News and Finance

OTTAWA–Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is welcoming China's announcement of a massive economic stimulus package – and suggesting other countries will soon be following suit.
The finance minister says the stimulus package will be good for the world economy and good for an exporting nation like Canada.
He says he expects other nations, particularly emerging […]

In speech after speech, presidential candidate John McCain hammers on the claim that his rival Barack Obama will raise taxes on many small businesses.
At the debate on Wednesday night, McCain said, "The small businesses that we’re talking about would receive an increase in their taxes right now."
More typically he has said: "What [Obama] […]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon laid out a plan Wednesday to help his country avoid or mitigate the effects of the economic uncertainty besetting other nations.
"The world is in a grave crisis, and this affects us," he said in a nationally televised address.
He predicted that the crisis would result in fewer Mexican exports, fewer tourists, […]

Several big life insurance stocks fell sharply Thursday, dragged down by jitters about their role in the credit crisis and fears sparked by a comment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wednesday about a potential bankruptcy in the industry.
"We don’t have a lot of leeway on time. One of the individuals in the […]

A pair of potential real estate transactions could help an Amherst church expand to a larger sanctuary while opening the door for a new, commercial development along Maple Road.
The Evangel Assembly Church of God’s desire for a larger sanctuary and campus triggered the real estate deals.
The church wants to move from its longtime home at […]

JPMorgan Chase’s profits plunged more than 50%. Continental Airlines reported a loss.
But this was initially cause for celebration on Wall Street today because JPMorgan’s (JPM, Fortune 500) profits didn’t fall as much as analysts were expecting and Continental’s (CAL, Fortune 500) loss wasn’t as large as forecasts.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase rose nearly […]

President George Bush, saying the United States "must produce more oil," called Wednesday for a lifting of the ban on offshore drilling.
"Congress must face a hard reality," Bush said. "Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today’s painful prices or even higher, our nation must produce more oil, and we must start […]

Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation last year, marking the highest ridership level since 1957, according to a new study.
The rate of ridership continued to climb at a quarterly rate of 3.3% through the first three months of 2008 to 2.6 billion, according to research from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). […]

Senate Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure to address America’s anger over $4 a gallon gasoline.
The Democratic energy package would have imposed a tax on any "unreasonable" profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies and […]

European exports declined in March as the euro's advance to a record against the dollar made the region's products less competitive abroad.
Euro-area exports fell 2.9 percent from February, when they gained 0.6 percent, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today using seasonally adjusted data. Imports were unchanged in March, giving the […]