Business and Financial News

By Edward Krudy NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell sharply on Thursday after payrolls data showed more Americans than expected lost their jobs in June, dimming hopes of a quick economic recovery. U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than the 363,000 forecast by a Reuters survey, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the government said on Thursday in a report that showed a labor market continuing to struggle. A separate report showed U.S. factory orders came in better than expected in May, but this provided little comfort in what had turned into a broad sell-off in equities by mid-morning. “The emphasis has been on jobs, and the fact that the number came in worse than expected is all the reason in the world why the market would sell off,” said Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co in Florham Park, New Jersey. “One of the camps that has been behind the S&P’s 40 percent improvement from its lows has been the green shoots crowd that have been looking for more of a V-shaped type of recovery in the economy, and if data like this continues to come in, it’s going to make that case very hard to sustain.[...]

• Investors lift global stocks, look past banking worry

  By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Investors generally put aside recent worries about the world economy and banking industry woes on Thursday, sending global stocks higher and reversing safety flows into the Japanese yen. Mixed earnings plagued European markets, however, with Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) posting better-than-expected profits...
• U.S. sheds fewest jobs in 6 months

  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut 539,000 jobs last month, the fewest since October, according to government data on Friday that signaled the economy’s steep decline may be easing. The unemployment rate, however, soared to 8.9 percent, the highest since September 1983, from 8.5 percent in March...
• Bernanke says early response to bank tests encouraging

  JECKYLL ISLAND, Georgia (Reuters) - Government “stress tests” of how 19 major banks would endure a sharp downturn in the economy already appear to be helping banks gain access to private capital, a key element in economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday. “The initial indications are...
• Wall Street rises, Wal-Mart boosts Dow

  By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in choppy trading on Friday as investors grappled with conflicting monthly jobs data, with the Dow industrials boosted after Wal-Mart said it was buying back more of its shares. Government data showed employers cut fewer jobs than expected in May,...
• Global stocks drop on economic jitters

  By Kevin Plumberg HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks tumbled on Tuesday, as confidence in the recovery ebbed and falling commodity prices and a sharp drop on Wall Street spooked investors into taking profits and buying the yen for safety. Major European stock market futures pointed to a lower open...