Wall Street gains as earnings flow in; Boeing up

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on Wall Street Wednesday after U.S. corporate earnings reports got off to a good start.The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 61.66 points to 13,390.51, its first gain of the week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 3.87 points to 1,461.02, and the Nasdaq composite rose 14 to 3,105.81.Having rallied after a last-minute resolution stopped the U.S. from going over...

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Wall Street rises after Alcoa reports earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday, rebounding from two days of losses, as investors turned their focus to the first prominent results of the earnings season.Stocks had retreated at the start of the week from the S&P 500's highest point in five years, hit last Friday, on worries about possible earnings weakness.Shares of Alcoa Inc were down 0.5 percent to $9.08 after early gains, following...

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As public fumes, AIG says will not sue U.S. over bailout

(Reuters) - Facing anger from Congress and the American people, AIG Inc said on Wednesday it would not sue the U.S. government over terms of the company's multi-billion dollar bailout.Insurer American International Group had been weighing whether to join a lawsuit filed by its former Chief Executive Hank Greenberg and his company Starr International, which owned 12 percent of AIG before its $182...

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US banks try to clean up remaining mortgage mess

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. banks have taken another step to clear away the wreckage of the 2008 financial crisis by agreeing to pay $8.5 billion to settle charges that they wrongfully foreclosed on millions of homeowners.The deal announced Monday could compensate hundreds of thousands of Americans whose homes were seized because of abuses such as "robo-signing," when banks automatically signed off on...

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Exclusive: Disney looks for cost savings, ponders layoffs - sources

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters, in an early sign that big companies may not be finished tightening their belts.Disney, whose empire spans TV, film, merchandise and theme parks, is exploring cutbacks in jobs it no longer needs...

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Exclusive: SEC probes Ernst & Young over audit client lobbying

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether auditing company Ernst & Young violated auditor rules by letting its lobbying unit perform work for several major audit clients, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.The SEC inquiry began shortly after Reuters reported in March 2012 that Washington Council Ernst & Young, the E&Y unit,...

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Target ad campaign puts food in the spotlight

NEW YORK (AP) — Is Target's grocery aisle ready for its close up?Target is pushing its food, laundry detergent and other groceries in a national ad campaign that pokes fun at high-fashion advertising by featuring models interacting with everyday products.In one ad, a model in a white dress and high heels struts by blueberry muffin and cake mix boxes that explode in different colors. Then she crushes...

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Stocks gain, pushing the S&P 500 to 5-year high

The Standard & Poor's 500 closed at its highest level in five years Friday after a report showed that hiring held up in December, giving stocks an early lift.The S&P 500 finished up 7.10 points at 1,466.47, its highest close since December 2007.The index began its descent from a record close of 1,565.15 in October 2007, as the early signs of the financial crisis began to emerge. The index...

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US job market shrugs off fears of 'fiscal cliff'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market proved resilient in December despite fears that a budget impasse in Washington would send the economy over the fiscal cliff and trigger growth-killing tax hikes and spending cuts.Employers added 155,000 jobs last month, roughly matching the solid but unspectacular monthly pace of the past two years.The gains announced Friday weren't enough to reduce unemployment,...

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Hurricane Sandy Victims Find Refuge on Timeshare Marketplace RedWeek.com

Timeshares are not only for fun vacation getaways, as evidenced by the story of RedWeek.com members Bob and Jody; left homeless by Hurricane Sandy last month. With the holidays approaching, Bob and Judy turned to leading timeshare marketplace RedWeek.com to secure a timeshare rental in New York City.Seattle, WA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Timeshares are not only for fun vacation getaways, as evidenced...

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Pure-Ecommerce.com Introduces Its New 2013 Premier Internet Business Site Collection Featuring Upgraded Designs, Larger Product Counts, and Video and Mobile Marketing

14 New Pure-Ecommerce.com Internet Businesses for Sale in the Most Popular Niche Markets in the Online MarketplaceCARY, NC (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Pure-Ecommerce.com introduces its 2013 Premier Internet Business Site Collection. This incredible new collection of 14 internet businesses for sale has been created in some of the most popular niche markets in the online marketplace. The Collection includes:...

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Escape Villas Offers Family Vacation Rentals for the Holidays

Trade the cold winter weather in North America for a tropical Christmas vacation in Costa Rica, where travelers can spend their holidays enjoying outdoor family adventures in the comfort of an Escape Villa family vacation rental.Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica (PRWEB) December 19, 2012As the holiday season approaches, more Americans are planning to travel for Christmas compared to 2011, according to a...

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Shiny Reputation Highlights Airbnb for their Focus on Local Neighborhood Information

Shiny Reputation proclaims their opinion on the recent launch of Airbnb’s Neighborhoods program, in which they are looking to narrow the focus of their site to concentrate on services in local neighborhoods where rental properties are located.San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Shiny Reputation has issued an announcement about the launch of the Airbnb Neighborhood program, which seeks to give...

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KSL Cars Adds Contact At Once! Live Chat in Ads

Utah Dealerships Can Integrate Chat to Connect with Potential BuyersAtlanta (PRWEB) December 19, 2012Contact At Once!, the leading live chat provider connecting online and mobile car shoppers to auto dealers, today announced that it has been selected by KSL Cars, Utah’s leading online marketplace, as its exclusive provider of live chat for automotive advertising. KSL Cars will bundle Contact At Once!...

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Twitter offers users scrapbook of past tweets

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter is offering its more than 200 million users a chance to keep a digital scrapbook of all their tweets.The tool, announced this week, is designed to make it easier for people to review all their activity on Twitter's trend-setting messaging service.When it's available, the downloading option will appear at the bottom of each user's settings menu.Twitter, which is based in...

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Facebook tests charging users to send certain messages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc unveiled a test on Thursday that charges users to send certain types of messages through the social network, the latest example of the company looking for new sources of revenue and profit.Until now, Facebook's messaging system sends the most-relevant messages, including those from users' Facebook friends, into an Inbox and siphons off less-relevant messages,...

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Twitter post offers clue to The Civil Wars' future

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While there still remain questions about the future of The Civil Wars, there's new music on the way.Joy Williams, one half of the Grammy Award-winning duo with John Paul White, said Thursday during a Twitter chat that she was in the studio listening to new Civil Wars songs.It's a tantalizing clue to the future of the group, which appeared in doubt when a European tour unraveled...

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Facebook tests charging to route messages to inbox

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users' inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called "other."The "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely don't know, based...

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Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it is testing a service that will charge users $1 to guarantee that messages they send to people they are not connected to arrive in users' inboxes, rather than in an often-ignored folder called "other."Launched in 2011, the "other" folder is where Facebook routes messages it deems less relevant. Not quite spam, these include messages from people you most likely...

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Sun Life sells U.S. annuity business, shares drop

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Inc will sell its U.S. annuity business for $1.35 billion to a firm connected to Guggenheim Partners in a deal that should reduce the exposure of the insurer's earnings to market swings and boost its cash levels.While the deal could bring long-term benefits to Sun Life, whose earnings have been derailed by wild market swings during recent years, investors pulled...

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