U.S.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday for a second day, led by a drop in financial shares amid news of further credit market problems, lower retail sales at J.C. Penney, and Wells Fargo's dour assessment of the housing market.

Stocks were set to open lower on Thursday after cautious outlooks from J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Applied Materials Inc added to fears about the profit picture, while nervousness about the credit market persisted.

New applications for U.S. jobless aid rose more than expected to 339,000 last week, and the more-reliable four-week moving average held steady at a 6-month high, government data released on Thursday showed.

For a ruler who's given himself ultimate powers, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has provoked an awful lot of doubt over how long he can survive.

Progress has been made towards answering suspicions North Korea tried to enrich uranium for atom bombs but the issue is by no means solved, the chief U.S. negotiator on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament said on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks snapped a four-day losing streak on Tuesday with Nasdaq notching its biggest gain in more than four years after news that Apple Inc was in talks to offer iPhones in China sent investors bargain hunting among battered technology stocks. years after news that Apple Inc was in talks to offer iPhones in China sent investors bargain hunting among battered technology stocks.

The U.S. Defense Department on Tuesday informed lawmakers about a possible sale to Taiwan of Patriot missile system upgrades valued at $939 million and supplied by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co.

Stocks, rebounding from a string of losses, rose 1 percent on Tuesday on higher-than-expected profit at Wal-Mart Stores Inc and oil prices below $93 a barrel.

Stocks rose on Monday, rebounding from last week's heavy losses as investors hunted for bargains in financial services and other sectors.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie had plenty of sting left during its second weekend, replacing American Gangster as the No. 1 choice for North American moviegoers.

Any new signs that the economy continues to decelerate could make it hard for stocks to regain their footing in the coming days after last week's bruising sell-off and a drop in consumer sentiment to a two-year low.

Stocks fell for a third session on Friday after a disappointing outlook from Qualcomm Inc triggered more weakness in technology shares and helped send the Nasdaq down to its biggest weekly point loss since the September 11, 2001, attacks. The wireless technology developer late Thursday forecast 2008 earnings and revenue below analysts' expectations, a day after Cisco Systems Inc warned about demand from its customers in the banking sector.

Stocks fell on Friday, hit by a drop in technology shares, including Microsoft Corp, on concern about the profit outlook, while news of more credit losses dragged on financial services companies.

Stocks fell for a second straight day on Thursday, led by declines in the Nasdaq after tech bellwether Cisco Systems Inc signaled the credit crisis was hurting demand from key customers, including banks. A late-day rebound in beaten-down financial stocks, however, pulled the indexes well off their worst levels of the day.

Technology stocks fell on Thursday as investors worried that the spillover from the credit crisis may be starting to hurt business spending.

S&P 500 and Dow stock futures rose on Thursday as shares of natural resources companies, including Alcoa Inc, gained after BHP Billiton disclosed it had made a bid for rival miner Rio Tinto.

Stocks fell on Wednesday as fear of more credit market turmoil raised worry about prospects for the economy and profits. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office was sending subpoenas to government-sponsored mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a probe of the home loan industry.

Stocks rose on Tuesday as oil prices topped $97 a barrel and lifted shares of Exxon Mobil Corp and other energy producers, while optimism a day ahead of Cisco Systems Inc earnings drove another rally in technology shares. Investors hunted for bargains among beaten-down bank and financial services shares after the previous session's sell-off left the sector near two-year lows.

Stocks erased gains and were little changed on Tuesday as a brokerage's dour view on Microsoft Corp weighed on technology shares, while investors worried that record crude oil prices could squeeze consumers and corporations.

U.S. stock index futures rose ahead of Wall Street's opening on Tuesday, with a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke likely to take centre stage as corporate and economic data diaries look thin.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday amid continuing uncertainty over the health of the financial markets, brought into greater doubt with Citigroup’s huge write-down on losses related to mortgage-backed securities. Citi said Monday it could post as much as $11 billion in additional write-downs losses, without reassuring investors that more write-downs are on the way.