U.S.

Retail sales in the US during this holiday season rose sharply mainly driven by increased spending on clothing and jewelry.

Americans owe more in student debt than in credit cards and rival the default rate in home mortgages

The rare earth controversy heats up yet again after China cut its rare earth export quotas by 11 percent for 2011, according to a statement by the Ministry of Commerce.

Recent collaborative study by Wall Street Journal and Indeed.com shows spurt in hiring across companies in the US

By keeping interest rates at all-time low levels, the U.S. faces the potential for a second major financial crisis, cautioned David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager.

In October 2003, Russian security agents' seized the country's richest man at gun point on the tarmac of a Siberian airport. ''Weapons on the floor or we'll shoot!'' the agents shouted. Then the man was dragged away to spend years in solitary confinement at a Soviet-era labor camp in the Chita region of eastern Siberia. His assets were seized by the state; his opulence was wiped out and his family left almost fractured.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to lower opening on Monday after China's central bank raised one-year lending and deposit interest rates for the second time in 2010 on Saturday.

Eight Americans were killed and 21 others injured after a tour bus collided with a truck on a desert road near the city of Aswan in Southern Egypt. Local media reported that the bus was carrying 37 tourists from the United States who were on their way to the 3000-year-old historic Abu Simbel temple.

Even as people decide to hit the road during the holiday, oil prices have touched a high not seen since October 2008, according to AAA.

The top after-market NYSE losers on Thursday are: Mueller Water Products, CareFusion Corp, LSI Corp, Constellation Brands, CONSOL Energy and Constellation Energy Group.

The Commerce Department's durable goods report for November showed that, excluding transport, core orders rebounded by 2.4 percent month-on-month last month, more than reversing a 1.9 percent decline in the last month.

Back in November 2009, China declined an offer from the U.S. to form a partnership to run the world.

Chinese officials expect the country's exports to slow next year and trade surplus to narrow as the government comes under pressure to increase its imports.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to lower opening on Thursday following weaker-than-expected reports on durable goods orders and consumer spending.

Personal income and expenditure in the U.S. rose for the fifth month during November, according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department, indicating that the average consumer is growing more confident about the economic recovery and their financial situation.

Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. fell unexpectedly for the week ended Dec. 18, posting a decline for three consecutive weeks.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in November fell by $2.6 billion or 1.3 percent to $193.7 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced on Thursday.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices remained-range bound on Thursday ahead of a wave of economic data including key weekly U.S. jobs data from the government.

ThinkEquity has listed out its leading internet stock picks for 2011 that includes Google (GOOG), Baidu (BIDU) and Priceline (PCLN). Following are those stocks.

The United States on Wednesday dragged China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) alleging that the country was illegally providing subsidies towards manufacture of wind power equipment.

The US Department of Energy has released a critical materials strategy based on extensive research by the Department during the past year examining the role of earth metals and other materials in the clean energy economy.