MARKETS / FINANCE

The libertarian Congressman from Texas hasn't had a real-world victory in any of the four Republican presidential primaries held so far. His best performance was in Iowa caucuses where he was placed closely behind the GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, drawing 21.5 percent of the total votes cast. However, Paul, unmistakeably, happens to win - with an overwhelmingly high margin - almost every online election poll, regardless of whether it is hosted by mainstream media or by a niche politica...

Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece's EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country's justice ministry Friday, a ministry spokeswoman said.

Caution ahead of U.S. jobs numbers kept a lid on gains for stock markets on Friday after an optimistic start to the year that has added more than 7 percent to global company values.

China's headline consumer price index is on track to fall on a month-to-month basis in the coming months and mark a year-on-year decline in the second half of 2012, a government economist said in comments published on Friday.

Switzerland said on Friday it was investigating a dozen U.S., European and Japanese banks suspected of conspiring to manipulate interbank lending rates used to set interest rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars of securities.

A dip in figures on China's non-manufacturing sector helped dampen financial markets optimism on Friday ahead of U.S. jobs data that will offer more clues on the strength of the world's top economy.

Gold prices held steady on Friday, on course for a fifth straight week of gains, as investors awaited a key U.S. labor market report after upbeat jobless claims data in the previous session helped send bullion to a two-month high.

So much for Facebook fatigue.A survey released on Friday shows that people who have used the social networking site over a long period - since its founding in 2004, say - show no sign that they are tired of posting pictures, updating weekend plans or just relaying random thoughts.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's contract with Macy's to exclusively sell certain products has a loophole that will let the company sell in J.C. Penney Co stores, according to the home-goods company.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on Thursday named Bloomberg LP executive Lex Fenwick as chief executive officer of its Dow Jones & Co unit which houses its Wall Street Journal newspaper.

The U.S. Federal Reserve may have more latitude to pursue easy-money policies if inflation runs below its newly-set 2-percent target, though such a move does not guarantee more jobs, a top central bank official said on Thursday.

The first thing the 1,000 or so new post-IPO Facebook millionaire employees might need: a reality check.

As pro-business groups clamor to convince regulators to overhaul their draft of the controversial Volcker rule, fault lines are emerging within the opposition over just what a revamped draft should look like.

China is considering increasing its participation in the rescue funds aimed at resolving the European debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told journalists on Thursday.

Groupon Inc shares jumped to their highest level of 2012 Thursday as the daily deal company got a boost from social networking euphoria sparked by Facebook's IPO filing.

Investors largely took a wait-and-see approach on Thursday as stocks ended little changed ahead of Friday's key employment report, but tech shares rose after strong earnings from chipmaker Qualcomm.

Rick Santorum has picked up a last-minute endorsement in Nevada from Sharron Angle, a popular Tea Party figure who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2010. How much will Angle's backing help Santorum's struggling campaign?

Assuming the $100 billion initial public offering by Facebook proceeds as planned, investors will likely clamor for shares and snap them up, just as in earlier Web frenzies for Netscape Communications, Yahoo and Google. But there are dangers.

An elite club of bankers traditionally close to London's mining companies stand to earn their firms a share of a $140 million fee pot if the proposed merger between Glencore and Xstrata succeeds.

Stocks seesawed in a tight range on Thursday as earnings reports drove individual shares, while a drop in jobless claims pointed to a slowly healing labor market before Friday's employment report.

Shareholder group Ethos called for Novartis investors to vote against re-electing board members who were among those deciding on the pay awarded to the Swiss drugmaker's chairman, Daniel Vasella.

Precious metals enjoyed a steady climb on Thursday despite a slow day for the broader market, as gold futures reached an eight-week high while the dollar fell briefly and concerns about the Greek debt crisis subsided slightly.

Competition watchdogs are stifling those companies still braving economic uncertainty to attempt mergers and acquisitions, say bankers and lawyers who claim the burden of bureaucracy has intensified with the financial crisis.

Before the Justice Department went after Megaupload, a corporation called Viacom decided to sue YouTube and its parent, Google. Here's why the two cases aren't as different as you think... and why the prosecutors who wrote the indictment against Kim Dotcom are hoping you won't find out.

Facebook unveiled plans for the biggest ever Internet IPO that could raise as much as $10 billion, but made it clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over the company, leaving investors with little say.

New claims for unemployment benefits in the United States fell more than expected last week, pointing to further healing in the nation's battered jobs market.

Spain and France gained respite at bond auctions on Thursday highlighting a rally in euro zone government debt markets since the European Central Bank flooded banks with cheap money in December.

Dow Chemical Co's quarterly profit and revenue missed Wall Street's expectations as demand for electronics, plastics and coatings plunged, causing the company to slash production and aggressively discount some products.

Depending on who you ask, Facebook is either the best company to go public since Google or the hallmark of another tech bubble.