Business and Finance news

JEFFERSON CITY

TORONTO

With markets still going haywire and conflicting financial advice coming from all directions, it would be tempting to just stick your head in the sand and hope it all goes away.
Instead, say experts, there are a few basic steps to take that will help you keep your finances intact, not to mention your sanity. (And […]

Those who owe back taxes often need help in figuring out their next step. Here with advice is IRS spokesman Jesse Weller.
QUESTION: I retired at age 50 in 2006 and lived off my 401(k). Now I am unemployed and owe the IRS $100,000. What can I do?
ANSWER: One step you should definitely take is to […]

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday she is “very positive” after talks with Chinese officials about her candidacy to head the International Monetary Fund and said Beijing’s stake in the body should increase.
Lagarde is on a global tour to promote her candidacy to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who quit after he was charged with sexually […]

The operator of China’s giant Three Gorges Dam plans to overhaul its finances after the government made a suprising admission last week that the world’s largest hydroelectric project has urgent environmental, geologic and economic problems.
The China Three Gorges Corp. said a government audit found 31 problems related to financial management, investment, bidding and other issues, […]

The European Central Bank can raise interest rates while at the same time keeping its non-standard tools in place, President Jean-Claude Trichet said.
“The ECB has indicated clearly that interest-rate increases could perfectly well take place independently of the timing of the phasing out of the non-standard measures — if those non-standard measures continue to […]

Authorities in China’s commercial hub of Shanghai say they are easing fees that sparked trucker protests and disrupted the flow of goods through the country’s busiest port.
A government spokesman told official Xinhua News Agency on Saturday that authorities lowered some fees Friday and removed others that had been imposed without prior notice.
Hundreds of drivers parked […]

The evidence shows that an ex-billionaire on trial in the biggest hedge fund insider trading case in history used corrupt, well-connected friends and employees to get secrets and earn tens of millions of dollars illegally, a prosecutor said in his closing argument Wednesday.
“The evidence is now in, and you know the evidence is overwhelming,” Assistant […]

Prices are going up all over Main Street.
Still reeling from the recession, most mom-and-pop shops have held off on raising prices for fear of losing more customers. But business is finally starting to pick up, and after years of being squeezed by cost increases, a growing number of small businesses are hiking their […]