Hot finance topics

Think your programming skills are world class? Facebook wants you to prove it at its second annual Hacker Cup challenge.
"Hacking is core to how we build at Facebook," the company said in a blog post announcing this year’s competition. "Whether we’re building a prototype for a major product like Timeline at a Hackathon, […]

Boeing plans to close its defense operations in Wichita, Ks., a move that will result in about 2,000 people losing their jobs, according to Bloomberg News.
Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg said the announcement will be made to Wichita employees at a 10:30 a.m. meeting today
Boeing said in November it was studying the Wichita plant’s future, including […]

Yemen’s outgoing president decided to stay in the country, reversing plans to leave, his ruling party said Saturday, in an apparent attempt to salvage his control over the regime, which has appeared to unravel in the face of internal revolts and relentless street protests.
In a sign of the fraying, the son and nephew of President […]

Heads of iceberg lettuce are being removed from grocery store shelves in at least seven states after salmonella was found in an Arizona field adjacent to the grower’s property.
None of the lettuce in the markets has tested positive for salmonella but the grower alerted retailers of the test results and sought a withdrawal of the […]

Of the 1,600 job cuts announced earlier this month by Morgan Stanley, 580 will be at its home base in New York.
The relentless tug of the dismal economy is hitting employees in the banking sector hard, and it’s no surprise that many of the job cuts are hitting the epicenter of the financial industry. Citigroup, […]

For the St. Louis economy, this year looked a lot like the previous 20 or 30, and it’s a rut we really need to get out of.
Job growth lagged the nation. Well-known local companies succumbed to takeovers, without enough new businesses to take their place. Officials argued about strategy while failing to address the region’s […]

Delta Air Lines Inc. is boosting its flying out of New York’s LaGuardia airport, adding routes that target American Airlines and put it in a better position to compete against United.
Delta says the additions make it the biggest airline between the New York area and cities in the U.S. That should help it grab more […]

The president of the European Council says a new treaty will include 17 euro states plus 6 other EU states _ but not all 27 EU members.
Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said the countries would provide up to euro200 billion ($268 billion) in extra resources to the International Monetary fund.
French President Nicolas […]

The leaders of France and Germany will meet next week and plan to push for fundamental changes to the European treaty governing the currency shared by 17 nations, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.
Sarkozy said in a speech in the southern port city of Toulon that during their meeting in Paris on Monday he and German […]

Carl Icahn said Monday that he wants to buy Commercial Metals Co. for about $1.73 billion and combine parts of it with metals recycling businesses that he already owns.
The billionaire investor, who already owns almost 10 percent of Commercial Metals, said he also plans to nominate three of his associates to be directors on its […]