NEW YORK – The financial overhaul is about more than exotic derivatives and complex risk assessments. It will change how you interact with the financial system every day, from swiping your debit card at the store to applying for a mortgage. That includes new rules governing how we bank, borrow and invest, plus the creation [...]

NEW YORK (AFP) – The US stock markets, chastened by less encouraging US economic indicators, face a key monthly jobs report next week that could prove negative for the first time in five months. The closely watched jobs creation and unemployment numbers are scheduled to be released Friday, before the equities markets open. “The stock [...]

WASHINGTON – The demise of Democrats’ jobs-agenda legislation means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a week. Governors who had counted on fresh federal aid will now have to consider more budget cuts, tax increases and layoffs of state workers. Democratic officials said the House may try to revive the [...]

LOS ANGELES – The homebuyer tax credit party is over and the hangover may be just beginning. KB Home on Friday became the latest homebuilder to report a sharp drop in new home orders in the three months ended in May as federal tax incentives aimed at spurring home sales expired. The builder’s orders plunged [...]

TORONTO, Ontario – Briefly putting aside deep economic differences, top world leaders on Saturday condemned North Korea for the alleged sinking of a South Korean warship, set a five-year exit timeline for Afghanistan and said the standoff in Gaza was “not sustainable and must be changed.” In a joint statement, the leading eight industrial democracies [...]

SAINT-DENIS, Reunion – Sixteen-year-old Californian sailor Abby Sunderland got a big hug from her older brother Saturday on the appropriately named Reunion Island, and again defended her family for letting her try to sail around the world alone. Though saddened by the loss of her boat in an Indian Ocean storm, Sunderland said she isn’t [...]

MILWAUKEE – A great wooden steamship that sank more than a century ago in a violent Lake Michigan storm has been found off the Milwaukee-area shoreline, and divers say the intact vessel appears to have been perfectly preserved by the cold fresh waters. Finding the 300-foot-long L.R. Doty was important because it was the largest [...]

PARIS (AFP) – France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, pledged to declare all of her foreign assets on Monday to comply with French laws after she was caught on tape allegedly plotting tax evasion. “I have decided to declare all of my family assets that are currently abroad in cooperation with the French tax [...]

NEW YORK – Stocks extended their winning streak Monday after China said it would allow its currency to appreciate against the dollar, a move that could provide a boost for U.S. manufacturers and exporters. The Dow Jones industrial average rose for a fifth day but pulled well off its morning highs. The Dow rose about [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Nasdaq briefly turned lower and the Dow and S&P 500 pared gains in afternoon trading on Monday, with Research In Motion (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) among the top drags on the Nasdaq. Optimism about China’s vow to allow a flexible yuan currency provided market support. The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was [...]