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Asian markets fell Thursday as weak retail sales data by the U.S. Commerce Department and Spanish debt downgrade by Moody's weighed down on investor sentiment.

Stock markets in China and Hong Kong declined Thursday as weaker-than-expected data on monthly U.S. retail sales and renewed concerns about the debt-laden euro zone weighed on the sentiment.

This week, leaders from India and the United States will gather in Washington to discuss our expanding cooperation on everything from trade to technology to terrorism. There also will be issues on which we don't see eye to eye, and some of those may dominate the media coverage.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell Thursday amid report of cut in Spain's credit rating and disappointing data from the U.S.

Dinner with Barack -- for the liberal Democrat, few things sound better than free food with their fearless leader. Four prize dinners with the Great One -- awarded by drawing -- have come and gone; but have no fear, Dinner with Barack V is here.

Greeks are stocking up on non-perishable staples like pasta on fears that Sunday's elections presage an end to the nation's euro zone participation and a return to the drachma, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a slightly lower opening Wednesday ahead of the retail sales report and producer price index.

The debate over minimum wages -- does raising the minimum wage put more money in workers' pockets or just leave more of them jobless? -- is heating up at the state and federal level.

What started as a family construction firm in the 1960s, Essar Group, based in Mumbai India, now is a behemoth of a company. It is fully integrated in steel production, oil and gas production and refining, electric generation and shipping on five continents with revenue of more than $27 billion.

As expected, Apple unveiled iOS 6 during the keynote presentation for the 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. Nobody knew what Apple would include in its latest mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, but with more than 200 new features added to the iOS platform, this is the most comprehensive update Apple has ever released to its mobile devices.

Indian retail sector, which is one of the fastest growing in the world, is under immense pressure to allow the Foreign Direct Investment. With multi-national retail giants like Wal-Mart and CarreFour and foreign investors lobbying the government to throw open the retail sector, the government has made several futile attempts in the past two years to allow FDI in retail.

The new iPhone is not being unveiled at WWDC 2012 as some Apple enthusiasts had hoped, but the iOS 6 announcement gives us plenty of clues to what we can expect in the fall.

Here's a window into how low the bad guys will stoop to steal retail inventory: Last week in California, 1,600 pounds of premium dog food, a $10,000 cargo on its way to feed animals at a local pet rescue facility, was stolen.

China's May data dump over the weekend and on Monday painted a mixed picture of the economic health of the world's second-largest economy.

Bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co. (Pink: EKDKQ) may try to generate cash by trying to sell its portfolio of 1,100 imaging patents again, the Wall Street Journal reported.

This week's data releases could reignite hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon provide more policy stimulus. May's producer price index and consumer price index should show that inflationary pressures are easing, with the latter falling below the Fed's 2 percent target rate. Retail sales and industrial production figures for May are likely to come in on the soft side, as well.

Crude oil futures rallied Monday as market participants welcomed Europe's plan to provide financial assistance to Spain to properly restructure its troubled banks.

Stock markets in China and Hong Kong gained Monday as sentiment was buoyed on news that the euro zone will provide financial assistance to help Spain's troubled banks.

Many analysts anticipated China's balance-of-trade figures for May would be OK, but the customs numbers reported Sunday were better than that expectation: Year on year, the country's exports rose 15.3 percent, and its imports rose 12.1 percent.

As a weak economic recovery and cheaper gasoline alter the travel plans of Americans from international trips to domestic jaunts, the Gulf Coast could be a big winner.

Asian stock markets reported their first weekly gains in six weeks amid hopes that major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, might act to tackle deteriorating global economic conditions.