The Conference Board's index of leading indicators perked up 0.1% in March, following five consecutive declines.
U.S. housing starts totaled 947,000 last month, representing a 36.5% drop from March 2007.
Consumer prices rose by 0.3% in March, led by rising costs in energy, food and transportation.
The U.S. dollar fell to a record low against the euro today, depreciating 1.1% to $1.5965.
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BlackRock and Knight showed first-quarter profits, while Piper Jaffray swung to a loss.
Before JPMorgan stepped in to buy Bear Stearns at a bargain basement price in March, the firm was already flailing.
State Street posted a 69% increase in profit for the first quarter, helped by $600 billion in new assets.
Joseph P. Brandon, chairman and chief executive of General Re Corp., left his post following a rocky court case.
The increase in the producer price index was the largest increase since the it rose 2.6% in November 2007.
Both GunnAllen Financial Inc. and a former top executive are claiming victory after a lengthy arbitration battle that focused on whether the independent broker- dealer had the right to fire David McCoy, its former chief operating officer and national sales director, who was dismissed in 2005.
The Iowa Legislature has approved a bill to ban stranger-originated life insurance practices.
"Rep-as-adviser" programs are gaining interest among brokerage firms as an alternative to the banned fee-based brokerage accounts, according to a report by Cerulli Associates Inc.
The Pittsburgh-based money manager reported that its preliminary net income rose to $55.8 million, or 55 cents per share.
Fueled by a drastic jump of 9.1% in petroleum import costs, the price of imports increased 2.8%.
Zurich Financial Services announced that it is cutting 400 jobs at its North American business insurance unit.
The RBC CASH Index fell to 29.5 in April, down from 33.1 in March — an all-time low since it made its debut in January 2002.
The U.S trade gap grew by 5.7% in February to $62.3 billion, trumping economists’ expectations for a slight deficit decline.
Less than 20% of American workers feel confident that they will be able to afford a comfortable retirement .
"Existing-home sales could start to show a sustained increase within a few months ... ," said Laurence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.
Five brokers at the collapsed firm have filed a $36 million arbitration complaint against National Financial Services.
