NEW YORK (Reuters) – Banks led stocks lower on Wednesday as the S&P 500 stalled near a 10-month-high after signs of weak European business activity rekindled concerns about a recession overseas. U.S. banks were the S&P 500′s worst performing sector. Investors feared that weak euro zone growth would hamper countries dealing with heavy debt loads [...]

PARIS (Reuters) – General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen are discussing a broad manufacturing alliance designed to stem losses in Europe and lower production costs elsewhere, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Talks between GM, the world’s biggest automaker, and European no.2 Peugeot are focused on sharing vehicles and parts rather than a capital [...]

(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc and UBS AG , in a series of disclosures to law-enforcement officials, have provided crucial information to investigators in multiple countries as part of inquiries into whether the world’s biggest banks manipulated a global benchmark interest rate, according to people familiar with the situation. The two banks, linked by a trader [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. home resales surged in January to a 1-1/2 year high and the supply of properties on the market was the lowest in almost seven years, pointing to a nascent housing recovery. The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales increased 4.3 percent to an annual rate of 4.57 [...]

ATHENS (Reuters) – Fitch cut Greece’s long-term ratings on Wednesday to its lowest rating above a default, becoming the first ratings agency to make the widely expected downgrade after the country announced a bond exchange plan to ease its massive debt burden. It said Greece would be designated as having technically defaulted after the bond [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks opened slightly lower on Wednesday, putting the S&P 500′s three-day winning streak in jeopardy after weaker-than-expected euro zone economic data. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 12.11 points, or 0.09 percent, at 12,953.58. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dipped 1.86 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,360.35. The Nasdaq [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks ended little changed on Tuesday, paring gains after the Dow topped 13,000 for the first time since May 2008, and as higher oil prices damped prospects for the economy. Greece’s securing a bailout to avoid a disorderly default provided some support to stocks, but investors said the news had mostly [...]

CHICAGO (Reuters) – With the tax man breathing down his neck, Ohio farmer Tony Rohrs is scrambling to figure out how much money he made last year in an account at MF Global. Thousands of former clients of the failed brokerage, including farmers, cattle ranchers and investors, have not yet received tax forms that detail [...]

FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Central Bank wants its second offer of cheap ultra-long funds next week to be its last, putting the onus back on governments to secure the euro zone’s longer-term future. Powerful members of the central bank’s 23-man governing council are privately hoping demand at the February 29 auction will fall well [...]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers agreed a 130-billion-euro ($172 billion) rescue for Greece on Tuesday to avert an imminent chaotic default after forcing Athens to commit to unpopular cuts and private bondholders to take bigger losses. The complex deal wrought in overnight negotiations buys time to stabilize the 17-nation currency bloc and strengthen [...]