Business - Investing

BOSTON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc plans to launch a new portfolio giving wealthy individual investors access to normally difficult to obtain hedge funds, the asset manager said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. Full Story »

NEW YORK - The stock market rose Thursday as an improvement in the nation's trade deficit offset a weaker-than-expected reading on jobs. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slightly pared gains after an auction of 30-year Treasuries attracted weak demand on Thursday. Full Story »

LONDON - European markets rose Thursday and Wall Street opened higher as improved U.S. trade figures offset disappointing employment data from the world's largest economy. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Natural gas prices surged 7 percent Thursday as the government reported supplies dropped for the first time in nine months, yet crude fell for the seventh straight day. Full Story »

LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets advanced in morning deals on Thursday as investors tracked debt worries for Greece and London traders awaited Bank of England monetary policy decisions. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - World equities were generally weaker on Thursday, adding to five sessions of losses, although Europe rebounded after recent hits over some of the region's more vulnerable economies. Full Story »

Police have detained 5 men from the Washington, D.C., area that U.S. officials suspect were planning to join a terror group. The men were picked up in a raid on a house in the eastern province of Punjab. One of the men left behind what investigators believe was a farewell video message, in which he talks about defending Muslims and shows images of U.S. casualties. Full Story »

Moderate Dems delayed the start of debate on a vast overhaul of regulations governing Wall Street Wednesday, seeking to amend some of the bill's tougher provisions. The internal party dispute centered on whether moderates would be able to offer amendments on the House floor that would alter certain regulatory provisions. Full Story »

That's up from 89 exits in Oct., Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. Year-to-date departures among the nation's chief executives are off nearly 18% at 1,122 vs. Jan.-Nov. '08. As the recovery takes hold, there could be a surge in CEO turnover as firms "change from a hold-the-line strategy to one focused on risk-taking and expansion," the group said. Hospitals and health care providers have the highest turnover this year among all industries with 181, while gov't and nonprofits are No. 2. Full Story »

Compellent Technologies debuted in October 2007, just in time to get slapped around by the bear market. Full Story »

Investors set aside some of their concerns about rising debt levels around the world and looked for bargains after a two-day slide in stocks. Stocks turned higher late Wednesday after trading erratically. Investors have been cautious about rising government debt levels in Spain, Greece and other countries. Full Story »

In the aftermath of a bruising advertising battle with Verizon Wireless that highlighted the limitations of AT&T's 3G network, an AT&T executive told investors that high-bandwidth iPhone users could face higher usage charges. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of consumer services, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that people who consume a large amount of data could receive incentives to "reduce or modify their usage," the Associated Press reported. Full Story »

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - An investment fund manager from Tennessee drew a 14-year prison sentence Wednesday in a $33 million Ponzi scheme that cheated more than two dozen investors in the United States, Germany and Costa Rica. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - Several House lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the treatment of Madoff fraud victims by the agency charged with resolving brokerage firm failures, saying new legislative remedies may be needed to help the investors. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Shares of Bridgepoint Education Inc. rose Wednesday after the online education company announced three-year cohort default rates for its schools that were not as bad as investors feared. Full Story »

SEATTLE - Shares of RealNetworks Inc. soared Wednesday after investors learned that the digital entertainment company will not have to pay damages to VeriSign Inc. Full Story »

When the stock market hit its all-time high in October 2007, few investors questioned the merits of their 401(k) plan. Two years later, their feelings are different. Full Story »