Nation & World News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Retail sales posted a surprising increase in February as consumers did not let major snowstorms stop them from storming the malls. The advance, the biggest since November, provided hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is gaining momentum.

NEW YORK (AP) — After more than a year of bids and counterbids, CF Industries landed Terra Industries on Friday for $4.7 billion, creating a giant fertilizer company.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama intends to nominate Janet Yellen, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, to take over as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, a person familiar with the selection said Friday.

CBOE files for

NEW YORK (AP) — A rally in financial stocks Thursday helped the market extend its grind higher to a third day.

WASHINGTON AP) — Unable to muster bipartisan agreement on key banking provisions, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he will offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama sought Thursday to put some detail behind his lofty drive to double U.S. exports over the next five years, calling the effort imperative to putting people back to work. But doubts remain about how many net jobs his trade agenda will create — and how he will get it done.

Tropicana sizes shrink,

NEW YORK (AP) — Scant buying lifted stocks for a second day Wednesday after the government reported a drop in companies' inventories.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses trimmed inventories at the wholesale level again in January even though sales rose for a 10th consecutive month. The dip in inventories underscored that businesses remain cautious about restocking their depleted shelves.

NEW YORK (AP) — Fertilizer company Terra Industries said Wednesday its board favors a bid to be acquired by Deerfield-based CF Industries instead of a previous agreement with Norway's Yara.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America customers will soon be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that may become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation blending help for the jobless with popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is slated to pass the Senate Wednesday over protests from conservatives who say it adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt.

NEW YORK (AP) — A year after the stock market began its comeback from 12-year lows, investors are looking for the next big thing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Drug and medical products company Abbott Laboratories said Tuesday it will buyFacet Biotech Corp. for about $450 million in cash, expanding the company's access to biotechnology drugs, including a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Cisco Systems Inc. announced Tuesday that it is upgrading one of its biggest pieces of networking hardware, a router that's used to power the most trafficked parts of the Internet backbone.

NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what TV makers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two major investors in General Growth Properties are joining Brookfield Asset Management in offering to inject a combined $6.5 billion in fresh funds into the shopping mall operator to help it emerge from bankruptcy protection.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony Corp. said Tuesday it will start selling 3-D televisions in June, joining a competitive industrywide push to convince consumers to embrace the technology for their living rooms.

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that a European monetary fund to bail out eurozone nations in need would send a clear signal to markets speculating on the possible break-up of Europe's currency union.

MIAMI (AP) — Winter storms hurt Burger King's results in January and February, the fast-food chain said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Toyota gave detailed evidence Monday that it says disproves claims that electronics may cause the unwanted acceleration that led to the recall of more than 8 million cars and trucks.

AIG sells Alico unit to

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended mixed after a new round of mergers and acquisitions raised some hope for the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says it's making more financial institutions eligible for a program to drain some of the unprecedented liquidity it added to markets during the credit crisis.

OAK BROOK (AP) — McDonald's Corp. said Monday that sales at restaurants open at least a year climbed 4.8 percent in February on strong overseas growth and a small rise in U.S. sales.

NEW YORK (AP) — American International Group will sell a second overseas life and health insurance unit for $15.5 billion to MetLife Inc. in an ongoing bid to repay billions in government aid.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – It’s hard enough to find a job in this economy, and now some people are facing another hurdle: Potential employers are holding their credit histories against them.

LOS ANGELES – There wasn’t a bottle of Oxiclean or a ShamWow anywhere. But there was Dawn Stephens’ nifty new, all-in-one toilet-bowl-cleaning brush.

Hulu’s days as a free online video site could be ending soon.

NEW YORK (AP) — General Motors Co. will reinstate 661 dealerships it sought to drop from its sales network.

Tribune bondholders

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed stopgap legislation to extend help for the jobless and keep federal highway dollars flowing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers shrugged off the snow that hammered much of the country in February to buy spring clothing and other items, resulting in solid sales gains for many retailers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February as employers shed 36,000 jobs, fewer than expected. The figures suggested the job market is slowly healing but that significant hiring has yet to occur.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks jumped Friday after the government's employment report showed fewer jobs were cut in February than expected.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple says its much-anticipated iPad tablet will hit U.S. store shelves on April 3.

NEW YORK (AP) — CF Industries Holdings Inc. said Friday it has begun its unsolicited $4.7 billion offer for fertilizer company Terra Industries Inc., which has already accepted a buyout offer from a Norwegian company.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy is showing renewed strength as retail sales surged last month and factory orders also increased. Such gains could lead to more hiring — if they can be sustained.

NEW YORK (AP) — Optimism about the government's February jobs report sent the Dow Jones industrials back into the black for 2010.

BofA warrants sale

WASHINGTON (AP) — New claims for jobless benefits fell last week in a sign that layoffs may be easing as the economy slowly recovers.

Radisson getting facelift,

NEW YORK (AP) — Early gains in stocks unraveled Wednesday on concern that the economy will see a slow recovery.

NEW YORK (AP) — Growth in the U.S. service sector accelerated in February to its fastest pace in more than two years, but jobs remained hard to find.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has announced a new austerity plan worth $6.5 billion in savings to deal with the country's unprecedented financial crisis.

Many people dole out financial gifts in life but pay little attention to how their assets will be divided after they die.

GM shuffles

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a year after Lehman Brothers' collapse set off a financial panic, Senate negotiators are laboring to seal a deal over a consumer protection dispute holding up broad legislation to establish new rules for Wall Street.

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market had its third straight winning day on signs that companies are becoming more optimistic about the economy.