Microsoft posted a 3.7% drop in profit as sales of the company's new Windows 8 operating system, designed to help it adjust to an era of smartphones and tablets, got off to a slow start.

Obama nominated former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White to lead the SEC, a move that could signal tougher policing of Wall Street. Richard Cordray was tapped to continue at the consumer watchdog.

U.S. air-safety investigators said they remain stumped by the sequence of events that caused a battery fire inside a parked Boeing Dreamliner.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman is expected to take a second straight annual pay cut for 2012, as the firm continues to struggle.

The Dow industrials rose 46 points for a fifth-straight session of gains, but a 12% drop in Apple's shares weighed on other benchmarks.

Bristol-Myers agreed to pay $80 million to settle cases involving 15 patients killed or hurt during testing of an experimental hepatitis C drug.

Las Vegas Sands has stopped executing international money transfers for high rollers and is strengthening anti-money-laundering efforts.

Spain's unemployment rate reached a record 26%, the latest sign of deepening recession even as investors flock to the country's bonds.

Business activity rebounded in Germany at the start of 2013 but sank in France and other parts of the euro zone.

A flap over a potential bailout for Cyprus is fueling anxieties that the nation could become the next flash point in the euro-zone crisis.

The iPhone ended the year with a blowout quarter in the U.S. market, but there are signs Apple may have to do more to persuade shoppers to buy its priciest models.

Samsung said its fourth-quarter profit rose 76% to a record on strong smartphone sales and higher margins in its chip business.

Nokia is scrapping its dividend for the first time in 20 years to strengthen its cash position, despite a return to profit in the fourth quarter.

CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers is resigning, a move that has the potential to slow the finalization of rules stemming from Dodd-Frank.

Former hedge-fund manager Doug Whitman was sentenced to two years in prison after his conviction on insider-trading charges.

Starbucks's profit jumped 13%, propelled by higher sales in the U.S. and even China, where others have stumbled.