Good News | featured news

Faced with Facebook, Starbucks and Angela Merkel, the market chose to focus on Merkel. For a second day, the U.S. stock market powered higher after European leaders, including German chancellor Merkel, pledged to protect the union of 17 countries that use the euro. The Dow Jones industrial average blew past 13,000, a key psychological marker that it hadn't hit since early May.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to near a four-year low but an unusual pattern for summer factory shutdowns kept hopes in check that the weak labor market was improving.

Markets and the euro rose after Mario Draghi reportedly told a conference in London that the central bank would “do whatever it takes to preserve” the currency.

Three hospitals taking care of people wounded in the Colorado theater shooting said Wednesday they will limit or completely waive medical bills for the victims.

U.S. home prices in the second quarter rose from the year-ago period for the first time since 2007, according to a closely watched index, the latest indication that the housing market is starting to recover.

Max Sidorov was so moved by the story of a bullied bus monitor that he started a campaign to raise money to send Karen Klein on vacation. His goal was $5,000. But the campaign had far exceeded that amount when it ended Friday night, raising more than $700,000.

The attempted abduction of a 10-year-old girl in Philadelphia was caught on a security camera and now police are offering a $10000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

Stocks rallied Wednesday, with the S&P 500 touching its highest level since early May, as corporate profits from bellwethers like Intel and Honeywell defied the market's worst fears.

Stocks rose Wednesday, as investors watched Fed Chief Bernanke deliver the semi-annual "Monetary Policy Report to the Congress" before the House Financial Services Committee.

Groundbreaking on new homes rose in June to its fastest pace in over three years, lending a helping hand to an economy that has shown worrisome signs of cooling. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that housing starts rose 6.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000 units. That was the highest rate since October 2008.