Sales at U.S. retailers fell in September, but rose excluding motor vehicles for a second straight month in September, raising cautious optimism consumer spending could support the economic recovery. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday total retail sales fell 1.5 percent in September, the biggest decline since December, after surging by a revised 2.2 percent
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Stocks jumped on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) posted a surge in profit, following stronger numbers from Intel Corp (INTC.O) a day earlier in an auspicious start to third-quarter earnings season. JPMorgan, the first major U.S. bank to report quarterly earnings, said profit rose sharply as underwriting revenue at its investment bank offset
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JPMorgan Chase & Co quarterly profit rocketed to forecast-beating $3.6 billion as bond trading revenue surged, boosting optimism about a strengthening rebound in top Wall Street banks. JPMorgan shares rose 2.8 percent in early trading, leading the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) higher, after the second-largest U.S. bank said its dividend could rise early next
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The number of Britons claiming jobless benefit rose by its smallest amount in almost 1-1/2 years in September, according to official data, in a sign the worst of the job-shedding due to the recession may be over. But lay-offs are likely to last throughout 2010, which could prove awkward for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who
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Microsoft Corp issued its biggest software patch on record on Tuesday to fix a range of security issues in its programs, including the yet to be released Windows 7 operating system. In a monthly update sent to users of its software, Microsoft released 13 security bulletins, or patches, to address 34 vulnerabilities it identified across
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China reported surprisingly strong trade figures on Wednesday, providing fresh evidence that the world's third-largest economy is firmly on a recovery track and that global demand is improving too. Exports in September fell 15.2 percent from a year earlier, beating forecasts of a 21 percent fall, while imports fell just 3.5 percent — well short
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Moody's Investors Service sees negative rating pressure on Russian banks in the near-to-medium-term, reflecting concerns over the credit fundamentals of domestic banks. The first wave of the global financial crisis that struck Russian banks 12 months ago has been contained by timely and adequate actions by the government and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).
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World stocks hit a new 12-month high on Wednesday, driven higher by positive earnings from U.S. tech giant Intel and surprisingly strong trade figures from economic powerhouse China. MSCI's all-country world index rose as high as 294.38, a level last seen in early October last year. The index is up 29 percent this year. MSCI's
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The fundamental credit outlook for the Spanish banking system remains negative, reflecting the impact of the ongoing economic recession and severe asset quality deterioration on domestic banks' risk absorption capacity, Moody's Investors Service said in its new Banking System Outlook on Spain. "Over the past 12 months, the pressure on Spanish banks has broadened, resulting
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Global markets may be edging towards recovery, but the worst impact of the global financial crunch on families and couples may be still ahead, a leading Australian charity said on Wednesday. "The economy, we've been told, is showing 'green shoots'. We've certainly not seen that," Kasy Chambers, executive director of Anglicare Australia, told Reuters. The
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