Rental vacancy rates in the United States fell from 2009 to 2011, while the share of households renting homes rose, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. Rental vacancy rates fell from 8.4 percent to 7.4 percent in two years, the American Community Survey stated. Vacancy rates dropped while the...

China announced it plans to secure over 1.67 billion mu (275 million acres) of land for grain farming this year. Agriculture Minister Han Changfu said different regions in the country will take advantage of their agricultural features to increase the acreage of high-yield crops, the Xinhua...

Venezuelan Finance Minister Jorge Giordani said the country will devalue its currency 32 percent as part of an attempt to close a budget deficit. The devaluation, set for Feb. 13, will increase the amount of currency in circulation. Election-year spending that supported President Hugo...

Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney says he is confident the U.S. company can soon return the grounded 787 Dreamliner to service. The Federal Aviation Administration took the rare step this week of grounding the entire fleet of the new jet after a series of incidents in which...

A British bushiness group said it rejected the concept of raising a passenger tax at specific airports to persuade travelers to take alternative routes. The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday the British Treasury asked HM Revenue and Customs to explore raising the Air Passenger Duty at Heathrow...

South Korea and Thailand have entered discussions on a possible free trade agreement to “strengthen economic links between the two countries,” officials said. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra held preliminary talks on the deal at a...

Palestinian officials Saturday denied Israeli reports President Mahmoud Abbas was considering delaying Palestine’s bid to upgrade its U.N. status until 2013. Abbas was considering asking for a United Nations vote to change Palestine’s status to that of non-member state on Nov. 15...

Republicans are reconsidering immigration policy in light of the role Latino voters played in re-electing U.S. President Barack Obama, political analysts said. Latinos favored Obama over Republican nominee Mitt Romney by 40 percent, and many within the GOP are reconsidering their tough stance...

Police in Atlanta said they were investigating allegations that Waffle House Chief Executive Officer Joe Rogers sexually abused his assistant for nine years. Detailed allegations were released, but the woman’s name was withheld, CNN reported Saturday. The woman, who withdrew a lawsuit...

The White House said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would remain at his post at least until President Obama”s second inauguration on Jan. 21. “Secretary Geithner has indicated he”ll stay on through inauguration and he will be a key participant in the...

U.S. banking giant Citigroup said it would pay its recently fired Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit $6.65 million as a bonus for his work in 2012. The bank said it would pay Pandit the bonus as part of his “incentive” pay, The New York Times reported Saturday. The bank’s...

Price savings on purchases of foreclosed homes are disappearing in hot housing markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix, an Internet real estate firm said. There was no difference in September between the price of a foreclosed home sale and a standard home sale, digital real estate firm Zillow said....

Groupon Inc, the Internet deal-making firm in Chicago, said it would lay off 80 sales staff after a disappointing third quarter. In a statement, Groupon said it was laying off the workers because the company “announced several months ago it would be using technology to increase...

A few disgruntled customers probably won”t turn back the trend of U.S. stores starting the holiday shopping season earlier and earlier, a retail analyst said. “As long as it doesn”t affect them directly, they probably don”t think too much about it,” Ken...

Crude oil prices picked up 98 cents and settled at $86.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. Gasoline prices gained 9 cents to $2.70 a gallon. Home heating oil rose 5 cents to settle at $3.01. Natural gas prices fell 11 cents to end the session at $3.50 per million British...

U.S. stock indexes ended a two-day, post-election skid Friday, closing slightly up on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones industrial average added 4.07 points, 0.03 percent, and closed at 12, 815.38. The Nasdaq picked up 9.29 points, 0.32 percent, to 2,904.87. The Standard and...

U.S. retailer J.C. Penney reported a net loss of $123 million for the third quarter, the company said Friday. Excluding the net gain on the sales of non-core assets, restructuring and management transition charges, along with non-cash primary pension plan expense, the adjusted net loss was...

Gold picked up $4.90 and settled at $1,730.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday amid concerns about the U.S. economy. The higher closing price also reflects investors betting on strong demand from India and China. “We’ve ended the week with a...

The 2013 capital planning and stress test program for U.S. financial institutions is under way, the Federal Reserve Board said Friday. The program includes the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review of 19 firms and the Capital Plan Review of an additional 11 bank-holding companies with at...

MoneyGram International, a Dallas global money services business, admitted to money-laundering and wire fraud violations, the U.S. Justice Department said. MoneyGram agreed to forfeit $100 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, admitting to...

Chocolate giant Nestle USA is recalling some of its Nesquik chocolate powder drink mix because it might have salmonella contamination, officials said. Nestle voluntarily recalled its 10.9-ounce, 21.8-ounce and 40.7-ounce containers of chocolate Nesquik produced in October, NBC News...

U.S. import prices rose 0.5 percent September to October, exceeding economists expectations, the Labor Department said Friday. After rising 1.1 percent in September, economists expected prices to hold steady. Export prices, on the other hand, were unchanged month to month after rising 0.8...

Stocks headed into positive territory in New York Friday morning following losses in Asia and Europe and ahead of President Obama”s scheduled remarks. Investors are focused on Greece, where members of parliament will vote Sunday on an austerity budget that could make or break the...

The Leading Economic Index for Britain rose 0.2 percent in September, matching the gain from August, the Conference Board said Friday. The index rose to 102.8, up for the third consecutive month the Conference Board said. The index assigns a base value of 100 to the year 2004. A number above...

Britain’s Office for National Statistics said the national trade deficit for September came to $4.3 billion, a sharp decrease from August. The trade gap had been $6.3 billion in the previous month, the ONS said. In the third quarter, Britain posted a trade deficit of $13.5 billion. It...

Crude oil prices dropped under $85 per barrel in New York Friday as concerns of a slow economic recovery weighed on the market. Traders are also reacting to recent reports that indicate global production rose in response to tensions in the Middle East that did not disrupt supply lines as much...

It has been a horrific two weeks on Wall Street. Forget the numbers for a moment. On Oct. 29, a Monday, a hurricane described as apocalyptic descended on the financial center, halting trading for two days. A shutdown of that duration had not occurred at that point for 124 years due to weather....

China Friday reported inflation in October eased to 1.7 percent year-on-year from 1.9 percent in September as the pace of food price increases further slowed. The National Bureau of Statistics said the October growth in the consumer price index, China’s main gauge of inflation, also came...

Investigative television program Inside Edition said a Florida billionaire has admitted woefully that he has spent millions of dollars on fraudulent wine. “It’s a fantastic scam, and I’m sure it’s been going on for years,” said billionaire Bill...

Stocks dropped in New York Thursday, as investors remained skittish after President Obama”s re-election victory. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up more than 300 points Wednesday to fall below 13,000 as investors were bearish on election results that left Washington split with...