Questions and answers on blockbuster Facebook IPO

Taking a company public isn’t as simple as collecting Facebook friends.
Even if the company is Facebook.
When the social media company’s stock starts trading Friday under the symbol FB, buyer demand is expected to explode. At its initial offering price of $38 a share, the 8-year-old upstart is worth $104 billion. That’s more than such giants […]

U.S. 10-Year Notes Add to Longest Gain Since

Treasuries had the longest streak of weekly gains in more than 13 years after elections in France and Greece added to concern governments may struggle with deficit- cutting plans used to combat the region

Cooling Job Market Takes Toll on U.S. Confidence: Economy - Bloomberg

More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week and consumer confidence declined by the most in a year, signaling that a cooling labor market may restrain household spending.
Jobless claims fell to 388,000 from a revised 389,000 the prior week that was the highest since early January, Labor Department figures showed today […]

Stocks nosedive as investors grow anxious

U.S. stocks dropped Wednesday, rebounding somewhat into the close, as investors grew increasingly anxious about what the markets might look like without additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve.
Some investors had been hoping the Fed would move toward another round of quantitative easing, but those prospects seemed less likely following Tuesday’s release of minutes from […]

Justices meet Friday to vote on health care case

While the rest of us have to wait until June, the justices of the Supreme Court will know the likely outcome of the historic health care case by the time they go home this weekend.
After months of anticipation, thousands of pages of briefs and more than six hours of arguments, the justices will vote on […]

Bell acquires Astral Media for $3.38 billion

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Iran rejects claims of cleaning up nuclear works

Iran on Tuesday rejected allegations it attempted to clean up radioactive traces possibly left by secret nuclear work at a key military site before granting U.N. inspectors permission to visit the facility.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran that the allegations were misleading and false, and insisted that such traces could not be […]

China Cuts Reserve-Ratio for Growth as Inflation Deters Interest-Rate Move - Bloomberg

China is seen making more cuts to banks

Troubled Kodak creates new business structure

Struggling Kodak is seeking to simplify its structure and cut costs by reducing the number of its business segments from three to two. Shares shot up 34 percent in premarket trading.
Eastman Kodak Co., once a photography pioneer, was pummeled by consumers’ switch to digital. Its fortunes deteriorated further last year, and it said in November […]

High salaries for Italian lawmakers stirs anger

A government-mandated report has confirmed what many Italians long suspected: The euro11,000 ($14,300) that Italian lawmakers earn each month far outpaces what their peers in some of Europe’s largest economies get.
Italy’s bloated public sector and the privileges of its political elite have come under fire as the country battles its debt crisis with tax hikes, […]