*Early May U.S. consumer sentiment highest in almost six years. NEW YORK, May 17- Prices for U.S. With the better-than-expected retail sales figures on Monday, "you could probably say maybe the consumer is in a little better shape than we were thinking," said Steve Van Order, fixed-income strategist at Calvert Investments in Bethesda, Maryland.
WASHINGTON, May 17- Unemployment rates dropped in 43 out of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia in April from a year before, according to Labor Department data released on Friday. A handful of states, including Illinois, Delaware, Indiana, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New Hampshire saw their jobless rates rise over the year.
ST. LOUIS, May 17- U.S. authorities have seized two accounts linked to a major operator in the booming Bitcoin digital currency market, Tokyo- based exchange Mt. The price of the volatile currency ballooned in March as a result of the Cyprus bank crisis.
*U.S. consumer sentiment jumps to highest in almost six years. NEW YORK, May 17- Prices for U.S. Combined with better-than-expected retail sales figures on Monday, "you could probably say maybe the consumer is in a little better shape than we were thinking," said Steve Van Order, fixed income strategist at Calvert Investments in Bethesda, Maryland.
WASHINGTON, May 17- President Barack Obama on Friday will seek to turn the spotlight from controversies threatening to swamp his agenda to the economy by announcing he will cut in half the time it takes to get federal approval for large job-creating projects.
The traffickers lived modestly and had alleged links to known terrorists, including Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind cleric serving a life sentence for a conspiracy to blow up New York City landmarks. Arrests also were made in New York City, New Jersey and Delaware.
Martin O'Malley signed Maryland's first gas tax increase in 20 years into law on Thursday and announced $1.2 billion in highway and transit projects. It will jump another 8 cents by July 2015. The tax would rise another 8 cents by July 2016, unless Congress approves an Internet sales tax measure that would provide another revenue source for transportation.
May 16- T. Rowe Price Group Inc Chief Investment Officer Brian Rogers backed keeping JPMorgan Chase& Co's Jamie Dimon in his dual roles of chairman and chief executive, offering valuable support from a top shareholder as a key governance vote at the bank approaches next week.
BALTIMORE-- The Preakness draw was over, and trainer Shug McGaughey listed a variety of reasons why he was OK with having Kentucky Derby winner Orb starting Saturday's race from the rail. Then someone asked him, "If you had your choice, where would you want to be?"
BALTIMORE, May 15- An improving U.S. housing market suggests it is time for the Federal Reserve to stop aiming its stimulus at the real estate sector, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Wednesday.
BALTIMORE, May 15- Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President largely repeated his latest remarks on the economic outlook, from May 3.
WASHINGTON-- Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday defended the Justice Department's secret examination of Associated Press phone records though he declared he had played no role in it, saying it was justified as part of an investigation into a grave national security leak.
*Grassley says IRS bypassed Congress, seeks information. In a letter Tuesday to Steven Miller, acting commissioner of the IRS, Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley asked for all records relating to the decision to reveal its mistakes at a meeting on Friday of an American Bar Association committee instead of to Congress.
BUSH, May 14- The U.S. Navy made aviation history on Tuesday by launching an unmanned jet off an aircraft carrier for the first time, taking an important step toward expanded use of drones by the American military with an eye on possible rivals like China and Iran.
BUSH, May 14- The U.S. Navy made aviation history on Tuesday by launching an unmanned jet off an aircraft carrier for the first time, taking an important step toward expanded use of drones by the American military with an eye on possible rivals like China and Iran.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.-- Missouri lawmakers are hoping the third time will be the charm in their quest to reinstate local taxes on cars, trucks and boats purchased from out-of-state dealers or in private transactions.
In 2004, the average adjusted income in these sparsely populated rural communities was just under $41,000- putting them behind the rest of the state and well behind Texas and California. By 2009, however, averaged adjusted income in the four-county area had leapt to $66,000, far ahead of the rest of North Dakota, Texas and California.
NEW YORK/ BOSTON, May 9- In one of the biggest ever bank heists, a global cyber crime ring stole $45 million from two Middle Eastern banks by hacking into credit card processing firms and withdrawing money from ATMs in 27 countries, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.
*Treasury sells $16 bln in 30- years at high yield of 2.980 pct. NEW YORK, May 9- U.S. Investors are "expecting maybe it's time for equities to correct," said Dimitri Delis, interest-rate strategist at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago, citing the oft-heard expression "sell in May, go away."