U.S. existing home sales notched their third monthly rise in June and prices hit their highest level since October, fueling hopes that the housing sector is finally on the mend and will help propel a broader economic recovery.
Stocks rallied on Thursday, with the Dow industrials piercing the key 9,000 mark, as investors viewed strong quarterly results from 3M & Co and other companies, plus improving home sales data as signs the economy is stabilizing.
On Wednesday, Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) -- developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services -- reported its third Quarter Fiscal 2009 Results.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Thursday announced that sales of existing homes in the U.S. rose for the third consecutive month in June, suggesting that the troubled housing market may be hitting bottom, private data showed Thursday. According to the NAR, existing home sales rose to an annualized rate of 4.89 million units which is above the 4.84 million units analysts were expecting. This is fueling hopes that housing and the overall economy is showing signs of recovery.
With previously owned home sales rising for the third straight month, the chief economist at a major realty group says the trend will continue due to tax breaks and the high affordability.
Stocks rose on Thursday, with the Dow industrials breaking the key 9,000 mark, as investors saw strong quarterly results, including from 3M Co , and improving home sales data as signs the economy is stabilizing.
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose roughly as expected last week, but the data was distorted by an unusual pattern of layoffs in the automotive industry.
California lawmakers will vote on Thursday on a budget deal between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and their leaders that balances the state's books by closing an historic $26.3 billion shortfall, largely with deep spending cuts.
Stocks opened little changed on Thursday as investors digested a slew of quarterly results, including a brighter outlook and a forecast-beating profit from 3M Co and disappointing results from McDonald's Corp ahead of key housing market data.
Stocks were set to open slightly higher on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook and a forecast-beating profit from 3M Co , gave investors confidence, ahead of key housing market data, that the earnings season will remain strong.
A plan to bring the ballooning U.S. deficit under control passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, requiring Congress to find savings to offset tax cuts or spending increases.
The advisers to the bondholders that provided lender CIT Group Inc with a $3 billion loan facility this week are recommending it be restructured through a bankruptcy following a debt tender in August, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Treasury Department on Wednesday gave lawmakers proposals to dampen financial firms' appetites for growing to giant size and said it was one step away from giving Congress its full package of reforms.
Stock index futures rose on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook from 3M Co, gave investors confidence that the earnings season will remain strong ahead of key jobs and housing market data.
Stock index futures rose slightly on Thursday as investors remained positive following an overall strong earnings season and ahead of results from United Parcel Service Inc and McDonald's Corp .
The U.S. consumer will not drive a global economic recovery and the United States is still at risk from high unemployment and souring commercial real estate loans, said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday.
The unemployment claims report compiled weekly will be released this morning at 10 a.m., showing the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time for the week ending July 18.
World stocks rose close to the previous session's nine-month high and oil edged up on Thursday as forecast-beating earnings from major firms raised expectations for a global economic recovery. Swiss bank Credit Suisse's higher-than-expected second-quarter profits and drugmaker Roche's bullish two-year forecast followed solid reports in the United States from Apple and Starbucks on Wednesday.
Asian stocks climbed to a 10-month high on Thursday led by energy shares, though some investors wondered if upward momentum from corporate earnings reports justified increasingly pricey valuations.
Investors are looking for signs of a recovery in solar panel demand when manufacturers report earnings in the coming weeks, though panel prices are still falling fast and earnings may not see a meaningful improvement until 2010.
Microsoft Corp confirmed the released to release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
MoGo Talk is the world's first ultra-thin integrated Bluetooth headset and was unveiled on Wednesday for BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Javelin.
AMD on Wednesday said its new line of WHQL-certified ATI Catalyst graphics drivers for Windows 7 RTM are ready to for the final release and availability of the Microsoft's new operating system on October 22.
Working together to Support Increasingly Interconnected IT Infrastructures, the top networking technology Companies entered into an agreement deals. IBM announced the agreement of reseller and original equipment manufacturing (OEM) of switches and routers which will benefit all the Companies creating good relationship among them.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday fought hard to protect the independence of the U.S. central bank and keep responsibility for consumer protection on financial products in its hands.
Canon U.S.A., Inc announces the development of its Hybrid Image Stabilizer (IS) claiming to be the world's first* optical image stabilization technology that compensates shaky photographer.
A meeting of MySpace people caused a young mom to be murdered mysteriously after meeting a friend name Dillon Maring in Ohio, and was never seen alive.
The Australian Dollar opens largely unchanged at 0.8160 after the domestic market's insipid reaction to yesterday's local inflation data which picked up in the June quarter by 0.5 per cent for a lower annualised reading of 1.5 per cent.
Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke spoke Wednesday for a second day of testimony on the Fed's semiannual monetary policy report. Bernanke tried to assure members of congress that the economy was on the mend and that tackling the rising unemployment rate is one of the most difficult and challenging parts of our task at this point. The overall economic situation remains very poor, he said. The Fed expects the recovery to start off very slow and pick up speed over time, he said.
LG Electronics on Wednesday introduces its first ever THX certified 240Hz LH90 Series of LED-backlit LCDs, which was introduced at the International CES last January.
