Market Trends

(Reuters) - Consumer products maker Colgate-Palmolive Co. said today that its second-quarter net income rose 9.6 percent as higher margins offset the effects of weak foreign currencies that led to flat sales.

(Reuters) - Ralston Purina Co., the largest U.S. pet food maker, said on Monday that fiscal third-quarter net earnings rose nearly 27 percent, driven by firm sales volumes in all segments of its business and lower interest expenses.

(PRNewswire) - Nash Finch Company, a Fortune 500 Minneapolis-based food retailer and distributor, today announced the addition of two new directors to develop and roll-out the company's specialty store concepts, a Hispanic-oriented retail supermarket and Buy N Save, an extreme value retail store.

(Financial Times) - Europe's leading food retailers must look at foreign acquisitions if they are to survive, according to a new report.