Stocks opened flat on Thursday as a weak reading on the labor market and rumors of a French sovereign debt downgrade offset better-than-expected results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
Human Genome Sciences Inc has rejected an unsolicited bid worth around $2.6 billion from long-time partner GlaxoSmithKline Plc, marking a new takeover battle in a drugs sector that has been swept by M&A recently.
Morgan Stanley's first-quarter results beat expectations, as trading revenue rose sharply and the bank's wealth management business began to improve, sending its shares up in premarket trading on Thursday.
Stock index futures trimmed early gains on Thursday, tracking European markets lower, as speculation swirled that France's sovereign debt rating may be downgraded.
Morgan Stanley lost money during the first quarter because a quirky accounting rule cost the bank $2 billion, but excluding that special item, its earnings rose on stronger wealth-management revenue and cost cutting.
Stock index futures rose on Thursday after Spain sold all of its debt at an auction and ahead of a raft of corporate earnings and economic data.
Stock index futures rose on Thursday after Spain sold all of its debt at an auction and ahead of a raft of corporate earnings and economic data.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), the exalted New York house of finance that is a veritable icon of white-shoe Wall Street firms, is expected to report first-quarter financial results Thursday somewhat weaker than a year-ago, a consensus of bank analysts has noted, as the firm is unlikely to have benefited as much as peers from positive developments that lifted large-cap U.S. banks during the first quarter.
The U.S. economic outlook for next year is being shadowed by what economists are calling the fiscal cliff of 2013 -- the expiration of enormous tax cuts and transfer payments.
Citigroup Inc posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter results as bond trading and underwriting revenue jumped compared with the 2011 fourth quarter.
Citigroup Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as the third-largest bank cut expenses and benefited from an improved economy and more active capital markets after a dismal end to 2011.
The Morgan Stanley investment banker accused of a hate crime in the assault of an Egyptian-born taxi driver over a fare is due back in a Connecticut court next week.
That Wall Street expects J.P. Morgan to outperform its peers shouldn't come as a surprise. Besides being the biggest, it's arguably among the three or four most stable big banks.
The former chief executive of online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp has emerged as a favorite for the top job at Freddie Mac , the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Chesapeake Energy Corp, the second largest natural gas producer in the US, said on Monday that it has finalized three deals to sell its assets, which will raise $2.6 billion, as it faces cash crunch and a rising debt.
Splunk Inc., a developer of software that helps companies analyze data, plans to sell 13.5 million shares for $8 to $10 in its initial public offering.
U.S. employers hired 120,000 workers in March, well below economists' forecast, and the smallest gain since October, signaling the economy could be losing momentum.
Following the tradition of big tech companies like Google and Apple, Facebook has reportedly chosen to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FB. The report comes from The New York Times, which cites Facebook insiders with knowledge of the matter.
Two of the most iconic American brands suffered setbacks to their credit ratings on Wednesday, evidence that some of the nation's most visible economic engines could face higher borrowing costs.
Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) set another record high Tuesday after three more analysts boosted their targets, although none as high as the $1,001 set Monday by Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets.
U.S. manufacturing grew alongside the overall economy in March, rising 1 percent over the previous month's level, according to the March purchasing managers index (PMI) of the Institute for Supply Management.
Asian shares eased for a second day in a row Thursday, as investors limited their risk exposures on concerns about growth prospects in the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.
