The major U.S. indices rose Thursday following a slew of corporate earnings statements and a steep drop in the price of oil.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 207 points, or 1.9%, at 11,447, and the S&P 500 climbed 15 points, or 1.2%, to 1260. The Nasdaq was up 27 points, or 1.2%, at 2312.
For the [...]
Prudential Financial Inc., the second-largest U.S. life insurer, said net income plummeted 94 percent to its lowest level in five years, hobbled by losses tied to commercial mortgages and subprime home loans.
The insurer said it quit securitizing commercial mortgages after the company’s first-quarter profit declined to $69 million from $1.12 billion a year earlier. Prudential, [...]
Shabby lenders force a mortgage hunt Homeowners would normally be rejoicing in the wake of Thursday’s announcement of a cut in the base rate to five per cent. Unfortunately, we are not living in normal times.
Stock Investment As a result, the quarter-point cut has done little or nothing to bring down the cost of mortgages [...]
Like a seed, one good idea can blossom into a multimillion dollar corporation if nourished, and a diverse group of government officials, Stock Investment business leaders and entrepreneurs from three northern Utah counties are pouring on the fertilizer.
Representatives from Weber, Davis and Morgan counties aim to reap a half-billion dollars in new business growth [...]
Wall Street appeared unmoved by a speech from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the plan to reorganize oversight of Wall Street; details of the 218-page plan have been widely reported in recent days. It would give the Federal Reserve increased power to protect the stability of the entire financial system while merging day-to-day supervision [...]
The performance of global markets so far this year is “a textbook case of the U.S. being the relatively defensive market,” says Kevin Gardiner, head of global equity strategy at HSBC in London. Although the U.S. economy appears on the brink of recession, he says, its stock market has incurred fewer losses than markets [...]
Wall Street appeared unmoved by a speech from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on the plan to reorganize oversight of Wall Street; details of the 218-page plan have been widely reported in recent days. It would give the Federal Reserve increased power to protect the stability of the entire financial system while merging day-to-day supervision [...]
But a profit warning from J.C. Penney Co. offered renewed room for concern about the well-being of consumers and perhaps kept investors’ gains in check. As Wall Street tries to determine the degree to which the economy is slowing, any news that consumers are less willing to reach into their wallets is unwelcome. That’s [...]
Financial stocks lost ground Thursday as well, with investors uncertain about what is in store for the economy and the troubled financial sector.
But the sense of panic that emanated from the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. at the start of last week has lessened, observers say. The Federal Reserve on Thursday afternoon auctioned [...]
Stocks had wobbled in the early going Thursday after the Labor Department said the number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose last week by a more-than-anticipated 22,000 to 378,000. That level is the highest in nearly two months.
But Wall Street found reason to buy back into stocks when the [...]
