It was the largest increase since sales surged by 1.7 percent in January following six straight declines.
The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 601,000. That's below analysts' estimates of 615,000.
More than 321,000 households received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month — 18 percent more than a year earlier — but the smallest annual gain since June 2006.
City National Corp., a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based bank holding company that owns Convergent Capital Management LLC, has agreed to buy a majority interest in Lee Munder Capital Group, a firm with more than $3 billion of assets under management.
Charitable giving last year experienced its first decline since 1987, the Giving USA Foundation reported today.
Non-binding say-on-pay shareholder votes would be required of all public companies under legislation proposed by the Obama administration today.
Bank of America Corp of Charlotte, N.C. has joined the ever-growing list of firms that are being required to repay investors who bought auction rate securities.
Some good news for the charitable-giving world: Most donors — 55% — planned to donate the same amount to charities in 2009 as they did last year, according to a recent survey conducted by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, a charitable donor-advised-fund program established by Fidelity Investments of Boston.
The U.S. trade deficit edged up in April as crude oil prices hit the highest level since December, but the imbalance so far in 2009 is well below last year's total as the recession dampens demand for imports.
Clearbrook Financial LLC has lured a 22-year Merrill Lynch & Co. veteran to serve as its new chief executive.
Two California men and the companies they ran were charged today with conducting an $80 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Korean-American investors with false promises of annual returns of up to 36% from foreign currency trading,
Retirees would be able to take a portion of their retirement savings in the form of an annuity if a bill introduced today by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., were passed into law.
U.S. retirement assets were down 22% at the end of 2008, compared with yearend 2007, according to a report released yesterday by the Washington-based Investment Company Institute.
Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will stem a continuing rise in the nation's unemployment.
Peter L. Bernstein, an economic consultant who sought to bring ideas of modern investment management from academia to the practitioner, died Friday in New York.
The Conference Board Employment Trends Index saw a small uptick in May, increasing 0.2% to 89.9, from 89.7 in April.
BlackRock Inc. confirmed this morning that it's in talks with Barclays PLC to acquire the London-based company's $1 trillion money management unit, Barclays Global Investors.
Making a case for long term care insurance can be a challenge under any circumstances.
Mindful of past disasters with long term care insurers, financial advisers have found ways to balance financial viability with quality benefits.
Advisers are struggling to get clients — especially baby boomers — to think about funding long term care in the face of depleted investment portfolios.
