Business - Investing

Green jobs in Calif. are growing at a faster pace than jobs overall in the nation's most populous state, but they still account for only a tiny fraction of the economy, says a study conducted by Collaborative Economics for the public policy group Next 10. Calif., with the most aggressive climate change regulation in the nation, had 159,000 green jobs out of an economy with more than 18 mil jobs at the start of '08. Next 10 said that's fewer jobs than it expected, but added that its figures are conservative because researchers only counted firms that engaged in clearly green activities. Full Story »

U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth, concluding 3 days of meetings in Pyongyang, called the discussions "candid and businesslike," but acknowledged that he failed to get N. Korea to agree to resume 6-nation nuclear-disarmament talks. N. Korea walked away from the negotiations with China, Japan, Russia, S. Korea and the U.S. a year ago. Five months later it detonated a nuclear device, its second such test, resulting in tightened U.N. sanctions. Full Story »

Federal health officials said that the swine flu has sickened about 50 mil Americans, or about 1 in 6 U.S. residents, and killed about 10,000. The estimates cover the first 7 months of the pandemic, from April through mid-November. The figures are up significantly from the CDC's previous report, which had estimated that the swine flu had sickened 22 mil and killed about 4,000 through mid-Oct. Full Story »

Foreclosures fell almost 8% in Nov., the 4th straight drop from July's record high, RealtyTrac said. "Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on" foreclosures, said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. But default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions rose 18% vs. a year ago to 306,627. California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan accounted for 52% of filings. Full Story »

Economy: In a follow-on to the president's jobs summit, Congress is cooking up a jobs bill for a vote next week. It's the same tired recipe to expand government at the expense of the private sector. Call it a jobs kill. Full Story »

This is especially true in the wake of the bear market. Many stocks took long dives and are only now building the right side of a base. Full Story »

Alger Capital Appreciation Fund uses a simple philosophy to pick winning stocks: Find companies undergoing dynamic positive change, and look for emerging industry leaders gobbling up market share. Full Story »

For would-be purchasers without much cash, many condos had become untouchable -- especially newly built ones. Few lenders would finance them after the housing bust, and then only with steep down payments and strict terms. Full Story »

In an address at a USB conference in New York Wednesday, AT&T executive Ralph de la Vega told investors that the performance of the wireless provider's 3G network is being strained by the heavy data demands of a relatively small number of smartphone users. Just three percent of all AT&T network users are consuming 40 percent of the carrier's capacity, he said. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Gold rebounded Thursday as a weaker dollar lured investors back after four days of declines. Full Story »

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, N.J. - Drug developer Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. said Thursday it has obtained a commitment for $15 million in equity financing from institutional investors. Full Story »

BOSTON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc plans to launch a portfolio that will let wealthy individual investors access hedge funds that have boosted pension funds' and endowments' returns, the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Asset manager AllianceBernstein Holding said Thursday its assets under management for November rose 1.8 percent as positive investment performance was offset in part by withdrawals, mainly by institutional and retail investors. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Biotechnology company SIGA Technologies Inc. said Thursday it sold $20 million in common stock to investors, at a discount. Full Story »

NEW YORK - A jump in exports lifted stocks Thursday, offsetting concerns about an increase in unemployment claims. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Natural gas prices surged 8 percent Thursday as the government reported supplies dropped for the first time in nine months, yet the price of 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 »

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 »