Rapid growth in Latin America helped cosmetics maker Avon Products Inc. post a 16 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit. However, Avon also said Thursday that it expects to post a $50 million first-quarter charge related to Venezuela's currency devaluation. It also expects the change to ...

After more than a year of waning sales, customers are starting to make big-ticket appliance purchases again, helping Whirlpool Corp.'s fourth-quarter profit more than double and leading it to issue a strong 2010 outlook. Cost-cutting and big sales gains in Asia and Latin ...

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - As an increasingly violent and costly drugs war clogs up prisons with small-time users, some Latin American countries are abandoning hardline U.S. policies on consumption to intensify the fight against major traffickers. Convinced that the four-decade-old, U.S.-led war on drugs has failed, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and other countries are relaxing penalties for ...

Shoppers bought more of Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s toothpaste, soaps and body washes, helping the consumer product maker boost its fourth-quarter profit 27 percent, the company said Thursday. The company also said strategic price increases, steep sales growth in Latin America and Europe and increased spending on marketing ...