The Standard & Poor's 500 index is closing lower after hitting a four-year high. The S&P 500 lost five points to close at 1,413. The index had climbed to 1,426 in morning trading, its highest since May 19, 2008.
Europe is edging closer to recession, dragged down by the crippling debt problems of the 17-country eurozone, official figures showed Tuesday: The economies of both the eurozone and the full EU shrank by 0.2% in the second quarter, after a flat first quarter.
It's been a day of milestones for the stock market. Stronger corporate earnings reports and expectations that central banks will act to support the economy powered the Standard & Poor's 500 index past 1,400 for the first time in three months.
European policymakers are working on "last chance" options to bring Greece's debts down and keep it in the euro zone, with the ECB and national central banks looking at taking significant losses on the value of their bond holdings, officials said.
The eurozone has sunk back into its second recession since 2009, a Reuters poll predicted on Thursday, as the debt crisis that has ravaged the continent for over two years continues to stifle growth.
U.S. savers have trillions of dollars in money market mutual funds due to their perceived safety. But in recent years, they've been earning their investors less than 0.1% a year -- and they may not even be a safe as you thought. Here's why it's time to pull your money out.
The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a record low of 0.75% to boost a eurozone economy weighed down by the continent's crisis over too much government debt.
A late recovery on Wall Street wiped out most of the stock market's losses Thursday, leaving the Dow Jones industrial average down just 25 points. The Dow had been down as much as 177 points but came back sharply at the end of the day.
Greece isn't going to rebound anytime soon, and Europe about to rapidly propel itself out of its mild recession either. But obsession with the Mediterranean's economic basket case has caused many investors to miss strong overseas gains. Here are three companies leading the charge.
The Atlantic Ocean is wide, but maybe not wide enough. On Thursday, markets had a mixed reaction to the deepening economic crisis in Europe. Some sources reported that the European Central Bank would step in. But in the U.S., small business owners are growing nervous.
The news across the financial world is good for unions, which will find organizing a bit easier; adequate for Greece, which will find getting bailed out a bit easier, and bitter for JPMorgan which had to accept a $153.6 million SEC fine for misleading investors about a mortgage securities transaction.
The European debt crisis is back: Portugal is in political turmoil, and may need a major bailout, and Spain may too. But the E.U.'s strong healthy are rebelling against propping up their weaker neighbors. The real issue, though, is that the E.U. hasn't yet addressed the fundamental flaw built into it at the euro's creation.
One would think that with the Mideast crisis, oil prices skyrocketing and U.S. manufacturing rebounding smartly, the buck would be flying high. But no. Why that's so may lie in international perceptions about where interest rates are heading.
While most analysts don't expect a major departure from the December Fed meeting, the voting lineup has changed substantially. Now, Chairman Bernanke has to deal with three new members of the rate-setting committee who have expressed reservations about quantitative easing.
World markets got a boost this week from Japan's pledge to help overly indebted EU nations. What's behind Japan's move? Sure, the spirit of global cooperation is part of it. But much more significant is Tokyo's need to keep pace with Beijing in the influence game.