IBT Staff Reporter

Moody's Investors Service warned on Monday the rapid escalation of the euro zone sovereign and banking crisis threatens the credit standing of all European government bond ratings.

HTC Corp promised competitive new models early next year and said it would stick to its strategy in the face of its biggest challenge since rising to prominence in the smartphone market.

Carl Huttenlocher, former Asia head of JPMorgan Chase & Co's Highbridge Capital, said he would launch a hedge fund with more than $300 million on December 1 after a delay in obtaining regulatory approval.

Global miner Rio Tinto warned on Monday that further cracks may be emerging in global commodities markets as the economies of Europe and the United States waver, with its customers increasingly cautious on the outlook.

Japan wants Europe to make efforts to stabilize markets unsettled by the continued euro zone debt crisis and Tokyo is prepared to offer help if needed, Japanese currency tsar Takehiko Nakao said on Monday.

Online retail sales in the United States on the post-Thanksgiving shopping day known as Black Friday jumped 26 percent this year, led by Amazon.com Inc, comScore said on Sunday.

U.S. retailers racked up a record $52.4 billion in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, a 16.4 percent jump from a year ago, as early hours and attractive promotions brought out more shoppers, an industry trade group said on Sunday.

Moody's Investors Service said on Monday the rapid escalation of the euro zone sovereign and banking crisis is threatening the credit standing of all European sovereigns.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa on Monday warned the country's economy will remain in a severe state for now as Europe's sovereign debt crisis and yen rises cloud the outlook, signaling the central bank's readiness to boost monetary stimulus further if risks to the recovery heighten.

HTC Corp, the world's No.4 smartphone maker, opened lower for a third session on Monday after news that it could face a sales ban in Germany, but soon turned positive to rise as much over 1 percent.

Having the right products at the right price at the right time helped make Best Buy Co Inc one of the early winners in what was a record start for U.S. retailers to the holiday shopping season.

Germany and France are exploring radical methods of securing deeper and more rapid fiscal integration among euro zone countries, aware that getting broad backing for the necessary treaty changes may not be possible, officials say.

U.S. stock futures jumped in early electronic trading on Sunday on the latest round of proposals out of Europe designed to corral the growing euro zone debt crisis.

An equal-rights group in Kansas is asking Gov. Sam Brownback to repeal the state's sodomy law, which was rendered unconstitutional by a Supreme Court ruling eight years ago. Some legislators argue that, since the law is unenforceable, it isn't worth the effort to repeal it. But laws have symbolic meaning whether they are enforced or not.

German patent firm IPCom plans to halt as quickly as possible the sale of all HTC smartphones in Germany, another blow to the Taiwanese firm just two days after it shocked markets by cutting its fourth-quarter outlook.

The fourth installment of Summit Entertainment's Twilight franchise remained the box office leader Friday, taking in $16.9 million, according to studio estimates.

An assistant Syracuse University basketball coach accused of inappropriate behavior with a ball boy is hoping for a credible and expeditious review of the matter by police, his lawyer said on Sunday.

Wounded war veteran J.R. Martinez claimed victory on the 13th season of the hit TV show Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday, winning with a jive and a samba that thrilled audiences.

An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Saturday, launching a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for clues on what could sustain life on the Red Planet.

At age 87, Doris Day is not exactly pop music's latest hot young artist. But this week the star of film, TV and music returns to the U.S. record world she conquered more than 60 years ago with a new album, My Heart.

Less than a third of the $16 million gathered in 2010 by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean for earthquake relief in Haiti actually made it to emergency efforts in the country, the New York Post reported on Sunday.

Speaking to Vibe Magazine in a December-issue cover story titled T.I. Wants You Back, recently paroled rapper and MTV reality star Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (aka T.I.) proved once again that he has a strange way of launching a charm offensive.

With Disney's film reboot of The Muppets raking in $29.5 million during its first weekend and claiming second place at the box office -- and a 98 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- director James Bobin is smiling as wide as Dr. Teeth.

China is keen to invest in the ailing infrastructure of Western countries, especially Britain, the chairman and chief executive of the Asian country's sovereign wealth fund wrote in the Financial Times.

The world economy is on a slippery slope. The euro zone appears to have tipped into a mild recession and the rest of the global economy is struggling to hold onto firm ground.

Having the right products at the right price at the right time helped make Best Buy Co Inc one of the early winners in what was a record start for U.S. retailers to the holiday shopping season.

Tired of suffocating crowds and seemingly never-ending lines? On Saturday, retailers want you to think small.

The fight for mom and pop's stock orders is getting testy on Wall Street.

Global miner Rio Tinto warned on Monday that further cracks could be emerging in global commodities markets as the economies of Europe and the U.S. waver, with its customers increasingly cautious on the outlook.