Discover Financial Services, the credit-card company that's lost more than a third of its market value since being spun off by Morgan Stanley in June, said profit fell 65 percent on charges tied to selling a U.K. unit.

Coventry Health Care Inc. reduced its 2008 profit forecast on Monday, citing the impact of the flu on medical costs and pressure on net investment income, but expressed confidence in all its business lines amid fears of a broad downturn among health insurers.

Dendreon Corp., a Seattle based biotechnology company, said U.S. health regulators approved its amended trial design of the late stage study of its Provenge cancer vaccine, accelerating the expected timing of the final study results by about one year, sending shares up 21 percent before the opening bell.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell to the lowest in more than two years after falling jobs in the U.S. and the strengthening yen raised concerns about profit earned in Japan's biggest export market.

Costco Wholesale Corp said on Wednesday its second quarter profit rose compared with a year earlier when it recorded charges for expensing stock options, with quarterly sales also up.

Hong Kong has cut taxes after posting a record budget surplus and Malaysia Airlines is back in the black, posting a record profit for 2007. Claudia Blume in Hong Kong has more on these and other business stories from Asia.

One of the largest American liquor producer Brown-Forman Corp. posted that its third-quarter income rose 10% from the addition of Casa Herradura premium telquilas along with higher global demand for its flagship Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey line as well as Finlandia vodka.

A health care management company Magellan Health Services Inc. posted that its fourth quarter profit rose 39%, helped by growth in its public sector behavioral health and radiology benefits management segments.

German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen AG posted that its 2007 net income nearly doubled to 4.1 billion euros (6.2 billion dollars) last year as it sold more than 6 million cars worldwide.

Cablevision Systems Corp. posted a fourth-quarter profit after halting customer defections to Verizon Communications Inc.

Talisman Energy Inc. stated a higher fourth-quarter profit, largely reflecting Canadian tax rate reductions.

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica SA's posts that its fourth-quarter net profit rose 2.3%, as tougher competition and regulation in Spain and unfavorable foreign exchange movements in key Latin American markets acted as a brake on growth.