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All economy watchers have turned their gaze to the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee today and tomorrow as the central bank weighs how much to boost interest rates in an effort to stem inflation without squelching the economic recovery. Most economists expect the Fed to hike the overnight lendin...

An unusual Web virus that was spread to user computers through infected Web site servers might be a Trojan capable of sending financial information back to the attacker. Microsoft said it helped law enforcement agencies identify and shut down the Russia-based site where the attacking code -- known a...

To anyone who runs a small company, raising capital might seem like an overwhelming task. Venture capital companies usually want a big piece of your pie if they are to invest in your business. Often, this means that you have to give up control of the business you worked so hard to start. Financial i...

Oil prices marked their largest one-week price drop in three months after a work stoppage at key Norwegian oil fields was resolved on Friday. Crude prices fell 41 cents a barrel to US$37.52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and fell nearly 4 percent for the week. Oil was trading for $42 a barrel, ...

Hitachi and NEC announced Friday that they are joining forces to develop routers and switches for networks of telecommunications carriers, government and public sectors, and large enterprises. The joint venture will be formally established in October. The router market is currently dominated by Cisc...

Salesforce.com soared on its first day of public trading Wednesday as the second-most hotly anticipated technology IPO of the year -- behind only Google's still-to-come initial public offering -- gained 56 percent and valued the company at US$1.7 billion. Salesforce.com's strong first-day gains came...

The chief executive of Network Associates quashed speculation Tuesday that his company is in talks to be acquired by Microsoft, cutting into earlier gains made by the stock, which still managed to close up nearly 4 percent. Shares in the Santa Clara, California-based company ended off their best lev...

MasterCard International said it would launch an aggressive campaign against identity theft schemes that use phony Web sites to collect personal information from Internet users. The credit card company said it tapped NameProtect, a digital fraud-detection company, to scour the Web for so-called "phi...

In its fourth quarter and as a result of higher demand for its handhelds and smartphones, PalmOne posted its first profit in its short history as a standalone company. PalmOne, created last year when Palm separated its hardware and software units, said it brought in US$267.3 million in the quarter e...

IBM computers and Intel processors run the bulk of the world's 500 most powerful supercomputers, according to an annual ranking, which also found the performance of the top machines increasing quickly. IBM extended its lead in the latest top-500 list and can now claim ties to 44.8 percent of the sys...

The deficit in the broadest measure of overseas trade tracked by the U.S. government grew to record levels in the first quarter as increased demand for foreign goods by American consumers far outstripped an increase in goods being exported. The deficit on goods and services increased to an all-time ...

Oil prices headed higher again Thursday after more violence broke out in Iraq. U.S. stocks remained in a muddle as business forecasts and inflation concerns converged. Crude oil futures sold on the New York Mercantile Exchange spiked more than a dollar to US$38.46 after news hit of a bombing attack ...

U.S. lawmakers considering a bill that would let Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services expand with minimal government regulation were told the technology could become an underground network for terrorists and other criminals to communicate without detection. In a hearing on a bi...

Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device, has gained access to the world's largest handset maker with a licensing deal between Nokia and RIM-rival NTP, which is facing off with the BlackBerry maker in court over a patent dispute. The matter has become even more complex ...

Oracle said increased license revenues from existing customers and a steadily improving economy helped drive a 15 percent increase in profit in the company's fourth quarter. Oracle rang up a profit of US$990 million for the quarter, up from $858 million in the same quarter last year, narrowly beatin...