12 May 2005 06:47 AM

BNP Paribas reported today that its first-quarter profit rallied 56%. Profit rocketed to 1.72 billion euros ($2.2 billion) from 1.10 billion euros last year. Analysts were expecting 1.24 billion euros. Revenue rose 19% to 5.6 billion euros.

12 May 2005 06:39 AM

Economic growth in the E.U. rose 0.5% in the first quarter due to higher GDP growth in Germany. Germany’s GDP

12 May 2005 05:55 AM

CSFB RAISED ERICSSON TO "OUTPERFORM" FROM "UNDERPERFORM"

12 May 2005 05:54 AM

J.P. MORGAN RAISED DOW JONES TO "OVERWEIGHT" FROM "NEUTRAL"

12 May 2005 05:53 AM

J.P. MORGAN RAISED NOBLE ENERGY TO "OVERWEIGHT" FROM "NEUTRAL"

11 May 2005 05:26 PM

The New York State Insurance Department intends to revamp accounting rules for reinsurance deals that transfer little risk to the reinsurer. A "discussion draft" with the proposed changes was presented to a group of accounting professionals at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in Chicago yesterday. At

11 May 2005 04:37 PM

Fidelity Investments has removed the annual fee of 0.08% of assets it used to charge on the supervision of the Freedom funds’ holdings of other Fidelity funds. The fee was eliminated after Morningstar Inc., a fund researcher, has lashed on the firm for charging investors for what other funds like Vanguard and T. Rowe

11 May 2005 04:07 PM

The Dow Jones Industrial rose 19.14 points, or 0.19%, to 10,300.25. The Nasdaq Composite was up 8.78 points, or 0.45%, to 1,971.55. The S&P500 added 4.88 points, or 0.42%, to 1,171.10.

11 May 2005 02:05 PM

The Dax Index fell 6.97 points, or 0.16% to 4244.16, the FTSE 100 Index declined 17 points, or 0.35% to 4875.40, the CAC 40 Index slipped 20.72 points, or 0.52% to 3979.53.

11 May 2005 11:54 AM

Financial instruments that aim to reduce the risk by repackaging corporate debt and reselling them to investors are under pressure from the increased risk of default among debt issuers. The instruments affected are collateralized-debt obligations, or CDOs, and credit-default swaps, CDSs. CDOs represent packages of debt

11 May 2005 11:20 AM

The Working Time Directive on health and safety grounds was voted to be scrapped by the European Parliament as the right to opt out could come to an end in three years.

11 May 2005 11:05 AM

The Energy Department reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories rose 2.7 million barrels in the week ended May 6. Gasoline stocks climbed 200,000 barrels. Distillate supplies rose 1.7 million barrels.

11 May 2005 10:49 AM

The Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission said Tuesday it is close to an end in the probe on whether Citigroup manipulated the bond market when it sold €12.4 billion of the paper within seconds in August.

11 May 2005 10:18 AM

Hong Kong securities regulator will take steps to encourage soothing hedge fund rules to improve situation in Hong Kong’s listed-hedge-fund industry. Hong

11 May 2005 09:58 AM

U.S. mortgage applications rose 9.4% to 781.0 in the week ended May 6, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Index of refinancing applications rose 9.8% to 2263.3.The MBA’s purchase index was up 9.4% to 526