Republic Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday that it raised its quarterly cash dividends by 7 percent.The Louisville, Ky.-based bank holding company said it will pay a dividend of 16.5 cents on its Class A common ...

Federal Reserve policymakers are open to further efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy if growth falters or threats escalate.Minutes of the central bank's April 24-25 meeting released Wednesday stated ...

FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday the bureau has launched a preliminary investigation of JPMorgan Chase & Co. following a $2 billion trading loss at the bank.Mueller's comment at a Senate Judiciary ...

Shares of Valero Energy Corp. rose Wednesday after a Dallas investment firm headed by oilman T. Boone Pickens disclosed it had purchased 188,000 shares in the petroleum refining and marketing company during ...

Shares of asset management company Legg Mason Inc. jumped Wednesday after the company said it will buy back $1.25 billion in debt held by a private equity firm and got authority to buy back up to $1 billion ...

Shares of Patriot Coal Corp. plummeted Wednesday after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its credit ratings on the coal mining company, citing weaker market conditions.THE SPARK: The agency lowered ...

Major business events and economic events scheduled for Thursday:WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m. Eastern.WASHINGTON — Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases ...

Southwest Airlines is pushing back delivery of 30 Boeing 737s to save money and get a better return on its investment, the airline's CEO said on Wednesday at its annual shareholder meeting.Southwest got ...

A survey of real estate professionals shows Florida's market outlook improved in the first quarter of 2012.The University of Florida released the results this week.Respondents said they felt optimistic ...

Hawaii's two largest health insurance providers earned operating income during the first three months of the year.Hawaii Medical Service Association on Tuesday reported operating gain of $7.2 million for ...

A key House Republican on Wednesday said that the $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase raises critical questions about how banks control their risks. But Republican lawmakers rejected calls from Democrats ...

A former mortgage company chief executive convicted of orchestrating a nearly $3 billion fraud scheme is asking a federal appeals panel to reverse his conviction and send his case back for a retrial.An ...

Protea Biosciences Inc., which is aiming to make a profit for the first time in a decade, has gotten a $200,000 infusion.The investment is by the INNOVA Commercialization Group, a division of the West ...

Shareholders of JPMorgan Chase & Co. have filed two lawsuits against the nation's biggest bank, accusing it and its leaders of taking excessive risk and causing a monumental $2 billion trading loss.The ...

A former Kazakh banker accused of embezzling $5 billion can remain in hiding while appealing his prison sentence, a British judge ruled Wednesday.Kazakhstan's JSC BTA Bank, formerly headed by Mukhtar Ablyazov ...

Police in Germany have temporarily cleared the Frankfurt Occupy tent camp next to the European Central Bank.Some 340 people left, some of them carried by police as they offered passive resistance, the ...

Web 2.0 companies are making money by challenging traditional business models.

Greece's privatization fund says it will delay decisions on the country's ambitious drive to sell off state assets until after next month's national elections.The fund says it made the decision Tuesday ...

Anyone involved in a real transaction can benefit from gaining a basic understanding of the different methods of real estate valuation.

EURUSD Falls Sharply After ECB Cuts Funding to Some Greek Banks

Some 2 to 5 percent of Americans struggle with shopping addiction , a dark illness that can destroy families as it wreaks havoc on bank accounts. People who compulsively shop--dubbed "shopaholics"--often ...

A bill to regulate and monitor payday loans in Delaware continues to move through the legislature after winning narrow approval in the House.The bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the Senate ...

President Barack Obama says Congress could help sustain the economy's "momentum" by passing legislation that would give businesses a 10 percent income tax credit if they create new jobs or increase ...

Newlyweds and couples moving toward marriage, take note. Love, as it turns out, is not all you need.Not if your goal is to avoid the No. 1 reason marriages end in divorce: Money problems.Everyone knows, ...

The B Word. We know what it is but don't like to say it, and we hope we never have to go through it. The mere thought of bankruptcy sends shivers down our spines and makes our bank accounts quiver in fear. ...

Stubbornly high unemployment rates persist three years after the end of the recession. The problem is acute for younger workers, many of whom carry staggering student-loan debt. During this same period, ...

Shares of some top credit card companies are mixed at 10 a.m.:American Express Co. rose $.69 or 1.2 percent, to $58.63.Capital One Financial Corp. rose $.39 or .8 percent, to $51.62.Discover Financial ...

Shares of some top banks companies are up at 10 a.m.:Bank of America Corp. rose $.12 or 1.6 percent, to $7.42.Citigroup Inc. rose $.54 or 1.9 percent, to $28.33.Goldman Sachs rose $1.66 or 1.7 percent, ...

Some good news on the home-loan front: First-quarter data on delinquencies show the percentage of mortgages in the foreclosure process or at least one payment past due stands at the lowest combined rate ...

It isn't cool, and it isn't making money.

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said Wednesday that the "strong preference" of the ECB's leadership is for financially troubled Greece to stay in the euro.Draghi said that there's no ...

The head of the European Central Bank (ECB) says its "strong preference" is for Greece to stay in the euro.Mario Draghi made the remarks in a speech at a conference on Wednesday in Frankfurt.Draghi ...

A supreme court judge has been appointed to head a caretaker government in Greece until new elections are held on June 17, as citizens continue to withdraw millions of euros from banks amid fears the country ...