Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) posted smaller-than-expected third-quarter earnings, partially attributed to one-time charges. The drug store chain said its third-quarter ended May 31 profit reached $463 million, or 47 cents per share, down from $522 million, or 53 cents per share, for the equivalent quarter a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges, earnings per share reached 54 [...]

Sonic Corp. (Nasdaq: SONC) posted third-quarter results on Monday, falling short of analysts’ estimates. The Oklahoma City-based restaurant chain said it earned $11.0 million for the quarter ended May 31, down 34.6% from $16.8 million for the equivalent period last year. Excluding special items, the company earned 15 cents per share for the quarter, compared [...]

Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) posted record earnings for the second quarter Tuesday, driven by a large jump in revenue from professional designers and developers. Adobe Systems, the maker of Web development software, said it earned $148.6 million, or 28 cents per share, for the second quarter, compared with $126.1 million, or 24 cents per [...]

Washington’s wish for a revalued renminbi (RMB) may finally be granted, but not in the direction of strength as Washington wants, Nouriel Roubini, Wall Street’s latest top economist, said to Reuters on Saturday. After pegging the RMB against the dollar for almost two years, China said on Saturday that it will allow the Chinese currency [...]

By Michael Bogan Gold prices reached a fresh record on Friday as investors increasingly doubt a global economic recovery is at hand. Gold for August delivery closed at $1,258.30 per Troy ounce on Friday, off from its intraday high of $1,263.70, but up from a record settlement of $1,248.70 the previous day. James Turk, renowned [...]

By Michael Bogan Wall Street analysts have been scrambling to reissue fresh targets for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) following a flurry of upbeat reports which include 2 million iPad sales, brisk sales of the newly introduced iPhone4, and accelerating orders for this past week. Apple said on Wednesday that despite volume-generated server failures, it pre-sold 600,000 [...]

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is attracting the attention of watchdog antitrust regulators at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lately, as a growing number of complaints of unfairly shutting out competition in mobile advertising are waged against the tech giant, analysts say. As the FTC prepares to address the latest complaints against Apple, other regulators have already [...]

Talbots Inc. (TLB) posted a smaller year-over-year loss for the first quarter as rebounding sales and cost-cutting measures helped the women’s apparel retailer’s recent strategic plan to shed its stuffy image during a sluggish U.S. economic recovery. The Hingham, Mass.-based company is revamping its overly-staid image—which has hurt sales and earnings for years—with the hire [...]

Gold is the most controversial and misunderstood asset in the financial markets. Volatility and two decades of relative financial calm have hidden gold’s potential value from investors, especially during periods of uncertainty and growing distrust of authorities to stabilize global markets. Now that gold has achieved nine straight years of gains amid declines in the [...]