"Wallstreet" Reader

"Wallstreet" Reader

Hiring Still Lags Corporate Profits

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:10 PM PDT

U.S. corporations have been hiring overseas, where much of their recent sales gains have occurred. Average weekly hours worked, a measure of the stress on existing employees, has remained below pre-recession levels.

Rejuvenated Banks Raise Dividends

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:17 PM PDT

More than a dozen banks have raised dividends so far in the second quarter, returning to the ranks of the payout-paying firms that some investors favor.

Facebook Numbers Feed IPO View

Posted: 01 May 2011 05:38 PM PDT

Facebook's business is growing faster than it forecast several months ago, raising the stakes for an IPO as early as spring 2012.

Stalking the Wheat Crop

Posted: 01 May 2011 05:46 PM PDT

Food makers are heading into the wheat fields of Kansas this week to get an early read on the U.S. crop—and possibly commodity costs in the months ahead.

Target Goes to Canadian Court

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:04 PM PDT

Target heads to the Federal Court of Canada on Monday, hoping to win the exclusive right to use its name in the country.

GM Revs Up Its Lobbying

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:14 PM PDT

GM has stepped up its lobbying in Washington in recent months, as Detroit's two rescued auto makers unwind their ties to the government and return to pursuing their own interests—which sometimes are at odds with the Obama administration.

Google Calls Location Data 'Valuable'

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:06 PM PDT

Collecting location information from millions of mobile devices and personal computers is "extremely valuable" to the company's future business, an email written by a Google product manager last year says.

Financial Overhaul Grows and Slows

Posted: 01 May 2011 05:36 PM PDT

The Dodd-Frank law has produced more than three million words—or more than 3,500 8½-inch-by-11-inch pages—and about 62% of the rules required by the law haven't even been proposed.

Cerberus, TPG Likely to Bid on Innkeepers' Assets

Posted: 01 May 2011 04:03 PM PDT

Private-equity firms Cerberus Capital Management and TPG and are among those expected to bid on hotels owned by Innkeepers USA Trust in a bankruptcy auction Monday.

Commodity Surprise: Some Are Heading Down

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:55 PM PDT

Goods from cotton to zinc that were highfliers late last year have turned into laggards in recent weeks. Several have logged double-digit-percentage declines in futures markets.

Renren, RPX Battle for Spotlight

Posted: 01 May 2011 02:52 PM PDT

Renren, one of the largest social-networking websites in China, may be the most anticipated initial public offering to hit the U.S. market this week. But some analysts are suggesting another IPO may be just as attractive: RPX Corp.

Buffett Scrambles to Limit Damage

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:51 PM PDT

Warren Buffett sought to limit damage to Berkshire Hathaway and to his own reputation in the wake of a stock-trading controversy involving a top aide.

Crunch Time for Treasurys

Posted: 01 May 2011 02:46 PM PDT

Gathering concerns about slowing U.S. growth have investors seeking safety in Treasurys, masking fears in that market about the U.S. fiscal morass—and leaving investors at loggerheads over how to position themselves.

U.S. Swaps Move Met With Relief

Posted: 01 May 2011 01:04 PM PDT

Companies that deal in a $2 trillion swath of the currency market have likely avoided being ensnared in a regulatory net that they said would have driven up costs for corporations to hedge foreign-exchange transactions and unfairly lumped the products in with riskier derivatives.

Royal Wedding Gets 22.8 Million Viewers in U.S.

Posted: 01 May 2011 02:13 PM PDT

An average of 22.8 million total viewers in the U.S. tuned in to watch the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton live Friday across the 11 networks that carried the British nuptials, according to data provided by Nielsen.

CNN Deciding Where To Place Erin Burnett

Posted: 01 May 2011 12:17 PM PDT

CNN's prime-time hours could be headed for another shake-up if the network decides that Erin Burnett, lured away from CNBC, should get a spot in the evening lineup.

Seven Killed as Taliban Starts Afghan Offensive

Posted: 01 May 2011 07:39 AM PDT

Militants in Afghanistan killed seven people in bombing and shooting attacks Sunday, the first day of the Taliban's announced spring offensive, government officials said.

Pilgrims Pack St. Peter's Square for Beatification

Posted: 01 May 2011 02:31 PM PDT

Pope Benedict XVI beatified his predecessor, John Paul II, before a crowd of 1.5 million to honor one of Roman Catholicism's most celebrated figures, offering the controversy-laden Vatican a chance to bask in his popularity.

A Contrite Sony Vows Tighter Security

Posted: 01 May 2011 06:52 PM PDT

Sony apologized Sunday for a security breach at its online videogame service, and said it couldn't rule out the possibility that credit-card information from 10 million customers might have been compromised.

Chinese Inflation Threat Eases

Posted: 01 May 2011 02:18 PM PDT

China's official purchasing-managers' index fell to 52.9 in April from 53.4 in March, likely assuaging concerns that overheating and inflation pressures will require further tightening measures.