ECONOMY & MARKETS

Going on a short media blitz Monday afternoon, Wall Street power and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sounded a highly optimistic note on the American economy, the housing market and even the chances of customers bilked by bankrupt broker-dealer MF Global getting their money back.

DETROIT -- As the music blared and the Dodge Dart rolled out to its debut, the stage shook underneath Dodge CEO Reid Bigland's feet before he stepped off.

DETROIT -- After releasing teaser photos leading up to the 2012 North American Auto Show, Lexus unveiled its highly anticipated LF-LC concept car to a bevy of onlookers Monday here in Detroit.

Consumer credit surged in November by the most since October 2001, rising 10.0 percent on higher credit card debt and more student loans doled out by the government, a Federal Reserve report showed on Monday.

Stocks ended slightly higher on Monday in a light-volume session as investors stayed cautious ahead of corporate earnings and key auctions for European debt this week.

Showcasing the best pictures from Day 1 of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

DETROIT -- When Joe Baker was doing research for the new concept car he was designing for Chevrolet, one piece of information stood out. Baker, who designed the Code 130R concept, looked most at United States Census data that said 80 million American consumers are approaching the age of 30.

Almost 60 percent of the money the big banks of Australia spend each year are eaten up by staff costs.

China's growing demand for energy means oil should fundamentally have the most upside when compared to other publicly traded commodities, a Goldman Sachs analyst told a financial strategy conference in London Monday.

DETROIT -- For all of Chrysler's reinvigoration in a rebound 2011, Dodge brand CEO Reid Bigland noticed one glaring omission. Enter the Dodge Dart.

Freddie Mac, the large federally controlled mortgage guarantor, announced that it would allow unemployed borrowers to delay mortgage payments for up to 12 months under a new plan.

DETROIT -- Ford chose a fitting venue to make the 2013 version of its midsize Fusion here at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday.

Canadian firms plan to recruit more employees over the coming year even though they expect that sales growth will not improve, the Bank of Canada's winter business survey showed on Monday.

The value of Canadian building permits declined by 3.6 percent in November, largely as expected, after an 11.6 percent rise in October, Statistics Canada said on Monday.

The Khartoum stock exchange on Sunday launched a long-awaited computer trading system that will bring to an end an era of scribbling stock prices on white boards and also marks Sudan's efforts to attract more investment.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, VIVUS, MAKO Surgical, Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Research In Motion and Apple. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: IPC The Hospitalist Company, Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Akamai Technologies, Logitech International and Costco Wholesale.

The top aftermarket NYSE losers Friday were: Mistras Group, Federated Investors, Neustar, ITT Educational Services, Vishay Intertechnology, RPC and RealD Inc.

The top aftermarket NYSE gainers Friday were: SunCoke Energy, Schawk, Mobile TeleSystems, Greenhill & Co, National Fuel Gas, HollyFrontier Corp, USG Corp, Computer Sciences, Talbots and iSoftStone Holdings.

The global electronics market will exceed $1 trillion for the first time, with continued gains for smartphones, tablets and Internet and LED TVs, the Consumer Electronics Association said in its 2012 forecast.

Counting container ships plying the high seas and air cargo takeoffs is one way to track the outlook for the global economy. Both measures point to weak growth in the months ahead but no severe storms.

Canada's famously conservative banks, hit last week by a high profile downgrade, may still be the least bad option for Canadian investors in what could be another ugly year for stock markets.

China's banks ratcheted up lending in the last month of 2011 on the back of stronger money supply, reinforcing perceptions that the central bank is gently easing policy to cushion the impact of the global economic slowdown.

The Khartoum stock exchange on Sunday launched a long-awaited computer trading system that will bring to an end an era of scribbling stock prices on white boards and also marks Sudan's efforts to attract more investment.

We cannot sustain unsustainable schools,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said at a press conference.

Three top Federal Reserve officials aggressively pushed on Friday for more stimulus for the U.S. housing market, saying the government should be looking at ways to help the sector for the purpose of speeding the country's economic recovery.

The United States Department of Labor released the December 2011 Employment Situation report on Friday, presenting a broad-based growth in the labor market in December.

U.S. employment growth accelerated last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, the strongest evidence yet the country's economic recovery is gaining steam.

U.S. President Barack Obama kicked off an effort to encourage businesses to keep jobs at home instead of outsourcing them overseas, as he rolled out a new election-year theme on Saturday aimed at courting middle-class voters.

According to official figures released by the U.S. government, unemployment rates in the country are hovering around 8.6 percent. However, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) suggests that a better measure of the real jobless rate -the U-6 - stands at 15.6 percent.