Business News

WASHINGTON - Energy prices surged in March at the fastest pace since Hurricane Katrina, but other consumer costs eased, providing relief from worries that inflation was getting out of hand.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Core inflation dipped in March and groundbreaking for new homes rose slightly as the economy demonstrated anew an ability to keep growing without generating surging prices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pace of U.S. home construction rose 0.8 percent in March to a rate that beat analysts' predictions but the rise was well below the previous month's increase and the rate was sharply off the year-ago figure, a government report showed on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retail sales rose a slightly more-than-expected 0.7 percent in March in part on higher gasoline prices, a Commerce Department report on Monday showed.

TOKYO - Japan raised its assessment of consumer spending for the first time in over a year and a half, saying in its monthly report released Monday that a long-awaited pickup in spending is now in place.

NEW YORK - Wall Street was mixed Wednesday as companies reported widely divergent earnings results that revived concerns about slowing profit growth. Bond prices extended their advance as investors grew optimistic that the Federal Reserve won't raise interest rates.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. technology stocks fell on Wednesday after disappointing results from Yahoo Inc. and IBM raised concerns about the outlook for tech spending.

Wall Street stocks were set for a lower start on Wednesday as disappointing earnings updates from IBM and Yahoo rekindled concerns about the technology sector.

LONDON (AFP) - European stock markets dropped on Wednesday as the euro and sterling raced to multi-year highs against the dollar, sparking concerns for companies with exposure in the United States.

The threat of further interest rate rises weighted on the FTSE on Wednesday.

NEW YORK - Wall Street was mixed Wednesday as companies reported widely divergent earnings results that revived concerns about slowing profit growth. Bond prices extended their advance as investors grew optimistic that the Federal Reserve won't raise interest rates.

NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's third largest bank, on Wednesday reported a 55 percent increase in first-quarter profit reflecting strength across most of its primary business lines, although it increased reserves to offset subprime mortgage losses.

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. - Medical device maker Abbott Laboratories Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter profit fell 19 percent as the company wrote down the value of its holdings in Boston Scientific stock and incurred integration costs related to the purchase of assets from that company last year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday said first-quarter earnings rose 55 percent, beating forecasts, as gains in investment banking and private equity outweighed weak growth in retail banking.

Wall Street broke a week-long rally and went into reverse on Wednesday as disappointing earnings updates from IBM and Yahoo rekindled concerns about the technology sector.

DETROIT - DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group plans to build two new plants in Michigan and upgrade three others.

FRANKFURT (AFP) - General Motors is to axe 1,400 jobs at its factory in Antwerp, Belgium, as part of a shake-up of production for the next generation of the group's compact Astra model from 2010, GM Europe said on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The billions of dollars thrown at global health problems by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are changing the game in drug discovery, posing big challenges to the world's top drugmakers, according to a report on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore's key exports rebounded in March after falling the previous month, driven by robust shipment of pharmaceuticals which offset continued weakness in electronics, the government said Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Vonage Holdings Corp. dropped 6 percent on Wednesday after it warned in a regulatory filing of a risk of bankruptcy due to legal woes stemming from a court's finding that it infringed on Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents.

TD Ameritrade Holding (NasdaqGS:AMTD - News) announced Apr. 17 that it didn't make as much money during recent months, as the Omaha online brokerage battles tough competition in a volatile market.

EMC Corp. announced a stronger profit and surging sales on Apr. 17, as the data storage giant benefited from its expensive push to grow offerings with a string of acquisitions during recent years. EMC's Asian business picked up as well.

Fair Isaac warned of lower than expected earnings and sales during the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, as the credit scoring company grapples with problems such as a tougher mortgage market. After the news investors sold the stock on Apr. 17.

NEW YORK - High-profile investors like Carl Icahn have helped define the image of activist shareholders by storming into companies and pushing for change. A less visible type of activism exists among some mutual funds, one that employs quiet diplomacy to press for change and boost a stock.

These questions may seem irrelevant to anyone trading the various types of credit derivatives contracts available in the over-the-counter markets.

WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further.

SAN FRANCISCO - A flood of last-minute tax filers swamped the servers of the company that makes the popular TurboTax and ProSeries tax software Tuesday, forcing taxpayers to wait hours for confirmation that their electronic returns had been submitted successfully.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd. said on Wednesday that BlackBerry service has been restored to "most" users of the wireless e-mail device after a service interruption that affected customers in North America.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A system failure at Research In Motion has affected Blackberry users in the Western Hemisphere, a news channel reported on its Web site late on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Vonage Holdings Corp. dropped 6 percent on Wednesday after it warned in a regulatory filing of a risk of bankruptcy due to legal woes stemming from a court's finding that it infringed on Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents.