Driving the new V-8 version of Bentley’s best-selling Continental GT, I could think of only one thing: It’s about time.

Orders for business equipment such as computers and communications gear stalled in September, signaling a slowdown in investment that may curb economic growth.

In many ways, it's an odd topic to make a central campaign issue: sequestration.

A weak showing in home sales and a mixed batch of earnings reports kept stocks flipping between minor gains and losses on Wall Street. By the end of the day, the major indexes managed to eke out their second day of gains this week.

Amid worries that the recovery in travel demand may have “lost its steam,” shares of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) dropped Thursday afternoon.

Average U.S. mortgage rates rose only slightly this week and continued to hover near record lows, a trend that has helped boost home sales and refinancing.

The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose only slightly, suggesting sales may level off in the coming months after solid gains in the past year.

Shopping mall operator Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG)said Thursday that a key measure of profitability rose in its third quarter as rents increased and occupancy improved.

(Bloomberg) -- ARA Asset Management, the manager of property trusts backed by billionaire Li Ka-shing, canceled what would have been Singapore’s first dual-currency initial public offering amid sluggish demand for new equity.

Rising orders for new homes and rising prices hurtled PulteGroup back into a profitable third quarter, its best since before the real estate market crashed.

Financial markets fluctuated Thursday as upbeat corporate earnings statements were offset by weak housing data and as investors looked ahead to a report from Apple.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Oil fluctuated as traders awaited data that may signal that economic growth is accelerating in the U.S., the world’s biggest user of crude.

Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods surged in September by the largest amount in nearly three years, reflecting a rebound in aircraft orders.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Fewer Americans filed first-time applications for unemployment benefits last week as the seasonal volatility at the start of the quarter wound down.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rebounded after falling for five days in New York, the longest losing streak since May, on speculation that losses were excessive before reports that may show an improvement in the U.S. economy.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. mortgage rates rose, increasing borrowing costs as home values extend a rebound from their worst crash since the 1930s.

The Christie administration believes it has made it easier for New Jersey homeowners facing foreclosure to qualify for federal aid, but those on the front lines say problems remain.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is celebrating the imminent release of the company's Windows operating system after two years of work.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can't afford to be wrong about Windows 8.

The price of oil rose slightly Thursday after earlier gains of more than 1 percent evaporated.

McDonald's will start selling packages of ground coffee at its restaurants in Canada next month.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Medtronic Inc. ghost-wrote sections of medical papers and paid physician authors hundreds of millions of dollars in “consulting fees” to promote its bone- growth product Infuse, a U.S. Senate investigation found.

The McClatchy Co. reported lower net income in the third quarter, hurt by declining circulation and ad revenue at its newspapers.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. and major music labels have intensified negotiations to start an advertising-supported Internet radio service by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Warren Buffett's company won the auction for Residential Capital's loan portfolio with a $1.5 billion bid this week.

Yahoo Inc. said Thursday it has purchased mobile app developer Stamped, the first acquisition under new CEO Marissa Mayer.

Flower delivery service 1-800-Flowers.com said Thursday that its fiscal first quarter loss widened, mainly because year-ago results included a hefty gain from discontinued operations.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- United Continental Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek vowed to win back passengers who switched to other airlines in recent months because of chronic tardy flights.

An audit of the U.S. Department of Education's division overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in charter school funding has criticized the office for failing to properly monitor how states spend the money.

Aspirin, one of the world's oldest and cheapest drugs, has shown remarkable promise in treating colon cancer in people with mutations in a gene that's thought to play a role in the disease.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, whose proposal to maintain current defense spending has been attacked by challenger Mitt Romney, picked up the endorsement today of retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and former secretary of state.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A gauge of U.S. corporate credit risk fell for the first time in six days before reports that may show a rebound in durable-goods orders and a drop in initial jobless claims.

A union representing Ford workers says the company will cut 1,500 jobs in Britain, closing a transit van plant in Southampton and eliminating a stamping and tooling facility in east London.

Microsoft kicked off a campaign for its newest operating system, Windows 8, at a five-hour event at New York's Pier 57. Designed to run on both PCs and tablet computers, Windows 8 heralds the biggest change to the industry's dominant operating system in at least 17 years.

Dominion Resources saw third-quarter net income tumble nearly 47 percent because of costs related to the permanent shutdown of one of its nuclear power stations and plant outages.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Times Co., the newspaper publisher led by Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr., tumbled the most in more than three years after reporting a surprise third-quarter loss as total advertising sales fell.

Subscriber trends are turning south again for Sprint Nextel as it struggles to compete with Verizon Wireless, the juggernaut of the industry.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- GSW Immobilien AG, Germany’s third- largest residential landlord by market value, bought 4,400 apartments in Berlin and is in talks to acquire an additional 3,000 units.

Shares of Best Buy Co. continued to slide Thursday, a day after the struggling electronics retailer slashed its guidance for the year and announced the departure of two key executives as part of a turnaround push.

The cosmetics company Revlon Inc. reported a loss for the third-quarter as restructuring and litigation charges more than offset the impact of a 3 percent rise in revenue.

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. helped write and edit medical journal articles attributed to outside physicians, which downplayed the risks of the company's best-selling bone graft, according to a report by Senate investigators.

Procter & Gamble's fiscal first quarter net income fell 7 percent on a stronger dollar and costs related to restructuring, but its results beat Wall Street expectations in a sign that a turnaround plan that it started in the spring is beginning to work.

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc.'s third-quarter net income fell 44 percent on charges for a loss on early extinguishment of debt. But it sold more cigarettes at higher prices and expanded its industry-leading share of the U.S. market.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Wynn Resorts Ltd., owner of casinos in Nevada and Macau, rose as much as 7.8 percent, the most in more than seven months, after third-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates and the company doubled its quarterly dividend.

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the long-struggling competitor of giant rival Intel Corp., is facing yet another crisis amid a shifting technology landscape and declining demand for personal computers.

The ashes of Russell Means are being scattered in a private ceremony in western South Dakota's Black Hills, a day after the former American Indian Movement activist was remembered in a ceremony on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Seeking to shore up his support among women voters, President Barack Obama on Thursday hammered Republican rival Mitt Romney anew over his backing of Richard Mourdock, the Indiana Senate candidate drawing fire for saying that pregnancies that result from rape are “something God intended.”

Another drop in lending to companies in the 17-country eurozone showed the economic downturn is deepening, as a brighter mood on financial markets fails to catch on with businesses.

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- It’s almost inevitable that the foreign policy debate between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney will feature much useless arguing about who said what, and when, about the fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.