Palash Ghosh

Shares of chip designer NVIDIA Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) are surging today, in what appears to be a delayed reaction to a series of good news surrounding the company.

The state of Illinois has passed measures to raise the personal income tax rate by 67 percent and business income tax rate by 46 percent in order to get a handle on the state’s huge budget deficit.

The American economy closed out 2010 on a relatively strong note, suggesting an improving economy for this year, according to the Federal Reserve’s “Beige Book” report, a nationwide survey of economic conditions.

Summary of Fed Beige Book, January 12, 2011

Wal-Mart’s (NYSE: WMT) efforts to establish its first footprint in the vast New York City market promises to be long and bumpy ride, as forces opposed to the discount retailing giant’s presence gather their resolve. Meanwhile, the company seems equally determined to build a store in the city.

In his first speech as Britain’s new Minister of Trade and Investment, Stephen Green (The Baron Green of Hurstpierpoint) emphasized the vital importance of China to British UK economy.

Analyst Meredith Whitney, who has faced enormous criticism over her dire warnings about the likelihood of up to 100 U.S. municipalities defaulting this year, reiterated her call. She further warned that when the defaults commence, the muni bond market will witness a massive exodus.

Deadly rioting in the North African nations of Tunisia and Algeria underscore a clash between peoples’ anger over harsh economic realities and totalitarian governments’ clampdown on any dissent.

The devastating floods that have inundated Queensland may significantly reduce Australia’s overall economic growth this year, according to an array of economists and analysts.

Stocks pushed modestly higher, buoyed by some better-than-expected earnings results from prominent companies like Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA).

Remarks by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the American Farm Bureau on January 10, 2011.

Some market observers are extremely concerned about the impact of high-frequency trading upon the overall stock market.

Despite a still-fragile U.S. economy and persistently high unemployment, The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the nation's largest donor-advised fund program, said its donors supported charities in record numbers in 2010.

Shares of gunmaker Sturm, Ruger & Co. (NYSE:RGR) are trading higher today apparently boosted by a surge in sales of handguns in Arizona following the weekend massacre in Tucson by Jared Lee Loughner.

Douglas Clayton, chief executive officer of investment fund manager Leopard Capital, is one of the premier investors of the frontier markets. Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Clayton speaks to IB Times about the ramifications of Laos opening a stock exchange.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) are plunging after the unexpected departure of the company chief executive officer, Dirk Meyer.

Shares of Supervalu (NYSE: SVU) are plunging this morning after the retail grocer posted a loss for the third quarter and slashed its full year profit outlook.

While the recent volatility in the Bangladesh stock market raises worries about investing in the so-called “frontier markets,” another developing country, Laos, has opened its own new stock marke

The new chief executive of Barclays plc, Bob Diamond, has told a Treasury Select Committee at the House of Commons that banks should not be bailed out by taxpayers and banks should be permitted to fail should they get into trouble.

The “suburbanization” of Manhattan will continue -- the 7-Eleven convenience store franchise plans to operate an astounding 100 stores in the borough by the year 2015, according to a report in Crain’s New York Business.

Stocks finished mixed, following a sell-off in Europe, on worries over Portugal possibly needing a financial bailout, ahead of the kick-off of the fourth-quarter earnings season.

California’s governor Jerry Brown has unveiled a budget plan for the state which will cut welfare spending in half, reduce the state university’s systems coffers by 20 percent and slash healthcare coverage for the poor.

The shocking (and highly ludicrous) news over the weekend that Mark Zuckerberg was going to shut down Facebook because it was causing him too much “stress” was only the latest in a long line of corporation-related hoaxes that have long amused, annoyed and bedeviled the public.

Education-related stocks are getting hammered this morning after a prominent company in the field, Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA) reported a 20 percent drop in poor enrollment for its latest winter term.

In a repeat of a similar scenario from last month, thousands of Bangladeshi investors rioted on the streets of Dhaka, angry after incurring huge losses on the stock market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.55 points, or 0.19 percent, to finish at 11.674.76. At one point the Dow was down as much as 100 points. The S&P 500 dropped 2.35 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1271.50; while the Nasdaq shed 6.72 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2703.17.

Robert DeNiro is widely regarded as one of the greatest – perhaps the greatest – living film actor. However, what exactly has DeNiro really accomplished in the last fifteen years?

More than 2-million people in the United Kingdom have used their credit cards to pay their mortgage or rent in the last twelve months, a 50 percent increase from the prior year, according to Shelter, the British housing and homelessness charity.

Bank shares are weakening after the Massachusetts State Supreme Judicial Court upheld a decision that two foreclosures from U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) were not valid because the banks did not properly show they held the mortgages at the time of the foreclosure.