No name change for high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup won't get a wholesome new name after all. The Food and Drug Administration rejected the Corn Refiners Association's bid to rename its sweetening agent "corn sugar." Given the sweetener's bad reputation in recent years, the association submitted an application to the agency in 2010 to have the product renamed on nutrition labels. But the FDA said that it defines sugar as a solid, dried and crystallized food -- not a syrup.
Pending home sales fell sharply in April The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes fell in April by the most in a year, indicating the U.S. housing recovery remains uneven. The index of pending home resales dropped 5.5 percent following a revised 3.8 percent gain the prior month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed. The median forecast of 42 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for no change in the measure. Mortgage rates at record lows failed to sustain the pace of demand as some buyers may have waited for home prices to decline further.
RIM shares sink on forecast of operating loss Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. fell 11 percent after the struggling maker of the BlackBerry smartphone forecast an operating loss for the first quarter and said it was hiring banks to advise on strategic options. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and RBC Capital Markets have been hired to help RIM evaluate options, including forging partnerships, licensing its software and looking at "strategic business model alternatives," the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said.
United to cut jobs, service at Houston airport United Continental Holdings Inc. plans to cut 1,300 jobs and 10 percent of capacity at Houston's main airport after the city backed Southwest Airlines' bid to start international service from Hobby Airport, Houston's secondary airport. Most of a $700 million terminal project at George Bush Intercontinental Airport is "in significant doubt," Chicago-based United said. "The city of Houston will suffer the consequences of this decision for decades to come," CEO Jeff Smisek said.
FROM NEWS SERVICES
