Google lifts Wall Street in otherwise rough week

Google lifts Wall Street in otherwise rough week (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 01:32 PM PDT

Reuters - Google's blowout quarter led the Nasdaq higher on Friday but mounting uncertainty about the government's ability to reach a debt-reduction deal may keep investors at bay in the coming week.

S&P threatens downgrade of U.S. financial companies (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:46 PM PDT

Reuters - Standard & Poor's on Friday raised the pressure on debt negotiators in Washington, saying it could downgrade insurers, securities clearinghouses, mortgage agencies and a laundry list of other firms without a deal soon to lift the debt ceiling and cut the deficit.

Barclays appeals $4 billion owed to Lehman trustee (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:15 PM PDT

Reuters - Barclays Plc is appealing a judge's ruling that handed the trustee for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's brokerage arm about $4 billion related to the rushed purchase of the failed investment bank's North American business.

Gloomy consumers cast dark cloud over economy (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 10:19 AM PDT

Reuters - U.S. consumer confidence hit a near 2-1/2 year low in early July and manufacturing output stalled in June, further frustrating expectations of a quick economic growth rebound in the second half of the year.

Murdoch apologizes over scandal; two execs quit (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 05:59 PM PDT

Reuters - Rupert Murdoch apologized to victims of criminal phone hacking by one of his tabloids and accepted the resignations of News Corp's top two newspaper executives, Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton.

Deutsche Boerse owners back $9.7 billion NYSE merger (Reuters)

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:57 AM PDT

Reuters - Germany's Deutsche Boerse AG looked set to pull off its $9.7 billion takeover of the New York Stock Exchange group on Thursday after its shareholders backed the deal to create the world's largest exchange operator.

If debt ceiling talks yield no deal, how bad for US economy? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 10:45 AM PDT

The Christian Science Monitor - If Democrats and Republicans don't agree to raise the national debt ceiling by Aug. 2, economists say the consequences would be swift and severe.

Mattel 2nd-quarter net income jumps 56 percent (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:50 PM PDT

AP - Toys based on "Cars 2" are zooming ahead.

Banks that failed or nearly failed EU stress tests (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:20 PM PDT

AP - Here are the banks that failed European Union stress tests that project how their finances would fare in another recession. Banks were required to show they could maintain high-quality capital reserves equal to 5 percent of their outstanding loans, investments and other risky assets.

S&P warns it may downgrade Fannie, Freddie credit (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 12:55 PM PDT

AP - Standard & Poor's warned mortgage giants Fannie Me and Freddie Mac on Friday that they may lose their top credit ratings if lawmakers don't raise the U.S. government's borrowing limit in time to avoid a default.

FCIC Hit For Leaking Bank Data (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 04:11 PM PDT

Investor's Business Daily - A top federal bank regulator cast new clouds over the commission set up to probe the causes of the financial crisis, saying it violated a confidentiality agreement by making public hundreds of pages of sensitive bank examination records now being used by trial lawyers to sue banks.

Hugo Boss raises full-year outlook on strong Chinese sales (AFP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:04 AM PDT

AFP - The German fashion retailer Hugo Boss has raised its full-year outlook owing to better-than-expected second quarter results from China and the United States, it said.

Police: Fla. man facing eviction sets home on fire (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:42 PM PDT

AP - Police say a Florida man facing eviction set fire to his condo and was shot after he got into a fight with officers.

Venezuela's Chavez to go to Cuba for chemotherapy (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 06:23 PM PDT

Reuters - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he would return to ally Cuba for chemotherapy, raising doubts about his fitness to fight for re-election next year in the OPEC-member nation.

FACT CHECK: Obama stretches poll findings on debt (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:22 PM PDT

AP - You might say President Barack Obama cut himself some extra margin of error Friday when he claimed 80 percent of Americans want the debt crisis solved with a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.

AP Source: GM to announce Flint factory investment (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:47 PM PDT

AP - General Motors Co. will invest millions in its Flint, Mich., assembly plant so it can make the next generation of pickup trucks there, a person briefed on the matter said Friday.