IBT Staff Reporter

The U.S. economy continued to grow in the final weeks of the fourth quarter but the pace of activity slackened amid subdued holiday spending and a weak housing sector, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve districts suggest that economic activity increased modestly during the survey period of mid-November through December, but at a slower pace compared with the previous survey period, the Fed said.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has launched at this year's Macworld Expo, four years after the last edition. The new suite of productivity applications for the Macintosh operating system is built specifically for the Mac and is tailored to feel like a native application. The software was created by Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, which is dedicated to products on that operating system.

Gold fell 2.4 percent on Wednesday as investors took profits after a failed bid to set another record high beyond $914, but analysts said it might rebound after a period of consolidation.

U.S. crude recovered slightly on Tuesday after dropping below $90 after the U.S. weekly inventories report showed crude stockpiles grew 4.28 million barrels last week.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, after JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. reported quarterly results not worse than expectations, giving some hope that the battered financial sector may be able to cut some of its losses.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Wednesday he is not strong enough to speak in public more than 17 months after stomach surgery forced him to hand over power to his brother.

Kenyan police fought hundreds of protesters in trouble spots across the country on Wednesday, killing two as the opposition defied a ban on rallies against President Mwai Kibaki's disputed re-election.

The dollar rose on Wednesday as a fall in oil prices pushed investors to reduce their euro holdings and temporarily abandon expectations for a weakened dollar.

U.S. consumer prices rose in December, their fastest rate in nearly two decades led by higher energy, food and medical prices causing economic growth to slow, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

After three months of courtship, database software firm Oracle Corp. finally got a 'yes' from BEA Systems, accepting a takeover offer of $8.5 billion. Oracle will pay BEA shareholders $19.375 for each of their shares, up from an offer of $17 in October. BEA had initially rejected Oracle's initial offer, asking for $21 per share.

The biggest challenge facing the U.S. corn-ethanol industry in 2008 will be finding a home for all the new production that is coming on stream, a leading economist with Purdue University said on Tuesday.

A right-wing party quit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government on Wednesday, condemning his peace talks with the Palestinians and leaving him even more politically vulnerable.

JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Wednesday quarterly profit fell a worse-than-expected 24 percent as the No. 3 U.S. bank lost $1.3 billion on risky mortgages and set aside more money for rising losses on home-equity and auto loans. The bank quadrupled to $1.1 billion the provision it needs to cover continued problems on home equity and subprime mortgage loans.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson posted better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday and said it gained market share in that period and in 2007 as a whole. Sony Ericsson, owned by Ericsson and Sony Corp., said in a statement it made a pretax profit of 501 million euros versus 384 million in the third quarter and 502 million a year earlier. The company's goal is still to become one of the top three players in the industry.

Microsoft is facing additional anti-trust challenges from European regulators, just weeks after the software giant lost a big appeal case against them.

Cloned animals are safe for humans to eat, U.S. regulators said on Monday after a seven year review. The Food and Drug Administration said there were no special risks associated with the cloning technology.

Intel reported disappointing earnings for its fourth quarter and an outlook for the current quarter that were below Wall Street expectations, dimming the near future view for electronics.

Finnish Telecom company Nokia announced on Monday that it will be closing down its manufacture of mobile devices in Bochum, Germany closing its site there by the middle of 2008. The company said it plans to move the manufacturing to other, more cost competitive sites in Europe.

Debenhams Plc, the department stores group, has reported that total sales for the Christmas period rose 4.4 per cent more than the previous year.

Gold futures fell on Tuesday, erasing earlier gains after the dollar rebounded against the euro putting further strain on the economy and reducing the appeal of the precious metal.

Music company EMI announced Tuesday it will slash between 1,500 and 2000 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring plan to reduce costs by £200 million a year.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS)released figures on Tuesday showing that Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) was unchanged at 2.1 per cent in December, the same figure as in November.

SeeFile a developer of web server software, on Tuesday at the Macworld Expo and Conference in San Francisco unveiled new web server software that is compatible with Apple's OSX 10.5 Leopard operating system.

Intel on Tuesday posted quarterly results and an outlook behind Wall Street targets, sending its shares down 15 percent, further stoking concerns the U.S. economy may be entering a recession. Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said he was a little bit cautious on the state of the U.S. economy, and the results raised concerns about the impact the economy was already having on the world's largest chipmaker.

Gone are the days of leaving the comfort of your home to rent a DVD.

Copper Futures declined nearly 3 percent, the lowest drop in six weeks, as worries of an economic recession grew after an official report showed sales at U.S. retailers fell surprisingly in December.

Apple has been a frequent target of environmental activists who claim its products are harming the Earth, but today the company unveiled a new more environmentally friendly laptop.

The dollar on Tuesday, reaching its lowest level against the yen in two years after a report about slow retail sales triggered concerns that the U.S. economy will go into recession.

Apple Inc. unveiled the world's thinnest laptop on Tuesday, as well as new software upgrades to its iPhone and iPod Touch, and buffed up its iTunes software with online movie rentals.