Bhaskar Prasad

The US stocks rose Monday on the back of strong manufacturing data, lifting Dow Jones Industrial Average to the highest level since 2007.

Eurozone finance ministers agreed at a meeting in Copenhagen on Friday to increase the bailout lending limit to 700 billion euros ($930 billion), a move aimed at reassuring financial markets wary of a Eurozone default and dampening the crippling debt crisis of the past few years.

At a time when the US job numbers have started to improve, the looming cuts in defense budget can play spoilsport. The Pentagon said last week thousands of jobs can be lost across the defense industry if lawmakers do not act decisively to ensure that the possible $500-billion cuts are prevented.

Japan's government approved on Friday a bill to double the nation's consumption tax by 2015, which is seen as an important step towards putting the public finances on a sustainable path.

After its final stock trading on the secondary market, Facebook Inc was valued at $102.8 billion.

An audit by the Fair Labor Association has raised serious concerns over the working conditions at the Chinese factories of Foxconn Technology Group, which manufactures Apple products.

Retail sales in Japan increased 3.5 percent year-on-year in February, supported by subsidies on cars and higher fuel prices, according to data from the Japanese ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Research In Motion Limited, the Canadian smartphone maker, Thursday reported that its fourth-quarter net loss was $125 million, raising concerns about its future and forcing its CEO to announce strategic plans to revamp the company.

The next major reform in China’s exchange rate policy is likely to be a widening of the renminbi’s daily trading band with the dollar, according to analysts.

Russia and India will start to trade in domestic currencies within the next three years according to the Chairman of Russian Development Bank.

As leaders of the emerging world powers, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) meet today in New Delhi, the focus is on the bloc's efforts to set up a development bank which will bring together resources required for development, especially in the infrastructure sector.

Oracle has rejected an offer made by Google to pay it a percentage of the revenue from its Android mobile operating system, if the verdict in the patent infringement suit goes against the search giant.

The 542 percent increase, to $103.9 billion in 2011 from $16.2 billion in 2000, makes China the third-biggest export market for the United States after Canada and Mexico.

E-commerce website CafePress said on Tuesday it will raise $85.5 million through the initial public offering of 4.5 million common stock shares, priced $19 apiece.

US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, following poor consumer confidence data and a fall in the property value index.

One of baseball's storied franchises went for a record-shattering price, clearing the way for an end to the drama surrounding current owner Frank McCourt and his ex-wife.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first limits on carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants, a move cheered by environmentalists as a positive step toward addressing a pollutant linked to climate change.

Argentina’s economy expanded at a lower rate in the fourth quarter than in the previous quarter due to a slackening in the manufacturing sector and weaker consumer sentiment.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook is on a visit to China, its second largest market after the US, and the company has said it is eyeing greater investments in the country.

Private aviation firm NetJets Inc, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has said it is setting up a joint venture in China to cash in on the rapidly growing popularity of private air travel in the country.

Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi's state investment fund, said Monday that it will invest $2 billion in the EBX group of Brazil.

Eye care company Bausch & Lomb (BOL) will acquire Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc for $500 million, according to a joint statement made by the two companies on Monday.

The average price of gasoline in the US rose to $3.92 per gallon, an increase of 11.49 cents in the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey conducted across the nation.

Vietnam’s GDP for the first quarter declined to 4 percent from the last quarter growth of 6.1 percent, according to data released by the government.

Two US senators have called on the federal agencies to investigate whether employers are violating federal law by requesting Facebook passwords from interviewees. Senators Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, have asked the Department of Justice and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to commence investigations.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) announced on Sunday a 2 percent rise in profit for the year 2011 thanks to higher oil prices and increasing fuel sales.

Growth is likely to be weak in the near term for New Zealand as the temporary boost from the Rugby World Cup unwinds, according to Capital Economics.

Yahoo Inc. announced Sunday that it has appointed three new independent directors following a failure to arrive at a settlement with Third Point LLC, its largest shareholder that owns about 5.15 percent of shares.

Canada's economy will grow by 2.5 percent this quarter, analysts have said. The economy had expanded 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.