NEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - Three of Wall Street’s top investment banks agreed to pay millions of dollars in fines and buy back billions of dollars in frozen, illiquid securities after U.S. regulators reached settlements over the way the firms sold auction-rate securities.Despite the settlements, the industrywide investigation into auction-rate securities […]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)- WireNews - Gap Inc (GPS.N: GPS.NGPS.N~GPS.N~, http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/GPSStock Buzz) reported quarterly profit on Thursday that jumped 50 percent to beat Wall Street estimates, as cost-cutting and other moves offset declining sales at its family of chain stores.Overall same-store sales, a measure of retail health, fell 10 percent at Gap […]

By Alexandria SageSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)- WireNews - Gap Inc (GPS.N: GPS.NGPS.N~GPS.N~, http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/GPSStock Buzz) reported a 50 percent jump in quarterly net income on Thursday, beating Wall Street estimates, as cost-cutting, lower inventories and other moves that boosted profit offset declining sales at its family of clothing stores.Same-store sales, a key measure […]

NEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: WMT.NWMT.N~WMT.N~, http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/WMTStock Buzz) will pay former vice chairman Tom Coughlin $6.75 million to settle a dispute over his retirement package after the executive admitted to taking money from the company.Wal-Mart said in a regulatory filing on Thursday it reached a settlement with […]

NEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - Three of Wall Street’s top investment banks agreed to pay millions of dollars in fines and buy back billions of dollars in frozen, illiquid securities after U.S. regulators reached settlements over the way the firms sold auction-rate securities.Despite the settlements, the industrywide investigation into auction-rate securities […]

By Steven C. JohnsonNEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - The Dow and S&P 500 rose on Thursday as surging oil prices drove up energy shares, though fresh fears of more credit losses on Wall Street kept gains modest and pushed the Nasdaq into negative territory.U.S. crude oil jumped more than $5 a […]

By Grant McCoolNEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - U.S. financial industry enforcement agents will review the auction-rate debt operations of about 40 firms industrywide starting next week, sources familiar with the investigation said on Thursday.The sources, who declined to be identified, said the attorneys and investigators did not have the power of […]

By Alister BullJACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters)- WireNews - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke tackles financial stability in a key speech on Friday but economists doubt he will provide solid clues about future policy action to calm the credit crunch.Central bankers are gathering in this mountain resort for an annual symposium as […]

BOSTON (Reuters)- WireNews - Intuit Inc (INTU.O: INTU.OINTU.O~INTU.O~, http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/INTUStock Buzz), maker of TurboTax tax preparation software, reported on Thursday that it had a wider loss in its seasonally weak fourth quarter, which ended July 31.The company had a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $61.9 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with […]

By Richard ValdmanisNEW YORK (Reuters)- WireNews - Oil prices rose nearly 5 percent on Thursday, the biggest percentage gain in more than two months, driven by rising tensions between the United States and energy behemoth Russia.Prices have rebounded more than $9 from lows earlier this week, which put a dramatic end […]