IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. consumer spending growth slowed in October and business capital investment plans were weak, raising questions about expectations for solid economic performance in the fourth quarter.

Ever wondered what the U.S. economy might look like should there be another Lehman Brothers-style bank collapse? Well, it would not be pretty.

German drugmaker Merck KGaA accused U.S. rival Merck & Co of hijacking its Facebook page and said it plans to sue to get it back.

A bill to create a wireless network for public safety and make more airwaves available to bandwidth-hungry communications companies, will be considered by a House of Representatives committee next week.

Stocks suffered a sixth straight day of losses on Wednesday as frustration over the euro zone's debt crisis, coupled with weak Chinese factory data, further dented investor sentiment.

Wednesday's share plunge follows a nearly 15 percent fall in Groupon's stock price on Tuesday.

Dreaming of an orange Christmas, or at least an orange-skinned one?

Jack Elinson, a veteran TV comedy writer and producer, died Thursday of natural causes at his Santa Monica home, the Writers Guild of America, West announced. He was 89.

One thing I learned while writing my holiday film guide Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas is that there are two kinds of plots in this sub-genre with a tendency to stink on ice: movies about Santa, and anything where somebody has to save Christmas. (Miracle on 34th Street, Elf and Ernest Saves Christmas among the obvious exceptions.)

As someone who grew up on Sesame Street, I often imagined that one day, I'd be able to go through the TV screen and live in a brownstone next to Ernie and Bert and Oscar and Big Bird. So when I saw Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), the new Muppet character from The Muppets, have that same dream about following Kermit and Fozzie and Miss Piggy to the other side of the glass, I knew that the Muppets' return to the big screen was in loving and capable hands.

A first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of fur clothing in the trendy Southern California city of West Hollywood has been given final approval by officials after weeks of contentious debate.

Grammy-winning singer Rihanna may soon be headed to the top of the album charts after her latest record, Talk That Talk reached No. 1 on iTunes on Tuesday, one day after its release.

Remember when metal was the happiest genre on earth? If not, you're either too young to recall or too old to care about the 1980s heyday of hair-metal, when the pouffy 'dos, screeches, and spirits were all as high as a drummer stumbling out of the Rainbow Room.

Family films are always a big part of the Thanksgiving box office equation, but this year multiplexes will be especially stuffed with the genre.

The NBA meandered ever so slightly closer to resolving its five-month-long work stoppage Tuesday, with its players consolidating two class-action anti-trust suits against league owners.

The me in the my in My Week with Marilyn is Colin Clark (played by Eddie Redmayne), who turns his back on his upper-crust background -- his father is legendary historian Kenneth Clark -- to take a grunt job with Laurence Olivier's production company.

A former talent manager is hoping to convince the California Supreme Court to block enforcement of the state's Talent Agencies Act.

There are no Great Scott! You've discovered penis envy! moments in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, which explores the birth of psychoanalysis, but given the general tedium of the goings-on here, such a scene might have provided sweet relief.

Last year's holiday movie season seemed to belong to filmmaker David Fincher. His The Social Network struck the zeitgeist among movie goers, critics and awards groups.

Hoping to fill up your Thanksgiving weekend with a marathon of The Cosby Show or 3rd Rock From the Sun? If you're a Hulu Plus subscriber, you're in luck.

Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday warned that its top credit rating for the United States could be in jeopardy if lawmakers backtrack on $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts planned over 10 years.

Can too much success be a bad thing? In the case of the critical acclaim received by the 2010 film Rabbit Hole, perhaps so.

City officials have offered Occupy L.A. protesters 10,000 square feet of indoor space and other incentives to vacate the City Hall lawn they have camped on for over seven weeks, a lawyer for the group said on Tuesday.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Spanish telecom Telefonica are teaming up to test a payment system that turns a mobile phone into an electronic wallet and identity card, the companies said on Wednesday.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Spanish telecom Telefonica are teaming up to test a payment system that turns a mobile phone into an electronic wallet and identity card, the companies said on Wednesday.

Bank stocks took another nose-dive on Wednesday on concerns about the European debt crisis and strenuous stress tests unveiled by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, analysts said.

Microsoft Corp has signed a confidentiality agreement with Yahoo Inc, allowing the software giant to take a closer look at Yahoo's business, according to a source familiar with the matter.

When shoppers hit the stores on Black Friday, Abercrombie & Fitch will face its biggest test this year as the preppy clothing retailer tries to prove the value of its cachet in teenage apparel to investors.

Stocks tumbled about 2 percent and were on track for a sixth straight day of losses on Wednesday as frustration over the euro zone debt crisis coupled with weak Chinese factory data sank sentiment.