By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rallied on Tuesday and the Dow hit its highest level since December 2007, after data showed the manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace than expected in April, easing jitters about a slowdown in the economic recovery. With most markets in Europe and several major Asian markets [...]

By Edward Krudy NEW YORK (Reuters) – The SP 500 posted its first monthly decline since November on Monday, as stocks slipped on signs the U.S. economy may be slowing and as a recession in Spain highlighted risks in the euro zone. Despite Monday’s decline, the picture was not overwhelmingly negative. The SP closed out [...]

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares rose on Monday as weaker-than-expected U.S. growth data left open the possibility of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve to boost growth, but trading was subdued with Japanese and Chinese markets closed. The dollar remained pressured by Friday’s report showing annual growth in the U.S. economy [...]

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares rose on Monday as weaker-than-expected U.S. growth data left open the possibility of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve to boost growth, but trading was subdued with Japanese and Chinese markets closed. The dollar remained pressured by Friday’s report showing annual growth in the U.S. economy [...]

By Brian Grow and Anna Driver (Reuters) – As Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s board of directors moves to distance itself from loans taken by CEO Aubrey McClendon, documents reviewed by Reuters show that at least one former board member had undisclosed personal financial ties to him in the past. Now-retired board member Frederick Whittemore lent money [...]

By Angela Moon and Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) – It will be another battleground for SP 500 index next week. Will the bears finally give up and let the bulls have their way? The SP 500, the market’s broadest measure, managed to close out the week above the psychologically important 1,400 mark for the [...]

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks advanced on Friday and posted their best weekly gains in a month as stronger-than-expected earnings from Amazon.com and Expedia Inc reinforced confidence in corporate performance. Wall Street managed a fourth day of gains as the strong earnings season outweighed a surprisingly weak reading on first-quarter economic [...]

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares edged higher on Friday on firm U.S. data, but a two-notch downgrade of Spain’s credit rating capped gains, while fresh easing measures by the Bank of Japan briefly pushed Tokyo stocks up over 1 percent and the dollar above 81 yen. European shares were likely to fall, [...]

BANGKOK (AP) — World stocks stalled Thursday as profit-taking negated earlier gains that came after the U.S. Federal Reserve predicted moderate growth for the world’s No. 1 economy. European stocks were mixed in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent to 5,742.13 while Germany’s DAX lost 0.3 percent at 6,686.89 and France’s CAC-40 fell [...]

Apple (AAPL) is its own asset class, its success says very little about the rest of the economy. Indeed, if the details of Apple’s enormous earnings beat are to be believed, the U.S. economy is softer than the headlines suggest. “My read on the quarter is that if you took out China, the company probably [...]