• Asian stocks fall as South Korea fuels growth concern.
  • China shares rise for 5th day to 12-week high, extending gains on recovery hopes.
  • Congress giving homebuyers a $6,500 tax break.
  • Fed signals return to growth alone doesn't warrant interest-rate increase.
  • Oil prices slipped below $80 a barrel Thursday in Asia as the U.S. dollar strengthened.
  • US, EU ask WTO to probe Chinese export curbs on 'critical' raw materials.
  • Yen, Dollar rise on concerns jobless gains signal slow recovery.
  • Aetna's $16.7B contract won in July to provide health insurance to US military personnel
  • Allstate Corp. posts Q3 profit of $221M on far smaller catastrophe, invt losses.
  • Chrysler projects breaking even next year, net profit in 2011.
  • Cisco expects to return to revenue growth for Q2, sees revs up 1-4% YoY.
  • CVS's Sept. quarter rose from $736M last year to $1.0B this year.
  • Deutsche Post reports net loss of euro83M.
  • GM will devise a new restructuring plan for its Opel and Vauxhall units very soon.
  • Hyatt Hotels Corps IPO raises $950M at $25/sh - third-biggest US IPO of 2009.
  • Merck actively looking to buy biotechnology cos in the single-digit billions of dollars.
  • Molson Coors's Q3 earnings rose 37% to $235.3M amid a derivative gain, cost cuts.
  • Munich Re's 3rd quarter net income surges to euro651M.
  • Murphy Oil Corp.'s sees Q4 EPS at $0.75-0.90 vs. cons. est of $1.18.
  • New York's attorney general filed antitrust charges against Intel.
  • News Corp. ups Y09 operating profit estimate after Q1 net rises 11% to $571M.
  • Nissan narrows its full-year net loss forecast on higher estimated sales in China, US.
  • Polo Ralph Lauren announces additional $225M stock repurchase authorization.
  • Prudential Fincl boosted Y09 EPS f'cast by 40 cents to $5.40 to $5.60/sh on better results.
  • Qualcomm's qtrly net falls 8.5% to $803M, triggered by charges. Revs down 18%.
  • Time Warner's Q3 profit fell 38% to $661M as advertising sales continued to slide.
  • Toyota sees lower Y09 loss at 200B yen (prev 450B yen) on stimulus measures.
  • Transurban rejects $6B offer from Canada Pension Funds; shares rise.
  • Unilever reports 36 percent fall in net profit for third quarter.
  • Whole Foods f'casts Y09 EPS at $1.05-1.10, vs. cons. est. of $1.11.
  • Zurich Fincl Srvcs Q3 net rises almost 6x to $909M on fewer catastrophe claims.

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