Business - Page 32

Reuters - Allstate Corp. , the largest publicly traded home insurer in the United States, said on Tuesday that fourth quarter earnings rose 16.5 percent, helped by low catastrophe losses, but missed analysts' estimates.

Reuters - Procter & Gamble Co. and its smaller rival Colgate-Palmolive Co. posted slightly better-than-expected quarterly sales and profits on Tuesday and signaled that their businesses look good for the rest of 2007.

AP - Some important facts about filing your 2006 income tax return: More Info...  

NewsFactor - The wait is over. It's official. Retail store shelves are adorned with rows of stylized boxes that contain the various flavors of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 productivity suite. Vista became available at more than 39,000 retail stores in more than 70 countries on Tuesday with all the fanfare Microsoft could muster. More Info...  

Business

Reuters - Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill on Monday that would ban Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. from owning a type of bank known as an industrial loan company (ILC).

AP - Citigroup Inc. announced Monday that it was buying the world's largest stand-alone online bank, London-based Egg Banking PLC, to expand its financial operations in Britain and its Internet expertise worldwide. More Info...  

Reuters - Jones Apparel Group Inc. said it expects a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.48 a share and will take an after-tax, non-cash charge of about $322.2 million for the impairment of goodwill and trademarks. More Info...  

Reuters - Technology media company CNET Networks Inc. on Monday posted a lower quarterly profit, weighed down by $6.5 million in costs related to a probe into stock options grants and higher expenses. More Info...  

Reuters - HealthSouth Corp. said on Monday it sold its outpatient rehabilitation division to privately held Select Medical Corp. for about $245 million in cash to focus on its core inpatient business. More Info...  

Reuters - Verizon Communications Inc. reported a fall in quarterly profit on Monday, as strong growth in its wireless venture was offset by charges from asset sales and spending on its high-speed, fiber optic network.

Business

Reuters - U.S. chocolate group Hershey Co. and South Korea's Lotte Confectionery Co. (004990.KS) will set up an $80 million joint venture in Hong Kong to make candies for the Chinese market, Lotte said on Monday.

Reuters - CITIC Pacific Ltd. (0267.HK) may book HK$1.8 billion (US$231 million) profit from a spin-off of its telecom business CITIC 1616, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Monday. More Info...  

Reuters - California's Silicon Valley, which gave birth to high-tech giants Google Inc. , Apple Inc. and Intel Corp. , has rebooted its growth as it positions itself to be a leader on renewable energy and clean technology. More Info...  

Reuters - Ratcheting up competition among banks for depositors, HSBC Bank USA plans on Monday to temporarily raise the interest yield on online savings accounts to 6 percent, higher than its competitors. More Info...  

AP - Bill Gates cited Saudi Arabia as an example Saturday of why he believes limiting the rights women can hinder economic growth.

Reuters - The Internet is set to revolutionize television within five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of PCs and TV sets, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Saturday.

Business

Reuters - Major powers agreed on Saturday to resume global free trade talks, suspended six months ago because of deep divisions, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said a deal was now "more likely than not."

Reuters - Major powers agreed on Saturday to resume global free trade talks, suspended six months ago because of deep divisions, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said a deal was now "more likely than not."

Reuters - Earnings reports from hundreds of U.S. companies, including some of the biggest such as Boeing Co. and Procter & Gamble Co. , are likely to drive stock investors' decisions next week, barring any surprises from a mid-week Federal Reserve meeting or Friday's data on January jobs.

AP - New home sales fell in 2006 by the largest amount in 16 years, but they were up for a second straight month in December, raising hopes that the worst of the housing downturn is coming to an end.