Most Emailed Business News

VIENNA (AFP) - Hidden in a sea of greenery and tucked away between the mountains of the Salzkammergut region near Salzburg, one of Austria's last privately-owned lakes, the Mondsee or Moon Lake in German, is up for sale.

HOUSTON - Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total SA wrapped up a string of gargantuan, record-breaking earnings reports Friday, a stretch in which six of the major international oil companies topped $50 billion in combined profit for the first time.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it has warned U.S. store managers in recent weeks about the possible consequences of a labor-friendly bill backed by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, denied a report Friday that it had pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo plans to imminently charge Citigroup Inc , accusing it of fraudulently marketing and selling auction-rate securities, and destroying documents that had been subpoenaed.

LOS ANGELES - Snack lovers, rejoice: Munching on potato chips just got a little healthier.

WASHINGTON - Stores, factories and other businesses large and small showed workers the door last month, sending unemployment to its highest rate in four years and adding to the evidence an economic recovery remains far off.

DETROIT - U.S. auto sales slumped to a 16-year low in July as automakers failed to keep up with consumers' growing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. While production changes may help that problem, trouble in the credit and auto leasing markets will continue to take a toll on sales.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IndyMac Bancorp Inc , once one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders, has filed for bankruptcy protection, less than three weeks after being seized by federal regulators following a bank run by depositors.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank regulators closed a small Florida-based bank on Friday, the eighth U.S. bank to fail this year under pressure from a weak economy and a credit crisis precipitated by falling home prices.

DETROIT - With another huge quarterly loss now in its rearview mirror, General Motors Corp. faces the ominous task of raising revenue by selling cars rather than trucks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate hit its highest in four years during July as employers cut jobs for a seventh straight month, though less severely than predicted, a Labor Department report showed on Friday.

Happy birthday, credit crisis. It was a year ago August that the world began to suspect the economy was heading into something worse than a slump. Now as another August heaves into view, the credit crisis is a year bigger and -- like many 1-year-olds -- indiscriminate about where it makes its messes. The real concern is how much bigger it will get.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bill Gates' investment firm may exercise its right to buy up to 20 percent of trash hauler Republic Services Inc's stock, according to a filing on Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage market giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , may report further downgrades to their forecasts for credit losses in their upcoming second-quarter results, starting next week.

Questions and answers about the Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008, passed by Congress last weekend to try to steer as many as 400,000 struggling homeowners away from foreclosure:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nike Inc , the world's largest maker of sports footwear and apparel, said on Friday it was putting a Malaysian contract factory on "red alert" after an investigation revealed workers living in substandard housing and wages being garnished.

HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest profit from operations ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations and its shares slumped 3 percent.

NEW YORK - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he is prepared to charge Citigroup Inc. with fraudulent sales of auction-rate securities and with the destruction of key documents.

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales plunged to a 16-year-low in July, led by a 27 percent drop at General Motors Corp , as high gas prices and tight credit sent the industry into a tailspin.

NEW YORK - Clorox said Friday it would raise prices on more than half of its portfolio — which includes Glad trash bags, its namesake bleach and Brita water filters — over the next year to offset higher input costs.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street could be in for more volatility next week as investors brace for a new batch of key earnings reports and the U.S. Federal Reserve's assessment of the economy.