Franklin Covey Co.

to buy back shares

Franklin Covey Co., the Salt Lake City-based time-management and seminar company, said its board of directors has approved a stock repurchase program and that it intends to repurchase up to $10 million of its outstanding shares. It has 17.8 million shares outstanding.

Mexico fines

HSBC $28M

Mexican regulators have levied a $28 million fine against the Mexico subsidiary of HSBC bank for failing to prevent money laundering. Those officials and a U.S. Senate committee found that the bank failed to control suspicious flows of billions of dollars through its accounts and didn't respond promptly after being warned about the huge cash transfers.

NBC sells $1B

in Olympics ads

NBC says it has topped the $1 billion mark in advertising sales for the Olympic Games beginning this week in London. The TV network said the total is the biggest advertising haul ever for an Olympics and topped the $850 million in ad sales for Beijing in 2008.

New-home sales

hit 5-month low

Americans bought fewer new homes in June after sales jumped to a two-year high in May. Sales fell 8.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 350,000. The steep decline suggests a weaker job market, and slower growth could make the housing recovery uneven.

Apple shares

off after loss

Apple's stock fell Wednesday after the company did something un-Apple-like — posting results below Wall Street expectations. On Tuesday, Apple Inc. reported its quarterly earnings rose a mere 21 percent from a year ago, not the 33 percent analysts were expecting. The earnings miss was only the second in 10 years. Its shares closed Wednesday at $574.97, down $25.95, or 4.3 percent for the day.

Toyota takes back

world sales crown

Toyota retook the global sales top spot from General Motors during the first half of the year. The Japanese automaker sold 4.97 million cars and trucks worldwide from January through June, beating GM's 4.67 million. GM's sales are growing, but Toyota's are growing faster. The latter has recovered from last year's Japanese earthquake, flooding in Thailand and an embarrassing series of safety recalls.

Facebooks faces

day of reckoning

Facebook is set to release its first quarterly financial results as a public company Thursday, two months after its botched initial public offering. It'll be the company's chance to prove it can keep growing revenue from the ads it serves on its wildly popular social networking site.