THE PROMISE: Using wireless power transmission, one day people might be able to recharge their laptops or cell phones or other gadgets without plugging them into an...

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market:

General Motors Corp. said Thursday it will invest more than $500 million in the U.S. to build a new compact car that will compete in an era of high gasoline prices.

Alabama, pushed to third in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.

Microsoft Corp.’s new digital photo sharing site spent most of its first day offline as its servers strained to handle a flood of traffic.

A congressional committee is demanding that the makers of controversial cholesterol drug Vytorin, Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp., produce extensive data...

Imagine juicing up your laptop computer or cell phone without plugging them into an electrical socket. That’s a luxury that could be provided by wireless power...

Gold prices jump more than $20 Thursday after the dollar weakened and crude oil spiked _ inflationary moves that boosted demand for safe, alternative investments.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said regulators have reached settlements with Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank over their...

Database provider InfoGroup Inc. said Thursday its founder Vinod Gupta has stepped down as chief executive.

The 10 highest-paid CEOs for 2007 at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies based on calculations by The Associated Press. The total pay figures are rounded, and...

Gap Inc. says cost-cutting and tight control on inventory boosted its fiscal second-quarter profit by half, even as sales fell.

Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, a longtime fixture on the list of the world’s richest people, is now ensconced atop The Associated Press’ rankings of...

Phone companies have been expanding their technology-support offerings, and AT&T Inc. took that trend one step further Thursday by introducing a tech-help plan...

Three South Carolina men accused of bilking investors out of millions of dollars are facing nearly two dozen new federal charges, according to a federal grand jury...

Drug and medical device maker Abbott Laboratories said Thursday it will cut 1,000 jobs as part of a multiyear effort to lower spending on its medical testing business.

Wall Street ended mixed Thursday after investors largely shrugged off a jump in oil prices and focused instead on a bullish analyst call on Lehman Brothers Holdings...

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Merrill Lynch & Co. appeared to be close to a settlement over the investment bank’s role in selling auction-rate...

A government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be costly for scores of investment, banking and insurance companies that hold billions in preferred shares of...

Here’s a look at how H.J. Heinz Co. and Hormel Foods Corp. fared in the most recent quarter, the results of which they reported Thursday: