Business and Finance news

An Italian coast guard official vehemently demanded that the captain go back to his crippled cruise ship to oversee its evacuation, but the captain repeatedly resisted, according to a shocking audiotape made public Tuesday.
Prosecutors have accused Capt. Francesco Schettino of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel before all passengers were evacuated during the […]

Home sales and construction will improve this year, contributing

A national strike fueled by widespread dissent over spiraling gas prices paralyzed Nigeria on Monday, as tens of thousands of protesters took over the empty streets to criticize government corruption in one voice.
Protests remained largely peaceful across the country on the strike’s first day, though a police shooting in Lagos left one dead and four […]

Fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, showing the labor market is starting 2012 on better footing than a year earlier.
Applications for jobless benefits (INJCJC) decreased 15,000 in the week ended Dec. 31 to 372,000, Labor Department figures showed today. The median estimate of 38 economists in a Bloomberg News survey […]

SPREAD THE REGION: Sandy Weber, VP and district director with US Bank, has been elected to a one-year term as chairwoman of North County Inc., a regional development organization.
Weber succeeds Patty Gould, the Pattonville School District’s school and business partnership director, who was chair of the board for 2011.
In announcing Weber’s appointment, Gould said Weber […]

The U.K. is home to this year

Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday amid new signs of pressure on Europe’s banking system and a downturn on Wall Street.
Benchmark oil lingered above $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 percent to 8,367.73. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.9 […]

Yemen’s outgoing president said Saturday he would leave the country for the United States to help calm tensions in his country as forces commanded by his son and nephew opened fire on more than 100,000 protesters marching into the capital, killing at least nine.
The protesters had marched on foot for four days from the city […]

By year’s end, the St. Louis area’s biggest business group will have a new leader. Now a growing number of people are saying it may be time for a whole new direction.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay is adding his voice to those calling for big changes at the Regional Chamber and Growth Association, where longtime […]

The world’s bond buyers have turned on Europe’s deeply indebted governments and fled to another deeply indebted government across the Atlantic — the U.S. As a result, U.S borrowing costs have plunged to historic lows while rising rates in Europe have many worried about a catastrophic financial crisis.
The European debt crisis has made the U.S. […]