully convince the foreign exchange market, which is now bracing for further weakness in the U.S. currency.

U.S. mortgage applications last week sank to their lowest level in over four years, as home purchase loan demand tumbled for the third straight week, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.

Investors, tired of weak returns and rising volatility in U.S. stocks, are turning to cash and fixed-income investments, including safer municipal bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities.

A three year 'mad cow' scare has left japanese consumers, restaurants and retailers weary despite a lifted ban on U.S. beef last week.

Don't be surprised to see the Big Three automakers lower production forecasts for the rest of the year in light of soaring gasoline prices, slowing economic growth, and the sorry state of affairs in the automobile industry.

Core U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in June, continuing a steady march that has taken the year-on-year rate of nonfood, nonenergy inflation to 2.4 percent, its highest since September 2002, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

It has been tremendously successful abroad but now, Cyworld is trying to make a successful landing in Myspace territory.

U.S. health regulators will meet immediately with Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. about the over-the-counter status of the Plan B contraceptive known as the morning-after pill, according to a report on cable network CNBC Monday.

Employees of retail giant Wal-Mart have set up their first trade union in China, a move analysts said on Monday could lead to more unionization in the sector.

Microsoft Corp has submitted documents required by the European Commission in an effort to avoid further fines for breaching an antitrust ruling, a spokeswoman for the European Union regulator said on Monday.

U.S. economic expansion slowed abruptly in the second quarter to less than half the pace at the start of the year, while a key inflation gauge shot up at the fastest rate since 1994, the government said on Friday.

Wendy's International, one of the world's largest restaurant chains, announced its second quarter earnings on Thursday, blaming losses on impairment charges for its Baja Fresh Mexican Grill operation.

Apple Computer strengthened its grip on the digital media market this week, adding three major media sources to its list of iTunes content providers.

After three years of holding out, hard rockers Metallica are now allowing individual song downloads from their albums on Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Motorola Inc. on Friday launched its first online-game-playing mobile phone, picking China for the initiative in a bid to tap into one of the world's top game markets.

Microsoft's might, and cash flow, will go up against Apple's iPod in the digital music and player markets.

Legislation to overhaul the U.S. private pension system suffered another setback on Thursday as key House Republican lawmakers boycotted a negotiating meeting in a fight over whether to keep some $35 billion in tax breaks in the bill.

The health care and information technology industry received the most funding from Venture Capitalists during the 2006 second quarter, according to a new report..

South African agricultural representatives are looking at their own governments to see what can be done in the wake of recently suspended trade talks of the World Trade Organization.

ConocoPhillips, the third largest U.S. oil company, released its earnings for the second quarter of 2006 on Thursday, showing a surge in net profit attributed to the inclusion of the recently acquired Burlington Resources and high oil prices.

At the annual Microsoft analyst conference, the software giant unveiled plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars investing into its new Zune portable music device.