With New York Stock Exchange boss John Thain set to take the helm at Merrill Lynch, many investors are wondering whether it's time to bet on the turnaround of the nation's largest brokerage house. Most analysts cheered Thain's appointment...
THE auction for an inspirational book by Jeffrey Zaslow based on the words and philosophy of Carnegie Mellon University Professor Randy Pausch has skyrocketed to a staggering $6.75 million range, industry sources tell Media Ink. Most recently...
Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman convicted in July of mail fraud and obstruction of justice, won a 10-day postponement of his scheduled Nov. 30 sentencing. Black, 63, faces the possibility of spending at least 15...
Investment banks, hammered by massive write-downs and trading losses since the summer, are radically shifting business plans of their mortgage-backed securities departments - and it's leaving hedge funds out in the cold. Key asset- and...
Subprime bill The House of Repre sentatives approved, 291-127, legislation to strengthen consumer protections for mort gage borrowers. It says lenders must ensure potential borrowers have the ability to repay their mortgages and strengthens over...
USA Today, the largest US newspaper by circulation, plans to cut 45 newsroom jobs, or about 9 percent of the editorial staff, because of declining revenue at Gannett Co.'s flagship publication. Employees with more than 15 years experience or fewer...
Stocks fell for a second day after Wells Fargo said the housing market is the worst since the Great Depression and investors speculated that Fannie Mae masked credit-market losses in its latest earnings report. Wells Fargo, the country's...
Three more giant banks played a nerve-wracking round of junk-mortgage roulette yesterday - and lived only to play their dangerous game again in a few months. British bank Barclays led the latest spectacle of profit-killing write-downs in assets...
The smart money is betting that more Americans will skip on buying new cars in favor of cheaper used cars - especially if gas prices rise beyond $4 a gallon. Legendary investor Warren Buffett and hedge-fund billionaire Ed Lampert have taken big...
OPEC oil nations plan to ignore U.S. calls to increase production as crude prices remain stuck above $90 a barrel, according to a draft of the group's statement to be released this weekend. Their intention to keep production at current levels...
Starbucks' stock price got a jolt late yesterday after the ubiquitous coffee chain said that the sputtering economy is making customers less inclined to open their wallets for a $4 cup of coffee. The Seattle company said in-store traffic in the U...
The lucrative business of selling Web ads has become so fragmented - and easy to do - that even Martha Stewart has thrown her hat in the ring by setting up an online advertising network. Driving the growth of these networks is a desire by...
J.C. Penney Co. and Williams-Sonoma Inc. said quarterly profits fell as higher housing, food and fuel costs squeezed consumers' pocketbooks, dimming retailers' expectations for the holiday shopping season. Profits at J.C. Penney, the third-largest...
