MARKETS / FINANCE

The World Bank cut its forecast for China's 2012 economic growth to 8.2 percent on Thursday and said a rebound might not begin before the third quarter of the year as slack foreign demand and a government-induced real estate slowdown restrain a recovery.

Chen Lifeng's dress-making company survived the global financial crisis yet may fall victim to today's milder economic slowdown, one that China deems necessary to secure its future growth.

U.S. economic activity kept growing moderately in the late winter months but rising energy prices were beginning to worry manufacturers and retailers across the country, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

The trustee liquidating MF Global's brokerage will ask a bankruptcy court on Thursday to release $685 million to former MF Global customers, a plan already introduced in court filings that has been criticized as neglecting affiliates of the failed firm.

U.S. securities regulators are preparing to announce that Goldman Sachs will pay $22 million to settle allegations the bank did not have adequate policies to prevent research from being passed inappropriately to preferred clients, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Two proxy advisory firms are backing a shareholder proposal to split the roles of chairman and chief executive at Wells Fargo & Co , putting pressure on another U.S. bank to revamp its leadership structure.

The options market is not expecting a wild ride for shares of Google Inc following the results from the Internet search giant on Thursday, but it is leaving investors vulnerable to surprises.

Equity investors are advised to remember that dividends and capital gains or losses matter; one can't embrace the fact some stocks pay high dividends while ignoring their risk to capital.

An encouraging start to earnings season helped stocks rebound on Wednesday from five days of losses that pushed the S&P 500 below a key technical level.

Boeing Co on Wednesday put some finishing touches on a make-over of its popular 737 aircraft as the U.S. planemaker battles with European arch-rival Airbus to deliver fuel savings to airlines hammered by near-record oil prices.

Materials of Nokia's new flagship model smartphone, the Lumia 900, cost $209, some 46 percent of its retail price, with the Finnish firm saving on processor and memory cost, teardown analysis of research firm IHS iSuppli showed on Wednesday.

Two women college presidents, joined by a former colleague, denounced Augusta National Golf Club for snubbing IBM CEO Virginia Rometty at the Masters Golf Tournament. She handled the whole affair with dignity.

Lawmakers in Washington state passed supplemental operating and capital budgets on Wednesday that they say will preserve funding for education and launch about $1 billion in construction projects.

The Buffett Rule is a plan that would raise taxes on America's most wealthy, requiring those making $1 million or more per year to pay a minimum federal tax rate of 30 percent on all income. The idea is sparking heated debates, and that merits a closer look at how U.S. taxes are structured now, what sorts of changes Obama is pushing, and why exactly he's pushing them.

We need to get today's youth out of the virtual world and into the outdoors.

The monthly U.S. budget deficit widened to $198.16 billion in March from $188.15 billion in the same month a year earlier, partly because some benefit payments normally made in April were shifted to March, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

George Zimmerman is set to be charged Wednesday with the shooting death of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26. The case has renewed a national debate over racial issues, so the world will be watching to see how the nation reacts to the long-awaited announcement of charges against the admitted killer.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after an encouraging start to earnings season helped equities rebound from five days of losses that pushed the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq below key technical levels.

Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee to head the World Bank, on Wednesday told the bank's board of directors that he would not hesitate to question the status quo and do his best to help the world's poorest.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after the government data showed domestic fuel stocks fell much more than expected last week, while a decline in imports limited a rise in crude inventories.

Nearly a decade ago, Eliot Spitzer, then the New York attorney general, had to force major Wall Street firms to build a Chinese wall between research and investment banking. Now, the same banks are fretting over a breach in that wall.

Import prices rose in March by the most in nearly a year on sharply higher petroleum costs, but prices outside food and energy climbed more modestly.

Shares in Alcoa Inc rose 7 percent on Wednesday, a day after the aluminum company posted a first-quarter profit instead of a loss Wall Street was expecting.

Stocks extended gains on Wednesday, pushing the Dow average up more than 1 percent as the market rebounded after five days of heavy losses on the S&P 500 brought the benchmark index down more than 4 percent.

Stocks rose in early trading on Wednesday, bouncing back after five days of heavy losses on the S&P 500 brought the benchmark index down more than 4 percent.

Three of China's largest Internet companies have promised the government they will take steps to banish online rumors, state media said on Tuesday, as the ruling Communist Party fights jitters over a tricky leadership transition.

Stock index futures bounced back on Wednesday after five days of losses on the S&P 500 that brought the benchmark index down more than 4 percent.

Britain's top share index rose around midday on Friday with banks leading the gainers after being boosted by a positive broker comment.

Stock index futures bounced back on Wednesday after five days of losses on the S&P 500 that brought the benchmark index down more than 4 percent.