IBT Staff Reporter

Starbucks Corp is implementing is cost cutting plans by closing underperforming stores and laying off staff.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc shares rose 10 percent following a higher-than-expected quarterly profit report paving a positive outlook for 2009.

SANDISK has announced some serious breakthroughs in NAND flash memory in collaboration with its long-standing co-development partner Toshiba at International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).

On Wednesday Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc beat expectations by reporting a quarterly profit after excluding items.

Today the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900, a thin and light smartphone with a relatively high-resolution screen and a full QWERTY keyboard was made available to everyone.

On Wednesday, London stocks closed slightly higher than expected despite the doubts and skepticism of worldwide investors of the viability of the U.S. governments' latest rescue plan for the struggling financial industry.

The Mountain View, California Web giant Google has developed a new tool called Google PowerMeter which will allow consumers to track their household energy consumption.

A utility company in New Jersey with more than 2 million customers is asking approval for a $773 million project to implement a solar energy program to provide electricity to the communities and costumers it serves.

The lawmakers of House Financial Service Committee on Wednesday are holding a hearing with chief executive officers of eight banks that received injections of capital from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Merrill Lynch & Co. is reported to have given out a combined $121 million bonuses to the four top executives just before the firm was acquired by Bank of America Corp., according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Research In Motion Ltd. Said Wednesday it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be at or near the midpoint of its previously forecasted range, in spite of reporting a 20 percent growth in subscribers in December.

Cellphone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it would cut production at its key Salo plant in Finland as demand for handsets has dropped.

On Wednesday eight Taliban gunmen wearing suicide vests attacked three Afghan government buildings killing twenty people.

On Wednesday world markets fell following a steep sell-off on Wall Street as investors doubted the viability of the U.S. governments' latest rescue plan for the struggling financial industry with as much as $2 trillion in funding.

JP Morgan Chase chief Executive Jamie Dimon will call for regulatory modernization as a necessary component of long-term recovery for the economy. He notes there is an immediate need for a systemic risk regulator which will be able to track financial businesses across the banking, securities and insurance businesses instead of the current fragmented system.

Australian Dollar: The Aussie dollar pulled back from its early morning highs around 68 cents to find an intraday low at 0.6675 in Asia yesterday before entering the offshore session at 0.6715.

President Obama's economic stimulus package was one step closer to becoming law on Tuesday after the Senate voted to pass its version of the bill. Lawmakers must now reconcile the Senate bill, which passed 61-6k with the House version to send it to the President for his signature.

On Tuesday, despite the stormy weather in Tel Aviv, Israelis set out to vote in a closely contested election between right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the centrist Kadima party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

American freestyle motocross racer, Jeremy Lusk, 24, died from head injuries after crashing while trying to land a backflip in competition Tuesday in Costa Rica.

A 1937 Bugatti sports car that was found in an English doctor's garage for almost 50 years was sold at an auction in Paris on Feb. 7, for about $4.4 million, the associated press reports reported.

Google announced a new service on Tuesday that helps consumers track their personal electricity usage, and could help lower a household's electricity bill as much as $180 a year.

On Tuesday the co-head of UK corporate broking firm, Merrill Lynch, announced his resignation with effect from end of April.

Oil prices approach $42 as investors eyed an $800 billion-plus U.S. stimulus package aimed at increasing oil demand.

While mobile broadcast TV was pioneered in Japan and South Korea, following the switchover to all-digital TV, traditional and mobile TV broadcasters in many regions will launch mobile TV services that are forecast to attract over 500 million viewers by 2013, according to new research.

The following are the prepared remarks from a speech US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivered on financial stability, as released by the Treasury.

The European Union is clamping down on cyber bullying by signing a pact with 17 social networking providers including Facebook, MySpace and Google in a move to safeguard children online.

The Obama administration, through the Treasury Department, unveiled a renamed three part Financial Stability Plan to allow currently immobilized parts of the U.S financial industry to allow the flow of money to begin with support from the Federal government.

UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, announced on Tuesday the highest annual loss in Swiss corporate history and plans to cut a further 2,000 investment banking jobs.

Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker, plans to spend $7 billion upgrading its U.S. factories over the next two years in spite of tough economic conditions, the company said Tuesday.