U.S. markets opened mixed Thursday morning after the Labor Department said first-time unemployment benefit claims jumped sharply for the week ending April 23.
Viacom, which owns entertainment icons
MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, posted a 53 percent rise
in first-quarter profits Thursday.
Starbucks vaulted past two heavyweight burger chains to come in third in U.S. sales in 2010.
The battle between two major Chinese social networking sites, Renren.com and Kaixin001.com,
will soon spread to the US stock market.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates at a
record low of near 0 percent on Wednesday.
UPS overcame
higher fuel costs and bad weather to report an increase in revenue of
7 percent to $12.6 billion in the first quarter.
Some 3,162 Hispanic customers of a Bakersfield-based mortgage bank are getting refund checks for alleged overcharges, the Federal Trade Commission announced Monday.
Amazon reported a 38 percent jump in first
quarter revenues to $9.86 billion Tuesday, but profits fell as
the Web retail giant invested heavily in new products.
YouTube is to take on movie-rental services
such as Netflix, iTunes and Amazon with its own video-on-demand
service.
The march of Android to world domination
continues unabated.
Hispanic social media programs lag social media programs for
non-Hispanic audiences by 2 to 1 but are poised for growth.
Crude oil prices held close to $112 per barrel overnight in New York after Ford Motor Co.
said it made a $2.6 billion profit in the first quarter.
The inventory of new homes for sale fell to 183,000 units in March, which is the second-lowest
level on record.
A key gauge of US economic performance rose in March for the ninth straight month,
pointing to strengthening business conditions, a private research group said Thursday.
