The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell as expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, while those continuing to receive benefits dropped to the lowest level in over a year.
Stock index futures ticked higher on Thursday as retailers posted better-than-expected sales for February and as investors awaited the latest data on the labor and housing markets.
Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said he supports a federal consumer protection authority, because a key lesson of the crisis is that issues influencing consumers can become issues for the whole financial system.
Stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors awaited data on the labor and housing markets, along with a report on January U.S. factory orders.
Any job losses from Prudential Plc's planned $35.5 billion acquisition of American International Group's Asian insurance arm will be mainly in back-office operations and not among sales forces, the companies' CEOs told staff in Asia, sources said.
The Obama administration reasserted its commitment to banning proprietary trading by banks with draft legislative language on Wednesday, despite signs that Congress is unlikely to adopt such a rule.
World stocks slipped on Thursday while the euro held above a recent 9-month low against the dollar as the European Central Bank prepared to announce next steps in stimulus withdrawal after its policy meeting.
Anheuser-Busch InBev forecast a challenging start to 2010 with US volumes under pressure after mixed fourth-quarter results.
Asian shares failed to hold on to their early gains, slipping into negative territory as worries about Greece and the outlook for the global economy made investors cautious.
Asian shares eked out gains and the euro extended its rise on Thursday after Greece announced fresh austerity measures to reduce its deficit and on data pointing to a rebound in the U.S. jobs market.
The United States, France and other Western powers are preparing a plan for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program and hope to persuade Russia and China to back it.
Frightened by more heavy aftershocks, coastal residents in Chile camped out on hillsides on Thursday, five days after one of the strongest earthquakes in a century killed more than 800 people.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai must take significant steps to fight corruption, the U.S. military's top officer said on Wednesday, suggesting Washington was concerned inaction could undercut the campaign against the Taliban.
The Obama administration reasserted its commitment to banning proprietary trading by banks with draft legislative language on Wednesday, despite signs that the U.S. Congress is unlikely to adopt such a rule.
The two largest U.S. military shipyards warned on Wednesday that the U.S. Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan funded 13 fewer surface ships in the near term, which would likely result in layoffs across the industry and higher shipbuilding costs.
Starbucks Corp said that its cafes in UK and Japan will soon sell its Via instant coffee, which helped boost same-store sales at U.S. outlets in the latest quarter.
Wells Fargo & Co , the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, paid Chief Executive John Stumpf compensation worth $21.3 million for 2009, a package that likely makes him the highest-paid U.S. bank CEO, according to materials filed with U.S. regulators.
U.S. health regulators warned units of Nestle and more than a dozen other foodmakers about overstating or misstating the nutritional value of baby food, nuts and other products on their labels.
Nortel Networks Corp said it received U.S. and Canadian court approval for the sale of its carrier Voice over Internet Protocol and application solutions business to Genband Inc for about $182 million.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazil's support on Wednesday for more sanctions against Iran and said Tehran would not talk seriously about its nuclear program until the United Nations took new action.
The top House Republican is attempting to open the way for voters to see debates about U.S. finances and a key report recommending fixes for the budget deficit ahead of November's elections.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, an executive credited with bringing an urgency to the automaker's efforts to revamp its vehicle line-up and shake off negative consumer perceptions, will retire on May 1, General Motors Co said on Wednesday.