From News Services Hopes, if not actual evidence, that corporate America has taken the steps necessary to restore dynamic growth to profit performance translated into another session of robust gains for equities Tuesday. That's despite posting first-quarter results a day earlier that were a penny a share better than Wall Street had expected, excluding nonrecurring items. The settlement is the second-largest paid by an accounting firm in a securities lawsuit, Robert Kornreich, one of the shareholders' attorneys, said Tuesday. This change quickly drew criticism from the Senate. In response, the U.S. Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates four times this year so far, hoping to reinvigorate the country's slumping economy and keep businesses and consumers spending.
Ads champion the value of new bank accounts in dollars.
And some stores have two sets of price tags ready to go. Guatemala moves closer to becoming the fourth Latin American country to adopt the U.S. dollar as its official currency Tuesday, when a law takes effect allowing residents to demand their paychecks in greenbacks, open bank accounts in dollars and settle bills using any foreign currency. The owner of a media empire employing thousands, he has never held government office or overseen a single public program. And in a city of Yankee and Mets fans, he roots for the Boston Red Sox. They can track their portfolios on the Internet, keeping as current as Wall Street's analysts.