Investor's Business Daily

TECHNOLOGY Microsoft Xbox gets lower price The software giant said it'll cut the price of the Xbox 360 Elite, its priciest video game console, by $100 to $299.99 as of Fri., stepping up a price war. Microsoft MSFT will keep its entry-level Xbox Arcade model at $199.99 and phase out its mid-range Pro console. The news comes days after Sony SNE dropped the price of its PlayStation 3 to $299. Nintendo says it has no plans to lower the price of its best-selling Wii, which sells for $249, despite moves by rival consoles. Facebook, the Web's top social network, has agreed to give all ... Read Full Story

TECHNOLOGY Chip sales climb 5% sequentially Int'l sales of semiconductors hit $18.2 bil in July, up 5% from sales of $17.2 bil in June, but down 18% from a year ago, the Semiconductor Industry Association said. It was the fifth consecutive month of sequential increases in chip sales, reflecting improving demand in the consumer sector. But the SIA said purchases by the enterprise sector continue to be tempered by caution and longer replacement cycles. Apple AAPL has set Sept. 9 as the date for its next music-themed product launch. It unveiled a redesigned iPod Nano media player at a similarly timed event last year. ... Read Full Story

FINANCIAL BofA repayment plan questioned The bank is talking with federal regulators about repaying some of the $45 bil in U.S. aid its received, according to a published report, but analysts questioned whether Bank of America BAC is healthy enough to give back the money. The gov't also wants BofA to pay about $500 mil tied to a deal under which the U.S. agreed to help cover certain losses. While the bank has been building reserves to cover its losses, its amount of bad debt has swelled at an even quicker pace, analysts noted. BofA declined 6.4% to 16.46. AIG plunges on negative views ... Read Full Story

Stocks remained higher in early afternoon trading Monday, but they pared some gains. The NYSE composite was up 0.7%, down from 1% at session high. The Dow and S&P 500 added 0.6% each, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.4%. Volume was again tracking sharply lower on both exchanges. Geokinetics GOK tacked on 7% to a fresh 10-month high. It continued to follow through after clearing a 15.61 buy point from a cup-with-handle pattern Thursday. The provider of seismic data lost money for the past five years but is expected to turn a profit of 43 cents a share this year. NewMarket NEU rallied 5% and ... Read Full Story

TECHNOLOGY Yahoo overhauls search this year The Internet icon plans to upgrade its own search engine before it starts to lean on Microsoft MSFT technology. Yahoo's YHOO changes will include a feature that lets users see search results from social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter directly on Yahoo's page. Yahoo also unveiled upgrades to its online e-mail service, including bigger file attachments and a new mobile site. Swiss, Google fight over photos A Swiss gov't official wants the Internet search giant to immediately remove "street view" images on Google's online maps of Switzerland because they fail to obscure images of people and ... Read Full Story