Stock Markets News

NEW YORK - KKR & Co. LP, the parent of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts said Friday that it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks stayed steady on Friday as data showing retail sales rose unexpectedly last month was offset by weaker consumer sentiment, sending mixed signals about the economic outlook.

NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc. said Friday it will list its stock on the Nasdaq exchange along with its existing New York Stock Exchange listing.

LONDON (AFP) - FTSE 100 shares ended slightly higher on Friday on news that retail sales in the United States rose unexpectedly in February for the second straight month.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has filed to list $2.2 billion in shares on the New York Stock Exchange, moving forward in its long effort to become a publicly traded U.S. company.

LONDON AP) — European and U.S. stock markets rose Friday after better than expected figures on both sides of the Atlantic helped ease concerns about the pace of economic recovery.

LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets rose Friday as investors awaited crucial economic data and tracked US attempts to rein in the banking sector, dealers said.

WARNING ON DERIVATIVES: The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is calling anew for Congress to impose new oversight on financial derivatives. Mary Schapiro warns that allowing risky instruments like credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage.

JUST BY A HAIR: The Standard & Poor's 500 index inched just above its recent peak in January to set a new 17-month high. The achievement is a welcome sign for traders who were concerned the market would stall around the January levels.

WASHINGTON - The government's top securities regulator called Thursday for Congress to impose new oversight on financial derivatives, warning that allowing risky instruments like credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. securities regulator said market watchdogs need to supervise credit default swaps, securities blamed for exacerbating 2008's market meltdown and more recently the Greek debt crisis.

A rally in financial stocks Thursday helped the market extend its grind higher to a third day.

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Thursday:

BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - The appetite and sense of urgency for world financial reform have waned as markets have rebounded and the world economy has shown signs of recovering, the head of exchange operator NYSE Euronext said on Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - Leading shares weakened on Thursday after unconvincing gains overnight on Wall Street as investors mulled the latest economic data and company news.

LONDON (Reuters) - A spike in Chinese inflation weakened equity markets on Thursday, as investors pondered the prospects of interest rate hikes in one of the world's main economic drivers.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ten years ago today, before the dot-com bubble burst, the Nasdaq composite index hit a record 5,132.52 points -- a peak that the technology-heavy market shows no sign of scaling again any time soon.

WASHINGTON - The chief economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who is an expert on the financial instruments that figured largely in the 2008 crisis, is leaving his position for the private sector.

NEW YORK - Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former stock loan trader at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp in New York received well over $100,000 of cash kickbacks by steering orders to other brokerage firms, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's chief economist, James Overdahl, will be leaving at the end of the month, he said on Tuesday.

BEIJING - An official in charge of China's foreign reserves tried to ease American concern Tuesday about the political impact of its huge holdings of U.S. government debt and indicated Beijing has no plans for a big increase in its gold stockpile.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state should not reimpose a stock transfer tax as this would make Wall Street firms move to other cities such as New Jersey's Newark, or other states like Connecticut, Governor David Paterson said on Monday.

KABUL - Defense Sec. Gates in Afghanistan to meet with military commanders.

THE BREAKUP: During last year's big market rally, the dollar consistently fell on days when stocks rose, and vice versa. That hasn't been the case in the past three months.

NEW YORK - The relationship between the dollar and stocks that helped define last year's stock market rally is over.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bulls may get more room to run this week on the anniversary of the March 2009 lows -- if U.S. stock investors see more signs of stability after Friday's rally on smaller-than-expected job losses.

Most socially responsible mutual funds are born of a desire to help the environment, slow the spread of violence, or boycott certain practices. Parnassus Workplace (PARWX), on the other hand, sprang from between the covers of Fortune magazine.

NEW YORK - Coal company stocks led a rally on Wall Street Friday after published reports said that a Japanese steel maker paid higher prices for coal than expected.