Economy

Despite stimulus programs and all-time low mortgage rates, the real estate market in the U.S. continues to struggle with excess supply, depressed home prices and high rates of foreclosure. The key factor? Unemployment.

It's too soon to say if Europe's economic rebound is sustainable. But Germany and other leading eurozone economies are surging ahead on exports and have recouped nearly all the jobs they lost during the downturn. The U.S. might want to take a lesson from their success.

Blue-chip earnings and an improvement in consumer sentiment helped stocks shrug off disappointing economic growth to end mixed Friday -- but the market still enjoyed its biggest monthly gain in a year.

Even with the slight rise, there's little to celebrate because the reading remained at a near-six-month low. Still, like the second quarter's slender 2.4% growth rate, July's sentiment measure could have been worse.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies to pay foreign officials to get or retain business, and the U.S. government has been stepping up FCPA enforcement actions: More than three times as many FCPA cases were brought in 2009 than were filed in 2005.

The U.S. economy downshifted in the second quarter to a tepid 2.4% growth rate. Offsetting that news was the first-quarter GDP growth, which was revised upward to 3.7% from the previously estimated 2.7%.

Obama visits Detroit today to bolster his claims that the $86 billion spent to rescue GM and Chrysler from oblivion was well worth the jobs it has put people into, and the million or more the government says it has saved.

The recent European stress tests show that investor confidence towards Irish banks Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and Bank of Ireland (BKIR) has improved, Fitch said.

In its semi-annual review of Irish banks, the rating agency said that this improved investor confidence may strengthen the banks' ability...

Gold bugs like to think gold covers all bases, whether inflation or deflation rules. But major vendors like Goldline are coming under scrutiny for steering investors into coins with markups of 35% -- or worse, customers say.

China is now the world's second-largest economy, having overtaken Japan, a senior Chinese official said.

Yi Gang, the country's chief currency regulator, mentioned the achievement in comments published on the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Reuters reported.

"China, in fact,...