A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 5, 2013. The Dow surged to a new record on Tuesday, breaking through levels last seen in 2007 as investors extended 2013's rally. ... more 

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 5, 2013. The Dow surged to a new record on Tuesday, breaking through levels last seen in 2007 as investors extended 2013's rally. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid less 

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - With the broad S&P 500 Index gliding once again into uncharted territory and posting four straight weeks of gains, the talk of Wall Street's rally inevitably hitting a ceiling is starting to get old. Concerns about a technical correction have been a hot topic for weeks, especially as …

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks continued their climb into uncharted territory on Friday, racking up the fourth week of gains in a row as encouraging economic data prompted investors to pick up shares of growth companies. The Dow and the S&P 500 finished at fresh record highs, driven by gains in energy and industrial …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Near-term U.S. deficits under President Barack Obama's 2014 budget plan would be higher than those forecast by the Congressional Budget Office this week but would be $1.1 trillion lower over the coming decade, CBO said on Friday. The non-partisan congressional budget referee agency said that due to …

By Sharon Begley and Caroline Humer (Reuters) - In a boost for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, two states in the Northwest said on Friday that insurance companies submitted applications to sell policies on the states' health insurance exchanges at rates well below what some insurance executives had predicted. …

By Simon Falush and Timothy Gardner LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A European probe into possible oil price manipulation expanded with the investigation of a small niche trading house in the Netherlands, while a key U.S. senator on Friday called for the Justice Department to join the investigation. Dutch trading house Argos …

By Daniel Bases NEW YORK (Reuters) - Europe's top trade official for the first time late on Friday officially cited Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE Corp for violating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines. European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was prepared to launch …

By Emily Flitter and Katya Wachtel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors told investors on Friday it would no longer cooperate "unconditionally" with the U.S. government's insider trading investigation. In a brief letter to investors, the $15 billion hedge fund did not elaborate but said …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted an upbeat picture on Saturday for the potential of innovation to lift living standards, delivering a sweeping look at the last 100 years that included memories of his 1963 South Carolina home. Bernanke made no reference to monetary policy or the immediate …

By Xiaoyi Shao and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China's housing inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in April in two years, driven by a jump in prices in Beijing and Shanghai, complicating the task of policymakers trying to cool the property sector while supporting economic expansion. Average new home prices …

By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - The largest U.S. satellite video provider, DirecTV, is one of the companies considering a bid for online video website Hulu, according to a source familiar with the situation. The person acknowledged that other parties were involved, adding that DirecTV was "one of many" suitors. Media reports …

By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended on Friday a top aide who is at the center of an expenses scandal that is becoming one of the biggest crises to hit the governing Conservatives since they took office in 2006. Opposition parties want an inquiry into why Nigel Wright, Harper's …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unemployment rates dropped in 43 out of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia in April from a year before, according to Labor Department data released on Friday. A handful of states, including Illinois, Delaware, Indiana, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New Hampshire saw their jobless rates …

By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday notified Congress it was prepared to take a series of steps to free up about $260 billion so it can keep paying the nation's bills once a temporary suspension in the government's debt ceiling lapses this weekend. To preserve its borrowing capacity, …