US pending home sales jump to nearly a 6-year high

WASHINGTON (AP) — An index measuring the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in October jumped to nearly its highest level in almost six years. Steady job gains and record-low mortgage rates have made home buying more attractive.The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 5.2 percent to 104.8 in October. Excluding...

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US home sales jump to highest level in 3 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of previously occupied homes jumped to their highest level in three years last month, bolstered by steady job gains and record-low mortgage rates.The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales rose 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in November. That's up from 4.76 million in October.Previously occupied home sales are on track...

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US home sales surge to highest level in 3 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of previously occupied homes jumped to their highest level in three years last month, bolstered by steady job gains and record-low mortgage rates. The report was the latest sign of a sustained recovery in the housing market.The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales rose 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in November. That's...

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FedEx: cost plan can counter sluggish growth

NEW YORK (AP) — FedEx is more pessimistic about the U.S. economy than it was three months ago, but more assured of its own ability to grow earnings.The world's second-largest package delivery company lowered its economic forecast for the U.S., saying that there remains a lot of uncertainty for the company and the country.Its forecast for the current quarter, which incorporates the critical holiday...

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FedEx says it can grow by cutting costs

NEW YORK (AP) — FedEx may be pessimistic about the U.S. economy, but it's confident about growing its earnings.The world's second-largest package delivery company, a bellwether for economic health because of the vast number and kinds of shipments it handles, lowered its economic forecast for the U.S., saying there remains a lot of uncertainty for the country.FedEx maintained its earnings forecast...

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Burundi tea earnings rise 27 pct in November on high prices

UJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi's tea export revenues rose 27 percent in November from the same month last year thanks to a stronger regional market, a tea board official said on Thursday.The state-run tea board (OTB) said it collected $1.80 million from the sale of 589,907 kg, up from $1.42 million earned in November 2011 from the export of 563,140 kg."Supplies of the commodity in the region were low...

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Jefferies results beat estimates on higher fixed-income revenue

(Reuters) - Jefferies Group Inc reported a higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit as the investment bank benefited from higher earnings from its fixed-income unit, and said its business expansion in Asia has started delivering.The midsized investment bank has been expanding in China and India and recently poached bankers from the Royal Bank of Scotland to expand its business in China.Jefferies...

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Oracle 2Q earnings rise 18 pct as tech spending up

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oracle says its latest quarterly earnings rose 18 percent as companies splurged on more software and other technology toward the end of the year.The results announced Tuesday are an improvement from Oracle's previous quarter, when the company's revenue dipped slightly from a year earlier.The latest quarter spanned September through November. That makes Oracle the first technology...

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Oracle sees third-quarter profit of 64 to 68 cents per share

BOSTON (Reuters) - Oracle Corp, the world's No. 3 software maker, said it expects to report non-GAAP earnings per share of 64 cents to 68 cents in its fiscal third quarter.Oracle forecast that third-quarter new software sales and cloud subscriptions sales will rise 3 percent to 13 percent from a year earlier.The company said its sees third-quarter hardware products sales flat to down 10 percent from...

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RIM shares jump in Toronto, rebound from sharp decline

 Shares of Research In Motion Ltd jumped nearly 10 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, following similar gains in New York on Wednesday, in a rebound from last week's sharp decline.Last Friday, the volatile stock plunged more than 20 percent after the company said on an earnings conference call that it was rolling out a new fee structure for its services segment, which some investors...

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A surprisingly good vintage as market logs gains

NEW YORK (AP) — If you'd told investors what was going to happen in 2012 — U.S. economic growth at stall speed, an intensifying European debt crisis, a slowdown in China, fiscal deadlock in Washington, decelerating corporate earnings growth — and asked how the stock market would perform, few would have predicted a good year.But that's just what they got.The Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard...

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Stocks surge after last-minute budget deal reached

Stocks are opening sharply higher on Wall Street after lawmakers averted sweeping cuts in government spending and with a last-minute budget deal.The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 232 points to 13,336 shortly after the opening bell Tuesday, the first trading day of 2013. That's a gain of 1.8 percent.The Standard & Poor's 500 index shot up 29 points, or 2 percent, to 1,455. The Nasdaq composite...

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'Fiscal cliff' deal sends markets shooting higher

 The "fiscal cliff" compromise, for all its chaos and controversy, was enough to send the stock market shooting higher Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year.All the major U.S. stock indexes swelled by at least 2 percent. For the Dow Jones industrial average, up 263 points soon after the market opened, it was the biggest surge in six months.Stocks around the world also leapt higher....

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Nigerian stocks continue gains, up 1.5 pct on banks

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian stocks rose 1.5 percent on Wednesday in thin trade, led by heavy weight banks, adding to optimism that a surge in share prices last year will continue into 2013.The index of Nigeria's top-10 banks on Wednesday gained 3.5 percent to help lift the all-share index up 424 points to 28,502 points by 1404 GMT.Sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest index crossed a 28,000 point psychological...

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Oil down slightly as fiscal-cliff talks continue

The price of oil fell slightly Friday, as the stock market drifted lower and efforts continued in Washington to strike a budget deal before the year-end deadline.U.S. benchmark crude fell 7 cents to finish at $90.80 a barrel.Hopes that a budget compromise might be reached were still alive as congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House. The Republican-dominated House is...

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Stocks drop as hope for a budget deal slips away

 Stocks are dropping again on Wall Street as investors lose hope that Washington will meet a self-imposed deadline for reaching a budget deal by year-end.The five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones industrial average was the longest since July.The Dow lost 158 points to close at 12,938 Friday.The Standard & Poor 500 index fell 15 points to 1,402 and the Nasdaq dropped 25 points to 2,960.The...

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Wall Street ends sour week with 5th straight decline

- Stocks fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, dropping 1 percent and marking the S&P 500's longest losing streak in three months as the federal government edged closer to the "fiscal cliff" with no solution in sight.President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders met at the White House to work on a solution for the draconian debt-reduction measures set to take effect beginning next week....

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Wall St Week Ahead - Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier

 Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax.But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.Market strategists say that while falling off...

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Stocks open lower as US budget deadline nears

 Stocks are falling again on Wall Street as Washington leaders blame each other for an impasse over the budget that seems less and less likely to be resolved before a year-end deadline.That's when a series of across-the-board government spending cuts and tax increases kick in, an event that has become known as the "fiscal cliff."The market is on track for its fifth consecutive decline as the...

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Oracle 2Q earnings rise 18 pct as tech spending up

Oracle 2Q earnings rise 18 pct as tech spending upOracle says its latest quarterly earnings rose 18 percent as companies splurged on more software and other technology toward the end of the year.The results announced Tuesday are an improvement from Oracle's previous quarter, when the company's revenue dipped slightly from a year earlier.The latest quarter spanned September through November. That makes...

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