With one trading day left in April, the stock market is closing in on its best month since October 2003.
But it faces a number of hurdles next week that could cap the big rally that saw the Dow Jones industrials crashed through the 13,000 this week for the first time.
The Dow closed Friday up 15.4 […]

The worst economic growth in four years is raising concern that troubles in the U.S. housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.
But two Washington state economists played down numbers released Friday by the U.S. Commerce Department, noting that the consumer portion of the economy remains strong, […]

The worst economic growth in four years is raising concern that troubles in the US housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.
The economy practically crawled at a 1.3 per cent pace in the opening quarter of 2007, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. That was even […]

Economic growth in the United States slowed to a near-crawl of 1.3 per cent at an annualized pace in the first three months of 2007, the worst performance in four years, the commerce department says.
The main culprit was the housing slump.
The reading on gross domestic product released yesterday was even weaker than the 2.5 per […]

Robust demand for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system drives 72% growth in earnings per share
Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $14.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a 32% increase over the same period of the prior year. This revenue drove record profits with operating income of $6.59 billion and […]

Burger King Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. hamburger chain, reported third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates on sales of its new $1 breakfast menu and 1,000-calorie Texas Double Whoppers.
Net income of $34 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with a loss of $12 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier, Miami- based Burger King […]

The prospect of a costly UK Competition Commission probe into BSkyB’s (BSY.L: ) moved a step closer on Friday after two regulators said it raised significant concerns that warranted further scrutiny.
Media regulator Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading published their findings in statements to the London Stock Exchange.
“We have concluded that this partial ownership […]

Citigroup cemented its biggest-ever Asian acquisition for $7.7 billion after a majority of shareholders in Japanese brokerage Nikko Cordial Corp. accepted a buyout offer.
Citigroup said it secured 61 percent of Nikko’s voting stock in a tender bid that expired on Thursday. The takeover is its biggest under Chief Executive Charles Prince and its second-biggest outside […]

Three banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday prepared the way for a hostile bid for ABN AMRO, increasing pressure on the Dutch bank to look beyond an agreed deal with Britain’s Barclays.
The consortium, which also includes Santander and Fortis, formally notified ABN on Friday of their intention to make a public offer […]

The euro came off record peaks against the U.S. dollar, falling below $1.36, as traders took profits and covered short positions on the greenback going into the weekend.
The euro came off lifetime highs to trade at $1.3613 in late morning, still up 0.2 percent on the day. The euro earlier hit a record high at […]