IBT Staff Reporter

Short interest slipped on the New York Stock Exchange but was little changed on the Nasdaq in late November, two weeks before a sharp rally for stocks, according to data released by the exchanges on Thursday.

Four companies will join the benchmark S&P 500 index after the closing bell on December 17, S&P said in a statement on Thursday.

A strong turnout by shoppers for Black Friday boosted U.S. video game sales 8 percent last month, marking the strongest November on record, but sales for the whole year are likely to be flat at best, according to retail research firm NPD Group.

Foreign central banks' overall holdings of marketable securities at the Federal Reserve fell in the latest week, data from the U.S. central bank showed on Thursday.

Americans are not, in general, proficient in foreign languages. That situation, according to experts, is not good for the nation, not good for humanity, and not good for the individual monolinguist.

Production at one of Toshiba Corp's key chip factories has been halted by a brief cut in power, the company said, hitting output of NAND flash memory used in tablet computers and smartphones.

Citigroup Inc appointed on Thursday U.S. president Barack Obama's former budget director as a global banking vice chairman.

Senate Republicans delivered a serious setback to the community of Ground Zero responders and their families today by blocking the Zadroga bill from coming to a vote.

Stocks edged up on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a two-year high, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.

TerreStar Networks is facing a more court fights with creditors over its reorganization plan.

Outside the US and UK - where today's no change decision from the Bank of England left interest rates near 33-year lows beneath inflation - emerging economies are also flirting with sub-zero real rates of interest, Japanese investment bank Nomura's London office notes.

Ford Motor Co plans to add 1,800 autoworker jobs and invest $600 million to overhaul its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, which will make the next generation of its Escape small SUV.

U.S. stocks edged up on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a two-year high, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.

Dell Inc's billionaire chief executive, arguing that his efforts to transform his company have gone unnoticed by some on Wall Street, wants to drive the acquisitions that will prove crucial to its long-term future.

Manny Gomez created a shopping list on Amazon.com just to keep track of some auto parts he wanted to buy. But as the holidays approached, he thought it wouldn't hurt to share the list with family and friends.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay voiced concern on Thursday at reports of pressure being exerted on private companies to halt financial or Internet services for WikiLeaks.

An Alaska Superior Court Judge has said he will rule by Friday on Senate candidate Joe Miller’s challenge to the apparently victorious write-in campaign of incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Iran has temporarily released on bail a pioneering Iranian blogger who has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison, a rights group said on Thursday.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended slightly higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hovering around two-year highs, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.

Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of cyber activists who targeted Visa and other Internet payment sites that sought to block the WikiLeaks website after its release of U.S. diplomatic cables.

Manny Gomez created a shopping list on Amazon.com just to keep track of some auto parts he wanted to buy. But as the holidays approached, he thought it wouldn't hurt to share the list with family and friends.

Ford Motor Co will invest $600 million to overhaul a Kentucky plant to make the next generation of its Escape small SUV, in a sign of the gradual recovery for the U.S. auto industry from its near collapse in 2009.

Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil company, will increase spending by a fifth to $26 billion in 2011, with 85 percent going to exploration and production as the industry seeks out new sources of growth.

New economic data on Thursday offered more signs the recovery was gaining traction, with claims for jobless benefits falling and wholesalers stocking up in anticipation of strong holiday demand.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged up on Thursday, hovering around two- and three-year highs respectively, but a recent rise in bond yields and uncertainty over tax-cut legislation unsettled investors.

European Union leaders meet next week under pressure to take bolder steps to quell the euro zone debt crisis, despite signs that volatility in European bond markets is abating toward the end of the year. The European commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said it was time for Europe to show proper coordination, and back its shared currency union with closer economic union.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked the United States on Thursday over secret U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, saying the West had no right to preach to Russia about democracy.

Chronology: Key events that have punctuated Oracle's handling of Java this year.

She made it to the provocative list of 2010 of Showbiz Tonight, CNN