S&P

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday with the S&P 500 stalled near a 10-month-old high after weak data on Europe's business activity raised concerns about a recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly climbed back above the psychologically important 13,000 level shortly before noon Tuesday for the first time since 2008.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said that it has affirmed Japan's sovereign debt rating at AA- along with maintaining its negative outlook as the country faces dismal fiscal position.

Stock index futures were little changed Friday as investors were set to take a breather from a rally that pushed the S&P 500 to a nine-month high in the previous session.

Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating of 15 Spanish banks on Monday, following its downgrade of the nation's sovereign long-term debt last month.

Ratings agencies Fitch lowered its ratings on four big Spanish banks while Standard & Poor's cut its rating for the industry as a whole on Monday following recent sovereign downgrades and on concerns of funding difficulties and a weak economy.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of 34 Italian banks after lowering the country's credit just a month earlier.

The nation's two largest banks, UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, had their credit ratings downgraded to BBB+ from A by S&P. The country's third largest bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, was downgraded to BBB from BBB+.

The Dow and S&P 500 advanced for a second day on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected consumer confidence data and hopes for further progress on a solution to Europe's fiscal mess bolstered sentiment.

This theory has held up in 35 of the past 45 years (a 78 percent success rate) going back to the very first Super Bowl in 1967.

After shares of Netflix hit rock bottom following an ill-fated business decision last September, the Los Gatos, Calif-based company has seen its shares go back up rather quickly.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned Monday that it may downgrade "a number of highly rated" Group of 20 countries in 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising health-care spending and other costs related to aging populations.

Just a week before futures brokerage MF Global filed for bankruptcy, the firm's chief financial officer told analysts at Standard & Poor's that its capital position had "never been stronger," according to the ratings agency

Stock index futures fell on Monday as concerns grew about the state of Europe's finances as Greece and Germany sparred over budget measures for Athens.

A tankless toilet so inspired Japan's Panasonic Corp. that the company will end their production of water-logged toilets and focus on the design alternative.

Plans to launch a European ratings agency to compete with Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings are at an advanced stage, and a new private institution could start business as soon as the first half of this year, German businessman Roland Berger told an Italian newspaper.

U.S. stocks posted their best week since Christmas, even with a mixed finish on Friday after comparatively strong earnings reports from tech bellwethers IBM and Intel Corp. contrasted with a relatively weak report from Google Inc.

Ratings agency Standard & Poors hit back at Italian prosecutors on Thursday after sources said its offices in Milan were visited by tax police pursuing a probe into the impact of S&P's reports on Italian share prices.

Credit rating agency says decision inevitable following cuts to creditworthiness of two EFSF guarantors, France and Austria.

Germany, the only major eurozone member to retain a top-notch credit rating, refused Monday to consider boosting the bloc's rescue fund, while Greece was under pressure to urgently break a deadlock in debt swap talks if it is to avoid an unruly default.

An exit from the euro by Greece appears likelier by the day.