FEDERAL RESERVE

Oil price gains to date do not pose a risk to the U.S. economy but they could prove nettlesome if they jump a lot higher or create an inflationary psychology, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker said on Friday.

The inflation debate is raging in the UK among policy makers. Meanwhile, the only inflation hawk and dissenting voter on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Thomas Hoenig, is no longer a voting member this year.

A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Thursday he thinks it is time to consider tapering off or scaling back a $600 billion bond-buying program because of an improved economic outlook.

U.S. regulators' efforts to settle with banks over improper mortgage foreclosures are being hampered by infighting among the groups involved in the talks, and a settlement may take a while, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Wall Street's financial giants continue to pose major risks to the U.S. economy, and must be broken up to avoid another meltdown, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig said on Wednesday.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia - jointly the world's biggest oil producer alongside Russia, and so far immune to the civil unrest sweeping North Africa and the Middle East - returned from hospital treatment abroad to announce a near US$38 billion package of new housing projects, a 15% pay-rise across the board, and the kingdom's first-ever unemployment insurance.

Althea Norwood Roberts gives employers three months to turn her temporary job into a permanent one. Then she looks elsewhere. That's as long as a company needs to see if she's a good fit, the 35-year old single mother from California believes.

US stocks rose modestly higher on Friday, with S&P 500 Index up 2.52 points, or 0.19 percent, to trade at 1,342.98 at 12:00 p.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 42.16 points, or 0.34 percent, to trade at 12,360.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.23 percent to trade at 2,837.98.

China rejected plans to use real exchange rates and currency reserves to measures global economic imbalances, casting doubt on the ability of Group of 20 major economic powers to reach agreement at a meeting on Friday.

US stocks were mixed on Friday, with S&P 500 Index edging down 0.27 points, or 0.02 percent, to trade at 1,340.21 at 09:50 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 14.04 points, or 0.11 percent, to trade at 12,332.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.07 percent to trade at 2,833.52.

U.S. stocks finished at fresh multi-year high on Thursday as improved corporate earnings and manufacturing data overshadowed a bigger than expected rise in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposal to Congress showed a small decline from what is expected to be the previous year's budget, with the deficit set to decrease by nearly a third thanks mostly to higher taxes.

U.S. stocks finished at fresh multi-year high on Thursday as improved corporate earnings and manufacturing data overshadowed a bigger than expected rise in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

U.S. stocks finished at fresh multi-year high on Thursday as improved corporate earnings and manufacturing data overshadowed a bigger than expected rise in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

You can't really blame financial hacks for getting things so wrong, so often. Because every financial decision you now make is a speculation on interest rates. And so pretty much every story a financial journalist might choose to write must start and end with the same speculation, built on the inaction of each monthly central-bank vote.

When a New Jersey family with an autistic child walks into the state office seeking help, Norlande Perpignan is often the first person they see. A clerk making $41,082 a year at the Division of Developmental Disabilities, Perpignan, 40, is also on the front lines of a national debate about public spending, taxes and a fiscal crisis facing local governments.

There are now increasing concerns that rising Treasury yields will begin to push stock prices lower and punish new entrants to the equity market. Our view is that there is still plenty of room for risk-free interest rates to rise without having a negative impact on the current equity rally.

Manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area soared in February, climbing to its highest level since January 2004.

Does the unemployment rate is really improving as the US labor force participation rate has been trending downward since 2000?

Asian stock markets mostly ended higher on Thursday as higher growth forecast for the U.S economy from the Federal Reserve and solid earnings reports buoyed sentiment.

Visa and banks will press lawmakers on Thursday for relief from a proposed slashing of debit card processing fees, an issue that has attracted bipartisan support for softening the impact of part of the Dodd-Frank financial law.