On Wednesday Starbucks (SYMBOL: SBUX) announced that it plans to expand its European operations in 2008.

Currently, two stores are planned. Sofia will be the base for the Bulgarian store and Lisbon will be home for the Portuguese store.

Starbucks didn’t announce opening dates, but this may be the first of many as the company looked to extend its leverage overseas.

The news comes as Starbucks’ stock at least temporarily halted its freefall. Three months ago the stock was near $30. This week it neared $20.

The proposed settlement failed and now American Airlines has taken legal action against Google (Symbol: GOOG). The lawsuit is based on Google’s sponsored ads.

According to AA, when a search term that’s trademarked by American Airlines is entered into Google, rivals of American Airlines are also shown in the “sponsored links” section.

A Reuters article today said Google feels like it is on solid ground.

It’s an interesting battle that’s been heating up—Netflix (Symbol: NFLX) vs. Blockbuster (Symbol: BBI).

Blockbuster was the new kid on the block. Netflix was the Internet-savvy rental service that’s been growing like mad since 1999.

If you’ve seen the commercials, you know that Blockbuster is playing up their brick and mortar stores as an advantage over Netflix. And it appears to be working.

Recently, Netflix announced that it lost subscribers—55,000. More significant than the lost subscribers is the fact that this is the first time Netflix has announced a decline in subscribers—proof that Blockbuster is affecting them.

As a way to fight back, Netflix touted that, unlike Blockbuster, it offered movies you could watch instantly online. That all changed today.

American Home Mortgage (Symbol: AHM) is waiving the proverbial white flag as shares freefell 90% on resumed trading—closing all the way down to $1.04.

The company announced that it’s looking into liquidating assets, as it can no longer fund mortgages.

Next stop, bankruptcy? That’s what Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George thinks.

When talking about the ability of American Home Mortgage to survive through this disaster, George said, “the chances are low.”

Caterpillar (Symbol: CAT) has had a nice run over the past year, but its 2Q earnings, which were reported Friday morning, were down 21%, and that sent share prices lower.

Despite a rise in revenue of 7%, earnings sill dropped. The company is citing a weak North American market and higher operating costs—a common theme these days.

Caterpillar posted earnings per share of $1.24, which was 28 cents per share lower than the same period last year and below the expectations of $1.42 - $1.54 per share.

CAT closed at $83.20 on Friday—a drop of $3.78 (4.35%) per share. The stock is continuing to decline slightly in after-hours trading.

Google (Symbol: GOOG) missed earnings expectations yesterday and that gave shareowners a moment of pause. In after-hours trading on Thursday, Google began declining.

Today (Friday) was actually a great day to get into Google or acquire more shares. In intraday trading, Google fell to $509.50, which was almost 8% lower than Thursday’s close of $548.51.

Starbucks (Symbol: SBUX) announced that they’d be offering salads in 4,400 U.S. stores by the end of July 2007. It’s part of their move to appeal to the lunch crowd.

Making an exit will be Jones Soda (Symbol: JSDA). The soda is usually in the cold case by the registers, but at month’s end, they’ll be history.

The Blackstone Group LP (Symbol: BX) is about to become the world’s largest hotel owner. On July 3rd, it was announced that Hilton Hotels Corp (Symbol: HLT) agreed to an all-cash buyout.

In the deal, valued at $20.1 billion, Blackstone will purchase all of Hilton’s outstanding shares for $47.50 each. On a shortened trading day Tuesday, Hilton’s stock closed at $36.05 per share—up $2.18 on the day.

Blackstone’s stock nudged up slightly to $29.72—a 45-cent increase on the news.