A Senate panel on Thursday approved the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to run the nation's central bank for another four years.
European markets followed Asian stocks higher Friday as a big improvement in China's exports pointed to rising global demand that could lift other trade-reliant economies. Meanwhile, investors awaited U.S. retail sales data, expected to be the day's main market mover.
A key Senate panel will vote next week on Ben Bernanke's nomination for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman.
Irked by the Federal Reserve's bailout of Wall Street, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Wednesday that he will seek to block the Senate from confirming Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the nation's central bank.
Stock futures are pointing to a mixed open as investors are appearing to look to book profits on the week's long rally.
Analysts, lawmakers and the financial industry generally reacted positively to news that Ben Bernanke would be re-nominated as Federal Reserve chairman. But some offered a dose of constructive criticism.
President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he wants to keep Ben Bernanke on as Fed chairman, saying he shepherded America through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Investors need to make a decision in the coming days: Should they trust Ben Bernanke's encouraging words about the future, or give in to worries about weak consumer spending?
Last year, as the gravest financial crisis since the Great Depression shook the banking system, Ben Bernanke seemed nearly as beleaguered as the institutions themselves.
Asian stocks were modestly higher Friday, but worries about tighter government policies sent China's markets lower for a second day.
The stock market's rally plodded along Thursday, sustained by gains in financial and industrial shares.
The share of Americans who think the Federal Reserve is doing an excellent to good job has sunk even as chairman Ben Bernanke has taken unprecedented steps to try to prevent a financial catastrophe, according to a new poll released Monday.
Ben Bernanke put himself at odds with the Obama administration Wednesday by resisting its plan to create a consumer protection agency for risky financial products. The Federal Reserve chief said those responsibilities should stay with the central bank.
Asian stock markets climbed Thursday amid sustained hopes for a recovery in major economies from Japan to the U.S.
Reliable economic statistics produced by the U.S. government are important to Federal Reserve policymakers as well as millions of ordinary Americans wanting to keep tabs on jobs, wages and prices at stores, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.
Ben Bernanke has done something no other Federal Reserve chairman has done before: cut rates to near zero and resorted to unconventional tools to lift the country out of recession.
While acknowledging that the Federal Reserve was "extremely uncomfortable" about last year's bailouts of big financial companies, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank's strategy to ease the financial crisis is working.
Investors restarted Wall Street's rally Tuesday, buying financial and homebuilder stocks following a surprisingly upbeat report on home construction.
Asian stock markets rebounded Wednesday as hopes China would expand measures to revive its economy countered growing signs of economic decay in the U.S. and other major countries. Shanghai's index jumped more than 6 percent.
World stock markets fell sharply Tuesday as ongoing gloom surrounding the banking sector offset any optimism generated by the inauguration of Barack Obama as president.
World stocks surged Monday as lower interbank lending rates fueled hopes that credit markets are returning to normal and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave his support to more fiscal stimulus in the U.S.
Ben Bernanke didn't sugarcoat the situation. He couldn't.
Wall Street companies didn't borrow from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks scaled back, sending a sign of some improvements in credit strains.
Stocks headed for a modestly lower open Wednesday as rebounding oil prices drained away the momentum from Wall Street's big Tuesday rally.