MARKETS / FINANCE

Manufacturing unexpectedly grew in August and fewer Americans filed new claims for jobless aid last week despite a slump in confidence that threatened to push the economy back into recession.

European politicians on Thursday rejected an International Monetary Fund call for banks to raise up to 200 billion euros ($290 billion) in new capital, adding to fears that policymakers may be underestimating the severity of the debt crisis.

The Federal Reserve ordered Goldman Sachs Group Inc to hire a consultant to review practices of a former mortgage subsidiary on Thursday and said it plans to assess a monetary penalty for wrongful foreclosures.

Wall Street's four-day rally ground to a halt on Thursday, with major indexes falling 1 percent on caution ahead of a key labor market report expected to underscore fears the economy is headed for another recession.

When the Justice Department stomps in to block a $39 billion deal that would have brought 5,000 jobs to the United States, you have to believe that regulators are serious about wielding their antitrust enforcement power. DOJ's 25-page complaint seeking to bar AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA is an emphatic document that asserts competition in the wireless industry is essential to ensurin...

Google Inc promoted a Groupon-like daily deals offer on its home page on Wednesday for the first time, a rare instance of the Internet giant using its prized online real estate for advertising.

Bankrupt bookseller Borders Group Inc has sued Next Jump Inc, accusing the website operator of attempting to steal its customers.

The value of palladium, the least known of the world's four major precious metals, is set to rise this year, perhaps more sharply than its more popular cousins.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc completed the long-awaited sale of its mortgage servicing unit on Thursday after having reached agreements with the Federal Reserve and New York state's banking regulator over wrongful foreclosures.

For nearly two decades, global corporations have increasingly shifted trillions of dollars in worldwide profits to low-tax countries across the Caribbean, Europe and Asia to reduce their tax bills and maximize the bottom line.

Google's planned purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc will not influence an ongoing antitrust investigation into the leading Internet search engine, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday.

The pace of growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector ticked down to a crawl in August, faring better than economists had forecast but remaining at the lowest level in two years, an industry report showed on Thursday.

Gold prices slipped a bit Thursday as a stronger dollar and signs that the U.S. economy is growing and avoiding a double-dip recession.

Stocks were lower in see-saw trade on light volume on Thursday as investors paused after a four-day rally and awaited Friday's key payrolls report.

A patent licensing pact reached with tech giants Nokia and Microsoft will transform Canada's Mosaid Technologies, its CEO said on Thursday, and could help protect it from a C$480 million ($490 million) hostile takeover bid.

Manufacturing unexpectedly grew in August and fewer Americans filed new claims for jobless aid last week, despite a slump in confidence that threatened to push the economy back into recession.

Should the United States tolerate slightly higher inflation, in order to have the economy grow at a faster rate and create more jobs?

Smartphone vendor Sony Ericsson said it saw Google's acquisition of rival Motorola Mobility as a move to protect Google's Android software from legal attacks by rivals.

U.S. stocks were little changed in a see-saw session that saw light volume on Thursday as investors paused after a four-day rally and ahead of Friday's key payrolls report.

Rite Aid Corp , a perennial laggard U.S. drugstore chain, is enjoying something of a comeback, enticing some big-name hedge funds to buy shares on the bet that a turnaround will send them rising.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc will compensate some home loan borrowers for wrongful foreclosures under an agreement reached with a New York state banking regulator.

Insatiable demand for safe haven U.S. government bonds is helping mask a potentially huge financial problem -- the need to extend the maturity of debt issued by the United States.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell as expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, showing little sign of a pick-up in layoffs in the wake of a slump in business and consumer confidence.

U.S. retailers reported mixed August sales results after Hurricane Irene drove away business at some chains and boosted it at others.

Stocks gained on Thursday after data showed factory activity cooled in August but was still expanding, easing investors' fears the economy could be headed for another recession.

Insatiable demand for safe haven U.S. government bonds is helping mask a potentially huge financial problem -- the need to extend the maturity of debt issued by the United States.

Gold fell Thursday on indications from both sides of the Atlantic that economic activity was picking up, a development that encouraged investors to leave various so-called safe-having investments like gold and Treasuries for the promise of equities.

U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly grew in August and fewer Americans filed new claims for jobless aid last week, defying a slump in confidence that threatened to push the economy back into recession.

Romania's top environmental official objected Thursday to plans for a huge gold mine that recently received a key governmental approval, but the head of the mining venture responded by saying his project's environmental standards will be among the highest in the world.