IBT Staff Reporter

China's economy slowed in the first quarter to its weakest pace on record, but an improvement in data for March offered tentative signs that the worst may be over for the world's third-largest economy.

Money manager J. Ezra Merkin has provided regulators with information as they investigate the $65 billion Ponzi fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff, a New York judge said ruling released on Wednesday.

One of the nation’s largest public pension funds says it is looking to buy assets which are a part of the U.S. government’s $700 billion program to help banks sell off the illiquid investments.

British hedge fund manager Crispin Odey of Odey Asset Management said on Wednesday that he believes the current U.S. stock market rally could be lasting.

The U.S. will release the methods it used to measure the health of the nation’s 19 largest banks ahead of the release of the results of the so-called “stress tests” which would indicate which banks were in need of further government help, according to a report.

U.S. Energy trader SemGroup LP spiraled into bankruptcy last year after its top executives lied about its liquidity problems and mismanaged a speculative trading strategy, according to a report released by the company's court-appointed examiner on Wednesday.

China's economy slowed in the first quarter to its weakest pace on record, but an improvement in data for March offers tentative signs that the worst may be over for the world's third-largest economy.

China's annual gross domestic product growth slowed in the first quarter to 6.1 percent from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

General Motors Corp has told U.S. dealers it is accelerating its timetable for closing about 1,700 dealerships as it rushes to meet a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, people with knowledge of the discussions said.

General Motors Corp has told U.S. dealers it is accelerating its timetable for closing about 1,700 dealerships as it rushes to meet a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, people with knowledge of the discussions said.

Australia’s Largest airline, Qantas Airways, said Tuesday it would cut 1750 job due to the current in the economic crisis, as S&P cuts its rating from BBB+ to BBB.

New York Governor David Paterson will introduce legislation on Thursday to make gay marriage legal, but the move faces an uncertain vote in the state's Senate.

Microsoft released a beta version of Exchange Server 2010 enabling users to familiarize themselves with new features and capability, while also helping the company find problems.

The U.S. economy continued to weaken in March and early April but the speed of contraction was fading amid scattered signs the country's recession may be nearing an end, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

Fiat SpA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne turned up the heat on talks with struggling U.S. automaker Chrysler on Wednesday as General Motors Corp confirmed a possible buyer for its Saturn network.

Real money investors sat out the March stock market rally and are probably waiting for a second one around June or July, the head of the world's biggest stock exchange, NYSE Euronext , said in a newspaper interview.

Global shipments of personal computers slid 7.1 percent in the first quarter, industry tracker IDC said on Wednesday, although falling prices and the increasing popularity of netbooks helped keep sales from slipping even further.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for a coordinated international effort to fight piracy off the Horn of Africa and said she would send an envoy to a Somali donors conference to pursue new anti-piracy steps.

Technology magazines, facing dwindling advertising and lost luster for big-ticket gadgets, may be turning their attention to helping readers make home improvements or beef-up devices they already own.

As a deep recession strips Americans of their jobs, homes and investments, the 2009 U.S. tax season promises to see a large uptick in first-time delinquent income taxpayers.

President Barack Obama made nearly $2.5 million in 2008 from the sales of his two best-selling memoirs, according to tax information released by the White House on Wednesday.

Six large U.S. banks could pocket nearly $10 billion in federal subsidies if they modify troubled home loans and are able to save homeowners from foreclosure, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government will release some results of its bank stress tests in May with the goal to stabilize the ailing banking sector, the White House said on Wednesday.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday declined to label China a currency manipulator, retreating from tough talk last year when a campaigning Barack Obama said Beijing had kept its currency's exchange rate unfairly low.

On Wednesday consumer product shares rose in a late rally as the recession revealed signs that it could be coming to an end.

U.S. oil and natural gas drilling activity dropped 22 percent from a year ago in the first quarter of 2009, reaching levels not seen since 2004, the American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday.

Life is not getting easier for the American consumer, according to three big companies whose wares range from fast food to consumer goods to credit cards.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve said despite the continued weakness in the U.S. economy, the rate of the economic shrinkage was lowering.

AT&T is in negotiations with Apple to extend its exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. from 2010 until 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.