Tech stocks shot out of the gate Friday after Microsoft and Amazon blew past earnings expectations. The Dow was up a few points at the start but the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1 percent as Microsoft gained 10 percent and Amazon soared 20 percent.

A late Thursday rally puts Wall Street on pace to chalk up its third consecutive week of gains, but as always, the positive momentum is subject to the whims of earnings and economic numbers once again this morning. 

American Express reported a profit that fell from a year ago but topped Wall Street's expectations as the credit card company trimmed costs, a decline in consumer spending stabilized and bad loans eased.

In addition to the usual specialized brokerage and accounting services any commodity needs, carbon markets also require established standards to ensure credits are reliably similar and registries to track those credits from birth to retirement

Consumers are increasingly late paying off loans on their primary home, as the highest unemployment in a quarter of a century pushes up delinquency rates on most types of loans.

The Dow fell more than 2 percent Thursday, it's largest one-day loss since right before the summer rally began, as a weak ISM reading rattled confidence in the recovery. Shares of both GE and Comcast fell amid buzz that the two are in talks about GE's NBC Universal unit.

Stocks snapped a three-day losing streak Monday as investors cheered a wave of merger-and-acquisition activity.

The drive for Dow 10,000 hit a bump in the road Monday as investors took a breather, sending stocks down more than half a percent at the open. Stocks remained lower after a report showed leading indicators rose for a fifth straight month.

Stocks resumed their ascent Friday, after snapping the week's winning streak on Thursday, as investors braced for a volatile day due to quadruple witching.

Stocks snapped their winning streak Thursday after soaring this week to new highs for the year.

Stocks rallied for a third day Wednesday, jumping more than 1 percent, as industrial production rose for a second straight month and weakness in the dollar boosted commodity and industrial stocks.

Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, the New York Times reports.

Most major credit card companies say fewer customers defaulted on their accounts in July, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're financially better off.

Bank of America said that as of Thursday it will stop requiring that disputes with its credit card holders and banking and lending customers be settled by binding arbitration, opening the door for class-action and other lawsuits to push up the bank's legal costs.

American Express  says the "nearcation" is one of the top travel trends of 2009. Hershey Park and Resorts has benefited from this travel craze due to its location and business model, according to its CEO Ted Kleisner.