Nine chief executives and chairmen from around the world have signed up for an exclusive CNBC initiative, "The Carbon Council", aimed at identifying opportunities in clean technology and the larger business of sustainability. 

Stocks relinquished earlier gains Friday as investors began to lock in some profits after an earnings-fueled rally this week.

Stocks relinquished earlier gains Friday as investors began to lock in some profits after an earnings-fueled rally this week.

Tech stocks shot out of the gate Friday after Microsoft and Amazon blew past earnings expectations. The Dow was up a few points at the start but the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1 percent as Microsoft gained 10 percent and Amazon soared 20 percent.

A late Thursday rally puts Wall Street on pace to chalk up its third consecutive week of gains, but as always, the positive momentum is subject to the whims of earnings and economic numbers once again this morning. 

What follows is a roundup of corporate earnings reports for Friday, Oct. 23

As the Senate prepares to tackle global warming, the nation’s energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades.

Fourteen companies that have tried to reduce their carbon emissions.

The decision of several major companies to quit the Chamber of Commerce over carbon emission regulation underscores the concern—and confusion—within Corporate America about how it will impact the bottom line.

From the entire S&P 500, which stocks are analysts expecting to have the biggest pops? With data from ThomsonReuters, we took a look at which stocks have consensus estimates farthest above their stock prices (as of market close on 9/30/09).

Exelon, one of the country’s largest utilities, said Monday that it would quit the United States Chamber of Commerce because of that group’s stance on climate change. It was the latest in a string of companies to do so, perhaps a harbinger of how intense the fight over global warming legislation could become.

The latest batch of earnings took a toll on the market Friday but the Dow still pulled off a gain in the final half hour of trading, capping its best two-week performance since 2000. Microsoft shares fell more than 8%.

Stocks took a hit Friday as a drop in consumer sentiment exacerbated losses triggered by a disappointing round of earnings from Microsoft, Amazon and AmEx. But the Dow poked higher in afternoon trading Microsoft shares fell nearly 10%.

Stocks skidded Friday as a drop in consumer sentiment exacerbated losses triggered by a disappointing round of earnings from American Express, Amazon and Microsoft.

Futures indicated a lower open for Wall Street on Friday, probably due to earnings exhaustion, as after-the-bell results reports from American Express, Amazon.com and Microsoft disappointed investors.