Stocks fell as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posted its biggest decline in a month and investors became concerned that European leaders aren’t making progress in solving the region’s debt crisis.

The Navy SEAL who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden under a pseudonym was identified Thursday as Matt Bissonnette, who retired from the Navy last summer.

Sales of new homes in the United States rose 3.6 percent in July to match a two-year high reached in May, the latest sign of a steady recovery in the housing market.

“I grew up reading Ayn Rand, and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.”

Applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high, showing scant progress in the labor market that’s left Americans more pessimistic about the economy.

Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages have risen for a fourth straight week, remaining slightly above record lows.

Want to cut the time and hassle of shopping for your kids?

Nobody ever said reading the Federal Reserve was easy.

Microsoft's corporate logo has a new look, setting the stage for a wave of products designed to cast the world's largest software maker in a new light.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Oil fell from a three-month high in New York as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects Greece to fulfill the terms of its bailout and on skepticism central banks will ease monetary policy further.

While other corn growers already have knocked down their drought-ravaged crops to feed them to livestock, Nebraska farmer Doug Nelson still waits for his maize to mature, well aware it won't be a banner year.

Al Weiner’s stake in New York’s Empire State Building came to him by way of his grandfather’s death in a 1950 train crash in Richmond Hill, Queens.

The Democratic campaign also is airing a TV ad starring former President Bill Clinton. And Obama Thursday sent supporters an email soliciting at least $5, noting “75 days from now, I'll either be looking at another four years in the White House -- or the end of this opportunity.”

When top ESPN executives gather to discuss the upcoming season, how do they address what might delicately be called “The Football Problem”? I have no idea, of course. But I’m envisioning something like this:

I remember a June evening when three complete strangers separately insisted on showing me their new mobile phones. It was 2007, I was on the subway in New York, and Apple Inc.’s iPhone had just been released.

The four-seat, 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth hatchback arrived in the United States with the legendary sport personality of its forebears -- a small body with a distinctly European look, throaty performance sound and an impressive engine for such a lightweight car.

Shares of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. rose Thursday, a day after the company announced sweeter-than-expected second-quarter net income and slightly boosted its full-year profit prediction.

Big Lots Inc. shares lost nearly a quarter of their value on Thursday, after the discount retailer said its second-quarter net income tumbled 38 percent to miss expectations and slashed its profit forecast for the full year. The company also announced a shakeup in its executive ranks, promoting two executives to the roles of CFO and chief operating officer and bringing back its previous head of merchandising.

Republican Mitt Romney, seeking to refocus his presidential campaign on the economy after days of distraction, is promoting energy proposals aimed at creating more than 3 million new jobs and opening up more areas for drilling off the coast of two politically critical states, Virginia and North Carolina.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures maintained losses after a report showed the number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits climbed last week to a one-month high, showing little progress in the labor market.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rose to a three-month high in New York amid speculation that central banks in the U.S. and China will ease monitory policy to stimulate growth.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Canadians receiving jobless benefits declined for the fourth time in five months in June, Statistics Canada said.

Rising home prices are often welcomed as a sign of a country's economic health and vigor. But in New Zealand, concern is growing that prices have risen so high they are instead an economic anchor, sucking resources from those who can afford a home and prompting those who can't to consider moving overseas.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. is appealing a bankruptcy judge’s ruling in favor of Eastman Kodak Co. that blocked the iPhone maker’s claims to two patents.

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Swedish count who founded one of the first social networks is back with a new invitation-only site to attract jet-setters and the well-heeled away from Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn.

Patriotic music? Check. Balloon drop? Check. Sign-waving delegates? Check. Viewer interest in this summer's Republican and Democratic national conventions? Still unclear.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. unveiled its first new logo in 25 years as it prepares to introduce Windows 8, an updated version of its flagship software that will power the company’s own Surface tablet and other touch-screen devices.

The Toro Co. said Thursday that fiscal third quarter net income rose slightly as higher sales of new landscaping equipment and other commercial products offset slowing residential sales.

Shares of Synopsys rose to their highest point in more than eight years Thursday as the software maker's fiscal third-quarter adjusted results topped Wall Street expectations and its earnings earnings came in above analysts' estimates.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asil Nadir, the former Polly Peck International Plc chief executive officer, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for stealing nearly 29 million pounds ($46 million) from the company.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The riskiest revenue debt in the $3.7 trillion municipal market has provided the best returns this year, as the quest for extra yield masks the segment’s likelihood of default.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Another bubble may be forming in the U.S. housing market, this time in the bonds of homebuilders.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., whose market-making unit suffered millions of dollars of losses trading Facebook Inc. in its public debut, urged U.S. regulators to reject Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.’s proposal to make up for its errors.

Hewlett-Packard absorbed the largest quarterly loss in its history as the Silicon Valley pioneer owned up to past mistakes that have left it scrambling to adapt to a shifting technology market.

1-800-Flowers.com reversed a fourth-quarter loss from last year with lower costs offsetting a decline in revenue.

Facebook wants to address what's perhaps the biggest complaint with its iPhone app: It's releasing an update that's faster.

and sometimes perhaps a touch of envy

The leaders of Germany and France are stressing that it's up to Greece to keep pursuing painful reforms as it strives to keep its place in the euro.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says it's sold the remainder of the securities that it had bought as part of the rescue of beleaguered insurance giant American International Group during the financial crisis.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Verizon Wireless' acquisition of airwave licenses from four cable companies.

Kodak says it will sell its document imaging and personalized imaging businesses to better focus on printing and business services as it works to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The government body that oversees the U.S. Postal Service is approving a plan that gives one of the nation's largest direct marketers a postage discount on advertising flyers.

1880 -- George Eastman begins commercial production of dry plates for photography in a rented loft of a building in Rochester, N.Y.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Gannett Co.’s USA Today may charge for mobile applications on smartphones and tablet computers, said Lawrence Kramer, the newspaper’s president and publisher.

Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has scrapped a potential hepatitis C treatment after a patient participating in a test of the drug died of heart failure.

Canadian phone maker Research In Motion has begun showing its new BlackBerry smartphones to wireless carriers around the world, but the struggling company says it is still months away from starting to sell them.

Top-level government officials from around the world have begun three days of talks on how to set up a $100 billion a year fund to help poor countries cope with climate change.

Crude prices rose to nearly $98 per barrel Thursday, with oil markets being driven by hopes that the Federal Reserve is leaning toward action to help the U.S. economy's stalled recovery.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- About 17 percent of global banks clawed back compensation in 2011 as European and North American regulators pressured firms to impose penalties on employee risk- taking, according to consulting firm Mercer.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Gold advanced to the highest level in 16 weeks after breaking above the 200-day moving average as the Federal Reserve signaled that it may add stimulus and investment holdings rose to a record. Platinum extended a rally.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. skidded 4 percent in premarket trading Thursday after the world's largest maker of printers and PCs reported weak third-quarter results and took a huge charge to write down the value of a recent acquisition.

A business survey suggests that British retailers were among the losers during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Copper neared a five-week high in New York on speculation officials will take steps to bolster economic growth in the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest consumers of the metal.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The euro climbed to the strongest level against the dollar in almost seven weeks as speculation the U.S. and China will ease monetary policy spurred demand for currencies that perform better as the global economy expands.

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures were little changed after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s advance yesterday as investors speculate central banks in the U.S. and China will ease monetary policy further to spur growth.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose a slight 4,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, evidence that the job market's recovery remains modest and uneven.

Shares of Boeing Co. fell on Thursday after the company lost an $8.5 billion order for 787s that were supposed to go to Qantas.

Spain's Economy Ministry says it is drawing up legislation that will allow the country's central bank to intervene earlier when a lender falls into trouble as well as giving its bank rescue fund powers to shut them down if they fail to come up with survival plans.

A fight is brewing between the NFL and insurers over who will pay to defend the league against former players' lawsuits over head injuries, with the league and carriers now squaring off in cases on each coast.

Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Thursday they are preparing to start late-stage clinical trials of an experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug.

Tropical Storm Joyce has formed over the open water of the eastern Atlantic and does not pose an immediate threat to land.

Christopher Kostow foraged in the open stalls of the Mercado San Juan, the most gourmet of Mexico City's crumbling, pungent public markets, as vendors hawked: “This way, this way! What can we offer you?”

World financial markets turned lower on Thursday as disappointment over weak U.S. jobs figures offset hopes for more economic stimulus from global central banks.

Michelle Obama says she doesn't “trip” about her daughters watching “Keeping Up with Kardashians.”

When the “Big One” rocked the East Coast one year ago, the earthquake centered on this rural Virginia town cracked ceiling tiles and damaged two local school buildings so badly that they had to be shuttered for good. Now as the academic year gets under way, students are reciting a new safety mantra: Drop, cover, and hold on.

Republican Paul Ryan says Mitt Romney will prevent planned cuts to the U.S. military if elected president.