UNITED STATES

Sales of new homes raced to their highest level in eight months in December, but gains were driven by a surge in the West that economists were reluctant to call a sign of a recovery in the market.

New single-family home sales raced to their highest level in eight months in December while prices were the highest since April 2008, raising cautious optimism for a housing market recovery.

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.

In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama devoted several lines to the slumping stature of U.S. education, by our own standards and globally.

New U.S. single-family home sales in December rose to their highest level in eight months and prices were the highest since April 2008, raising cautious optimism for a housing market recovery.

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

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell will reduce his annual salary to $1 if the U.S. sports league suffers a work stoppage next season, the NFL Network said on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 hit a 29-month high on Wednesday as investors snapped up commodity and tech shares ahead of the Federal Reserve's statement, expected to continue to be supportive of markets.

Bankrupt financial company Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc proposed a new plan for dividing up billions of dollars among its creditors and offered a bigger payment to bondholders, provided they sign on.

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) got some bad news and some good news on either side of the U.S.-Canadian border.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that we do big things in his State of the Union Address, challenging Americans and Congress to take on the global competition for jobs, and tackle the nation's huge debt and deficit.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated parliament Wednesday, ending weeks of political infighting, but took a dig at the West saying foreign interference had been a serious problem.

Boeing Co offered a weaker-than-expected 2011 earnings outlook as higher pension costs exacerbated the impact of potential defense spending cuts and delays to the 787 Dreamliner, sending its shares down 3.6 percent.

Dow hits 12,000 as U.S. stocks post moderate gains in mid-morning trading

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.

Saudi Arabia will boost contract crude sales by 10 percent to Asia's biggest refiner Sinopec this year as the world's top oil exporter cements its share of the world's fastest growing fuel market.

Annual bonuses at top global banks are causing ructions that could drive a outsized round of defections as weaker profits and tougher rules widen the pay discrepancy between star performers and everybody else.

The gathering of business elites at Davos may witness the greatest concentration wealth in any one locale in history.

The Federal Reserve is expected to nod to an improving U.S. economic outlook on Wednesday even as it reaffirms a plan to buy $600 billion in government debt to help speed recovery.

Stocks rose on Wednesday as U.S. President Barack Obama's call for a lower corporate tax rate offset a weak outlook from Boeing.

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.