MARKETS / FINANCE

The U.S. will donate an additional $17 million to nations in the Horn of Africa coping with severe drought, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced.

Stocks rose on Friday as mildly encouraging retail sales overshadowed weak consumer sentiment data, with lighter volume reflecting a drop in investor anxiety.

A split U.S. Appeals Court in Atlanta ruled Friday that a key provision of the 2010 U.S. health care reform act is unconstitutional, siding with a group of 26 states that challenged the law.

A piecemeal ban on short-selling of financial stocks in Europe sparked a rush of alternative proposals from countries and regulators Friday, while stronger bank shares pulled Europe's stocks higher.

News Corp shareholders angry over the hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate face an uphill fight trying to hold company executives and directors responsible in court.

Consumer sentiment worsened sharply in early August, falling to the lowest level in more than three decades, even though retail sales posted the biggest gains in four months in July, separate reports on Friday showed.

Business inventories rose slightly less than expected in June, suggesting firms remained cautious about future demand at the end of the second quarter.

U.S. companies are pouring their cash stockpiles into buying back their own shares, betting on a Wall Street rebound rather than investing in new operations or bumping up dividends.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Narayana Kockerlakota on Friday said he dissented from a U.S. central bank decision to keep interest rates low until mid-2013 because he felt more policy easing wasn't needed.

Companies are pouring their cash stockpiles into buying back their own shares, betting on a Wall Street rebound rather than investing in new operations or bumping up dividends.

When Chinese journalist Wang Keqin found himself cornered in the countryside two years ago by police who were trying to stop him looking into a rape case involving local officials, he looked online for help.

Retail sales in July posted their biggest gain since March, tempering fears that the world's largest economy might be slipping back into recession.

U.S. stocks rose about 1 percent on Friday as mildly encouraging retail sales put the S&P on track for a two-day winning streak for the first time since mid-July as investors shrugged off weak consumer sentiment data.

U.S. stocks rose about 1 percent on Friday as mildly encouraging retail sales put the S&P on track for a two-day winning streak for the first time since mid-July as investors shrugged off weak consumer sentiment data.

This year's explosion in gold and related assets comes on the 25th anniversary of a hit single that offers an uncannily relevant message for the Wall Street establishment: It is "Hip to Be Square."

Underscoring divisions at the U.S. central bank, one top policymaker on Friday said he had cut his forecast for economic growth, even as another said he saw no economic need for new monetary stimulus.

Disappointing economic growth in the first half of 2011 clearly can not be blamed only on one-off factors, one of the central bank's most influential policymakers said on Friday, adding he had cut his expectations for the pace of the recovery.

One of the central bank's most influential policymakers said on Friday he does not expect the economy to suffer a double-dip recession.

European fund managers led a chorus of criticism of a two-week short-selling ban slapped on four euro zone stock markets on Friday, with restrictions seen more likely to nurture erratic trading than eliminate it.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rounded out the super committee by announcing her three House Democratic members for the special bipartisan board. Now the tough work begins: reducing the deficit by at least another $1.5 trillion over 10 years, and as far as the financial markets are concerned, the sooner the reduction is announced, the better.

The Italian government will pass a sweeping package of cuts and tax increases at a cabinet meeting Friday as it scrambles to meet European Central Bank demands for action to shore up confidence in its public finances.

Consumer sentiment worsened sharply in early August, falling to the lowest index level since 1980, even though retail sales posted the biggest gains in three months in July, separate reports on Friday showed.

Stocks rose on Friday as mildly upbeat retail sales data offset a weak reading on consumer sentiment, with the S&P on course to notch up a second winning day.

Gold and silver mining company stocks fell Friday as the broader equity markets posted gains, extending for a second day their rebound from this month's horrendous downdraft.

Shares of Nvidia Corp rose as much as 11 percent on Friday on the company's strong third-quarter revenue forecast, but brokerage Evercore Partners said it was surprised with the lack of growth of the graphics card maker's much-touted Tegra processors.

LONDON/NEW YORK - An anorexic under doctor's orders to put on weight might fret unnecessarily about getting fat one day.

Gold prices fell on Friday, extending the previous session's retreat from record highs as fresh strength in equity markets and gains in the euro versus the safe-haven Swiss franc pointed to sharper appetite for risk.

Toronto-based Primero Mining Corp., a precious metals producer, said Friday it expects its common shares to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday under the symbol "PPP."

Consumer sentiment worsened sharply in early August, falling to the lowest index level since 1980, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading.