News and Finance

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 […]

America is still the biggest drug market in the world, but its sluggish growth was blown away by most international markets last year, said IMS Health on Tuesday.
Worldwide prescription drug sales grew 6.4% to $712 billion in 2007, said IMS Health, a market research firm. This includes the United States drug market, which grew […]

ConAgra Foods Incorporated says its third-quarter profit soared 60% as it raised prices and improved sales. The year-ago results were depressed by recall costs, however.
ConAgra (CAG, Fortune 500) also announced Thursday that it plans to sell its commodities trading group to the Ospraie Special Opportunities fund for $2.1 billion in cash and stock.
In the […]

Police arrested another employee of Societe Generale on Wednesday as they probe the world’s biggest rogue trading scandal, Paris prosecutors said.
In January, France’s second-biggest listed bank SocGen unveiled 4.9 billion euros ($7.53 billion) of losses which it blamed on rogue deals carried out by Jerome Kerviel, a 31-year old junior trader at the bank.
The […]

United Technologies Corp. said Sunday it has made an offer to buy Diebold Inc. for $2.63 billion.
United Technologies (UTX, Fortune 500), parent company of jet engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, Otis elevator and Sikorsky Aircraft, said it made the unsolicited offer to Diebold (DBD) on Friday after trying to negotiate a deal for two years.
Diebold, […]

The author James Baldwin once summed up quite nicely my feeling about refund-anticipation loans, which are marketed heavily at this time of year by tax-preparation companies.
Baldwin said: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
When you’re living on the edge financially, you cannot afford the convenience […]