UNEMPLOYMENT

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Thursday are: AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, Altria, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Motorola Solutions, Colgate-Palmolive, Celgene and Lockheed Martin.

Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to a record low in 2010, as the country’s economy records the fastest growth since 1985.

Retail sales in debt-stricken Spain fell sharply in December 2010, recording a decline in sales for the sixth consecutive month.

History has shown that the ratio between the median cost of a new home and the median household income in the U.S. is a key indicator of how the overall economy will perform.

The price of Gold Bullion rallied from its lowest level since 28th Oct. early in London on Wednesday, but remained nearly $100 per ounce off Dec.'s all-time highs in what dealers called very quiet trade ahead of today's US Federal Reserve announcement on monetary policy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept its key interest rate unchanged at the record low range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent, as widely expected. The FOMC also remained committed to its $600-billion Treasury purchase program.

Full-text of FOMC policy statement of Jan. 26, 2011.

Unless the U.S. addresses [its] fiscal problem, we’re going to see a train wreck, said Nouriel Roubini.

Algeria must urgently create jobs for its young unemployed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report published on Wednesday, highlighting a problem that has fuelled unrest throughout the region.

Algeria confirmed it bought almost a million tonnes of wheat on Wednesday and ordered an urgent speeding up of grain imports, a move seen heading off unrest over food prices as protests swept north Africa.

Thousands of Egyptians defied a ban on protests by returning to Egypt's streets on Wednesday and calling for President Hosni Mubarak to leave office, and some scuffled with police.

Americans' trust in institutions of all kinds dropped last year as persistently high unemployment sapped people's confidence in business and government, a newly released study found.

Senator Paul Ryan delivered the official Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech on Thursday. The following is the full text.

New home sales in the U.S. in December climbed to 329,000 on annual basis, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting that the housing market remained moderately robust despite an unsustainable unemployment rate and high foreclosures.

Egypt said on Wednesday it would ban demonstrations and detain protesters, seeking to draw a line under unprecedented protests against President Hosni Mubarak's rule.

President Barack Obama reminded Congress in his annual address Tuesday that in the U.S. We do big things, as he urged a united approach to resolving the nation's jobs and economic problems by spending in ways that will boost U.S. competitiveness globally while simultaneously reducing the nation's high deficits.

American Small Business League (ASBL) said President Obama relied on the same tired rhetoric, while continuing to ignore billions of dollars in job killing abuse in small business contracting programs.

Thousands of Egyptians across the nation staged protests on the streets against Hosni Mubarak’s regime demanding political concessions including ending emergency laws, freedom for political activity and a limit on the president’s tenure in office.

President Barack Obama aims to rise above party politics in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, but he must prove he is serious about tackling the budget deficit that could unleash a bitter partisan fight.

Thousands of Egyptians protested against the state on Tuesday in a rare show of strength to mark what online activists said was a Day of Wrath inspired by the revolt that toppled Tunisia's president.

Northeast Asia's booming economy and its largely untapped youth market are the cornerstone of South Korea's 2018 bid to host the first Winter Olympics in the region for 20 years, its bid chief said.