Stocks retreated Friday, driving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a weekly decline, as investors watched economic and corporate earnings reports.

Comcast Corp., the nation's largest provider of cable TV and Internet services, more than doubled its net income in the third quarter, chiefly due to the sale of wireless spectrum and its stake in the A&E TV channel.

The latest snapshot of economic growth shows the U.S. recovery remains tepid.

Apple's stock fell below $600 Friday for the first time in three months, after the consumer electronics behemoth warned that costs of making new products will cut into profits in the holiday quarter.

The far-flung swing states that have the most sway in the presidential election have something else in common -- a large share of military veterans who are getting special attention from the fiercely dueling campaigns.

Mitt Romney is promising to revitalize the nation's economy with “bold ideas” and a senior aide said the Republican presidential candidate would not cut ties with an Indiana Senate candidate who said pregnancy resulting from rape is “something God intended.”

It's the defining ritual of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

All the buzz about mobile devices might lead you to believe the PC's future is bleak.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Solutions Inc., the maker of two-way radios and barcode scanners, added a representative of its biggest investor, ValueAct Capital Partners LP, to the board in exchange for a promise not to propose acquisitions or engage in a proxy contest until 2014.

The young Citigroup analyst was researching Facebook before it went public. He dropped an email to two of his buddies at a popular technology blog, leaking them information about Citigroup's research that was supposed to be private.

GameStop plans to open about 80 holiday stores aimed at younger kids.

Emerging markets _ a key growth area for large drugmakers -- produced about 20 percent of prescription drug revenue. But recent price cuts in Japan, and continuing pricing pressure from cash-strapped European government health programs, reduced revenue.

Ally Bank, wanting to focus on auto lending and consumer deposits, is trying to take another step away from the mortgage industry.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Oil headed for a second weekly loss on concern that economic growth won’t be strong enough to boost demand and alleviate an inventory glut.

Taxes that are largely a concern of the very rich will soon affect far more people unless Congress steps in.

A new report comparing the current housing market to the situation four years ago says the picture is a mixed bag for southern Nevada.

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Danish homeowners will probably refinance as much as 475 billion kroner ($83 billion) at mortgage bond auctions this quarter as banks arranging the sales advise borrowers to cut their risk and lock into fixed rates.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Oil fell, poised for the biggest weekly drop in a month, on speculation U.S. economic growth won’t be enough to boost demand amid increasing stockpiles.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Friday that its third-quarter net income fell by nearly one-third as lower tire sales in Europe offset cost savings and higher North American profits.

Hospital operator HealthSouth Corp. reported a smaller third-quarter profit Thursday as expenses increased, though company results still beat Wall Street expectations.

Dow Corning's third-quarter net income dropped 45 percent as polysilicon prices continued to fall because of industry oversupply and sales declined in Europe.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Virgin Atlantic’s next CEO will inherit a brand more popular than profitable as the company seeks to regain its competitive edge over rival British Airways.

Barnes Group Inc., which makes parts for aerospace and other industries, said on Friday that its third-quarter net income plunged 20.5 percent as it digested an acquisition and dealt with slowdowns in some of its businesses.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. reported third-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates as sales of its diabetes treatments helped offset losses from generic competition.

Drivers listening to adult contemporary radio along Interstate 4 in central Florida are hearing ads like this: “President Obama raised taxes on Florida's small businesses, and his defense cuts will weaken our military and put thousands more Florida families out of work. Mitt Romney has a better vision for America.”

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. has intensified talks with major music labels to start an advertising supported streaming-radio competitor to Pandora Media Inc. by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.

A pipeline subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum Corp. is rising in its stock market debut after raising $380.6 million in an initial public offering of its units.

Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook on Safeway Inc. to negative on Friday, citing the supermarket chain's weak sales and shrinking market share.

Cymer Inc. said Friday that its third-quarter net income fell 13 percent as higher expenses, mainly for research and development, outpaced a slight revenue increase.

Can't decide if you want a PC or tablet? Now you won't have to. With the release of Windows 8, computer makers are doing their best to blur the boundaries with an array of devices that mash keyboards and touch screens together in different ways.

The students in the Saturday morning class trickle in and, as they introduce themselves around a table, reveal far more intimate biographies than just name and hometown.

Honeywell International Inc. said Friday that its board approved a 10 percent increase to the company's annual dividend.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. fired Mark Mahaney, a senior technology analyst, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, as it settled a separate regulatory claim that a junior analyst disclosed confidential information before Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering.

Shares of Monster Beverage Corp. slid again Friday after two U.S. senators asked federal regulators to fix what they say are loopholes that allow energy drink makers to sell products with additives and high levels of caffeine they say “have not been proven safe.”

Arch Coal Inc. said Friday that cost-control efforts helped boost its third-quarter results well above Wall Street expectations. But it cautioned that the coal industry's challenges will linger into next year.

A sell-off of items from the former headquarters of Curt Schilling's failed video game company in Providence brought in about $650,000.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A gauge of U.S. corporate credit risk reached the highest in four weeks after a report German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble cast doubt on whether Greece will meet requirements for its European bailout.

A survey shows consumer confidence rose this month to the highest level in five years, an encouraging sign for the still-weak economy

Toyota has widened its global sales lead over General Motors after bouncing back from a series of natural disasters.

Apple has a new iPhone, two new iPads and three new PCs as it heads into the holiday quarter, the biggest selling season of the year. But, paradoxically, it expects these new gadgets to bring down its profits compared to last year.

A former executive at a technology firm in Silicon Valley is settling charges lodged by federal regulators that he provided insider information to convicted Galleon hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.

China is telling tourist-favored Buddhist temples: Don't let money be your mantra.

Interpublic Group of Cos., which owns advertising and marketing agencies, said Friday that its third-quarter net income fell 67 percent, hurt by the stronger dollar and lower spending by clients.

Regulators said Friday they have closed a small bank in Pennsylvania, bringing to 47 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

Oshkosh rejected a buyout offer from billionaire investor Carl Icahn Friday.

McDonald's will start selling bags of ground coffee at its restaurants in Canada next month, a move that could spread to other regions around the world if successful.

DeVry Inc.'s fiscal first-quarter profit fell 44 percent on declining enrollment, but the for-profit education company beat market expectations. Its shares jumped in after-hours trading on the news.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries rose for the first time in three days before a government report on U.S. gross domestic product that analysts say will show the economy grew less than 2 percent in the third quarter.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said he opposed a decision by policy makers this week to press on with additional bond buying because the effort is ineffective and may speed up inflation.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The euro fell as Spanish unemployment data showed a record one-in-four residents was out of work in the third quarter, adding to signs the crisis is pushing the region toward another recession.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, asked today if he would like to become Federal Reserve chairman, responded by saying “I have served my time, been privileged to be in two administrations.”

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, assailed by Mitt Romney and other Republicans over defense priorities and foreign policy, got help from two former Republican secretaries of state who undercut a main line of attack.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The University of Miami has raised more than $1 billion in its fundraising campaign as President Donna Shalala seeks to bolster medical research and increase financial aid and faculty at Florida’s top-rated college.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Gold declined in New York, extending a third weekly drop, as commodities fell and a stronger dollar curbed demand for bullion as an alternative investment.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks fell, with the FTSE 100 Index headed for its biggest weekly decline in more than five months, amid investor concern that company earnings are deteriorating.

An Italian court is set to deliver verdicts Friday against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and 10 others in a six-year-old tax fraud trial.

Hurricane Sandy raged through the Bahamas early Friday after leaving 21 people dead across the Caribbean, following a path that could see it blend with a winter storm to hit the U.S. East Coast with a super-storm next week.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Amazon reported third-quarter results below Wall Street's expectations on Thursday -- including a large loss that was weighed by its stake in online deals service LivingSocial and spending on its Kindle business and distribution centers to grow its business.

The Justice Department's watchdog agency objected Thursday to more than $12 million in interim fees racked up during the first three months of Hawker Beechcraft's bankruptcy proceedings, criticizing what it called excessive and unreasonable fees lawyers billed for the company's failed bid for millions in executive bonuses.

The federal government is quietly removing full-body X-ray scanners from seven major airports and replacing them with a different type of machine that produces a cartoon-like outline instead of the naked images that have been compared to a virtual strip search.

Better-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures helped turnaround the mood in financial markets Friday.

Shares of dairy company WhiteWave Foods are trading near their initial public offering price on their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers rose in October from the prior month to the highest level since before the last recession began five years ago.

Ample supplies helped send oil prices down to near $85 per barrel on Friday.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her memoir, “My Beloved World,” will go on sale to the public in January.