NEW YORK (AP) -- Target Corp. is reporting a 29 percent drop in first-quarter profits as cool temperatures and financial pressures limited customers' appetite for spending.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to slow its extraordinary stimulus programs.... Read More
TOKYO (AP) -- A steady fall in the value of the yen is proving a godsend for exporters such as Toyota. The cheaper yen is making their products more affordable overseas.... Read More
The price of oil fell near $95 a barrel Wednesday as the nation's oil supply fell less than expected and demand for gasoline remained weak.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes ticked up last month to the highest level in three and a half years, helped by a jump in the number of houses for sale.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lowe's said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income rose nearly 3 percent, but results fell short of expectations as rainy weather hurt spring gardening sales.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wynn Resorts kept a suite open all year at its tony Las Vegas hotel and casino for founder and CEO Steve Wynn, at a cost of nearly $452,000.... Read More
DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit auto factories are forgoing their traditional two-week summer break and speeding up production to meet buyers' growing demand for new cars and trucks.... Read More
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's trade deficit widened to a larger-than-expected 879.9 billion yen ($8.6 billion) in April as its weakening currency accentuated surging import costs.... Read More
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Jamie Dimon, the CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, easily survived a vote Tuesday that would have called on him to give up his role as chairman of the nation's largest bank. But shareholders sent a message that the bank needs better oversight by giving only narrow approval to three of the bank's board members.... Read More
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Best Buy Co. on Tuesday reported a loss for its fiscal first quarter as it sold its stake in Best Buy Europe and works on a turnaround plan that includes cutting costs and closing some stores.... Read More
DETROIT (AP) -- Volkswagen is replacing the fuel tank covers on more than 200,000 of its diesel vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada to remind owners to fill their tanks with diesel - not gasoline.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Home Depot Inc.'s first-quarter net income rose 18 percent, thanks to the ongoing housing recovery, despite a chilly and wet spring.... Read More
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) -- Merck & Co Inc. said it will repurchase $5 billion worth of its common stock under an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co.... Read More
Shareholders at JPMorgan Chase voted to let Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of the nation's largest bank, keep both his jobs Tuesday. Dimon also received strong support to be re-elected to the bank's board.... Read More
FED WATCH: Stock indexes wobbled in early trading Tuesday, then turned higher just before noon. That's when news crossed that James Bullard, a Federal Reserve official, told an audience that the Fed should stick with its bond-buying effort to bolster the economy.... Read More
The price of corn fell after U.S. farmers planted record amounts of corn last week, easing concern that earlier planting delays would harm this year's crop.... Read More
PARIS (AP) -- The man charged with reviving France's shrinking economy and attracting businesses to invest here is gaining a reputation for doing the opposite.... Read More
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The chief executive of aerospace giant United Technologies Corp. is optimistic about an improving economy and airline industry.... Read More
LONDON (AP) -- British luxury brand Burberry said Tuesday that rapidly improving business in developing markets was offset by the end of a perfume licensing deal, dragging net profit down 3 percent for the year.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups was "unacceptable and inexcusable" and he has directed the agency's acting director to hold people accountable.... Read More
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Germany's central bank expects the country's economy to improve "markedly" in the second quarter - a development that could boost the wider eurozone as it struggles to get out of recession.... Read More
LONDON (AP) -- U.K.-based mobile telecoms company Vodafone has reported a 1.9 increase in annual profits despite a slowdown in much of its European operations.... Read More
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Americans got better about paying their credit card debt on time in the first three months of the year, a period when many borrowers use income tax returns to tackle their holiday season debt.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said late Monday he will begin tapping into two government employee retirement funds to buy more time before the U.S. Treasury is faced with the prospect of defaulting on the national debt.... Read More
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Meeting Warren Buffett was exciting, but 10-year-old Matthew Meyer said winning $5,000 and 10 shares of stock in Buffett's company made Monday the best day of his life.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Actavis is buying Warner Chilcott in an all-stock deal valued at about $8.5 billion that would create the third-biggest specialty pharmaceutical company in the U.S. market.... Read More
United Airlines put its 787 back in the air on Monday, with both the airline and Boeing hoping to put the plane's four-month grounding behind them.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with rates on three-month bills unchanged while rates on six-month bills rose to the highest level in five weeks.... Read More
BACK IN THE AIR: United Flight 1 flew from Houston to Chicago, the first passenger flight on the airline's 787 since they were grounded in January.... Read More
THE NEW GUY: Chesapeake Energy named Anadarko Petroleum executive Robert Douglas Lawler as its new CEO. Lawler is a petroleum engineer with 25 years of experience in the exploration and production industry.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Royalty Pharma has raised its offer to buy Elan on the condition that shareholders reject the Irish drugmaker's push to refocus its business through a string of recently announced deals, including two new deals unveiled Monday.... Read More
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- A judge in Delaware ordered attorneys for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to turn over more information to shareholders seeking records on how the company responded to allegations of bribery involving its operations in Mexico.... Read More
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- A Delaware bankruptcy judge has given final approval to the reorganization plan of failed battery maker A123 Systems Inc., which was the recipient of a $249 million Department of Energy grant.... Read More
DUBLIN (AP) -- Ryanair reported record profits Monday as Europe's largest budget airline expanded its route network across the continent and into North Africa.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health regulators say an experimental insomnia drug from Merck can help patients fall asleep, but it also carries worrisome side effects, including daytime drowsiness and suicidal thinking.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumer spending is likely to pick up this year, while government spending declines at a faster rate, according to a survey of business economists.... Read More
Facebook made its debut on the stock market a year ago on May 18 in one of the largest IPOs in history and the biggest for any Internet company.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says pessimists forecasting that the economy will not reap sizable benefits from the computer revolution are likely to be proven wrong.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators are ordering the Bank of Montreal to take steps to correct lapses in oversight that could allow the bank to be used for money laundering.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- A research report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says younger baby boomers and Generation Xers face an uncertain retirement because of reduced savings, high levels of debt, and losses during the Great Recession.... Read More
DETROIT (AP) -- Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, closing above their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation cleared the House on Friday that would place stricter requirements on the federal agency overseeing Wall Street to assess the costs and benefits of its regulations before they are issued.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's largest retail industry organization fired back Friday, outlining reasons why a legally binding global pact to make Bangladesh clothing factories safer would expose merchants to undue legal exposure. The move came as U.S. retailers face increasing pressure from a large coalition of religious groups and investors to work together to develop a plan.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Transocean Ltd. shareholders have voted out the oil drilling company's chairman and backed one of Carl Icahn's director nominees.... Read More
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- Cyprus on Friday got rid of limits on money transfers and withdrawals for international clients of another eight foreign banks doing business in the debt-laden country.... Read More
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The Mexican government says it has cut its economic growth forecast for 2013 from 3.5 percent to 3.1 after exports stagnated and first-quarter GDP figures came in weak.... Read More
HOUSTON (AP) -- Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. remains unchanged this week, at 1,769.... Read More
ROME (AP) -- Italy's new cross-party government has adopted its first measures to help the economy. They include suspending a tax on primary residences and allocating funds to extend a short-term layoff scheme.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Solid hiring helped lower unemployment rates in 40 U.S. states last month, the most since November. The declines show the job market is improving throughout most of the country.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bloomberg LP, the financial news and information service, on Friday said it has appointed Samuel Palmisano, the former CEO of IBM, as an independent adviser on its privacy and data standards.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- The former CEO of Tuesday Morning has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the discount retailer, saying she was fired just months after revealing she had breast cancer.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A measure of the U.S. economy's future health rose solidly in April, buoyed by a sharp rise in applications to build homes and a better job market.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Tableau Software shares soared in their trading debut Friday after the company and some of its investors raised about $254.2 million in its initial public offering.... Read More
MILAN (AP) -- The European auto industry may be showing the first signs of a slowdown in its sales free-fall, according to data from the European automaker's association.... Read More
PRAGUE (AP) -- Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev says it no longer has plans to acquire Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, with whom it has been fighting a long legal battle over the use of the "Budweiser" brand.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Total U.S. money market mutual fund assets fell $1.04 billion to $2.582 trillion for the week that ended Wednesday, according to the Investment Company Institute.... Read More
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- In a quest to speed up the boarding process, American Airlines is letting passengers board sooner if they travel lightly.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose this week but stayed near their historic lows. Cheaper mortgages have helped the economy by spurring more home-buying and refinancing.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter net income fell 3 percent, hurt by weak demand for spring merchandise and softer performance in the Northeast and Midwest.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A rule intended to loosen the largest U.S. banks' control over the trading of complex investments and help safeguard the financial system was weakened Thursday by regulators.... Read More
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A federal judge has ordered Dow Chemical Co. to pay $1.21 billion in damages after it lost a class-action lawsuit that accused it of conspiring to fix prices.... Read More
DETROIT (AP) -- Only two of 13 small SUVs performed well in front-end crash tests done by an insurance industry group, with several popular models faring poorly in the evaluations.... Read More
HOME BUILDING: U.S. builders broke ground on fewer homes in April, one month after topping the 1 million mark for the first time since 2008. Construction fell 16.5 percent in April, but most of the decline was in apartment construction, which tends to vary sharply from month to month.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. airlines charged more in fares and fees and reduced debt as they improved their financial performance in the first quarter.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Aluminum smelter and parts-maker Alcoa said on Thursday that it will close down two production lines at a plant in Canada and cut about 500 jobs there because of lower aluminum prices.... Read More
BIG PRICE DROP: A plunge in the cost of gas drove down a measure of U.S. consumer prices last month by the most since December 2008. The consumer price index fell 0.4 percent in April from March.... Read More
APPLICATIONS JUMP: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose 32,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the most since late March. Weekly applications are a proxy for layoffs.... Read More
WIPED OUT: Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the embattled socialist government of Venezuela says it will import 50 million rolls of toilet paper to boost supplies.... Read More
MILAN (AP) -- Global sales of luxury goods are off to a slow start in 2013 and aren't expected to match the double-digit growth of the last three years, consultancy Bain & Co. said in a study released Thursday.... Read More
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. was downgraded by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Thursday after the credit rating agency changed the way it evaluates insurance companies.... Read More
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hess has reached a deal with a major investor to end a bitter fight over the management and direction of the oil and gas company.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. builders broke ground on fewer homes in April, one month after topping the 1 million mark for the first time since 2008. But most of the decline was in apartment construction, which tends to vary sharply from month to month.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A plunge in the cost of gas drove down a measure of U.S. consumer prices last month by the most since December 2008. Excluding the drop in fuel costs, prices were largely unchanged.... Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose 32,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the most since late March. The jump came a week after applications had reached a five-year low.... Read More
