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WASHINGTON — Maybe the U.S. economy’s strength this winter wasn’t just weather-related after all. Home construction is near a three-year high. And factory output has risen in three of the year’s first four months. The data released Wednesday suggest growth in the April-June quarter is off to a good start, helped by falling gas prices [...]..

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NEW YORK (AP) — Insiders and early Facebook investors are taking advantage of increasing investor demand and selling more of their stock in the company’s initial public offering, the company said Wednesday. Facebook said in a regulatory filing that 84 million shares, worth up to $3.2 billion, are being added to what’s shaping up to [...]..

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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders started work on more homes and apartments last month and requested more permits to build single-family homes. The increases suggest the battered housing market is healing. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground in April at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 717,000 homes. That’s a 2.6 percent [...]..

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We’ve all been there. Business projects that start out full of excitement and promise lose focus and energy until it seems like they’re a long way from that goal that once seemed so promising. So how do you keep your projects on track? Here are a few tips from Ken Pedersen, COO at custom software [...]..

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[The article was updated at 12:20 pm on 5/16/12.] Prom night is almost here for Facebook and its suitors. Here’s a program to the biggest high technology initial public offering ever, and what you should know: It’s too late to buy tickets. Sorry. If it took you this long to decide on whether or not you’re [...]..

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Facebook says 25 percent more shares will be sold as investors clamor for shares in the year's hottest stock offering..

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MADRID  — Spain‘s prime minister warned Wednesday that the country faced the danger of being locked out of international markets as investors continued to fret about the future of the euro and Greece’s place in the 17-country eurozone. “Right now there is a serious risk that (investors) will not lend us money or they will [...]..

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Generation X may be a smaller population than Baby Boomers or Millennials, but it wields great influence in today’s organizations. People in this generation are the all-important bench strength for aging leadership. To keep them around, here’s how to keep them engaged. Develop corporate chameleons. Gen-Xers like to continually learn. Rotate promising employees through different functions [...]..

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In a strongly worded opinion, US District Judge Denise Cote rejected requests by Apple and five book publishers to throw out a class action suit that accuses them of price-fixing. Citing ongoing state, federal and international antitrust investigations, Cote turned down arguments that Apple and the publishers had acted independently when they changed the pricing model [...]..

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There is a small chorus of voices that is blaming neither government inaction nor banker recklessness for JPMorgan's loss, but the policies of the Federal Reserve. These critics are arguing that excessive intervention by the central bank has distorted financial markets and forced big banks resort to risky moves in order to maintain profits...

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Chesapeake Energy’s stock price dropped to the lowest level since March 2009 on Tuesday, after a major credit ratings agency downgraded the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer on news that the company will take a $4 billion loan — higher than the $3 billion previously announced — to pay off an existing credit line. It’s [...]..

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LONDON  — Former U.K. tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks, her husband and four close aides were charged Tuesday over alleged attempts to conceal evidence in Britain’s phone hacking scandal — the first prosecutions since police reopened inquiries 18 months ago into wrongdoing by the country’s scandal-hungry press. Brooks was one of Rupert Murdoch’s most trusted lieutenants [...]..

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The FBI has opened a probe of JPMorgan’s $2 billion botched trade, which has wiped out nearly $20 billion in shareholder equity and renewed calls for more aggressive regulation of Wall Street. News of the federal probe, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came as CEO Jamie Dimon faced tough questions Wednesday [...]..

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A new, fifty-page analysis from The Demand Institute suggests that home prices will begin to rise later this year...

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The resignation of JPMorgan Chase exec Ina Drew in the wake of the banking giant’s recent $2 billion trading loss is troubling news for many reasons, but one of the most important rarely gets mentioned: Trading operations need more women, not fewer. There’s good reason to think women are much better-suited for the business than [...]..

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Here’s something most small business owners have probably never considered: Customer complaints don’t have to be considered a problem. In fact, they can be a tremendous source of goodwill and business opportunity. Make a friend: Deal with your customers with honesty and respect (and prompt answers) and you earn a loyal customer, not to mention [...]..

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LONDON  — Europe dodged a bullet Tuesday after the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro narrowly avoided a recession in the first quarter of the year despite a raging debt crisis that’s raising the specter of the breakup of the currency union. There was one reason why the eurozone avoided an overall [...]..

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NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil dropped to a six-month low Tuesday on concern that economic uncertainty in Europe could hurt demand for crude. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell 80 cents to end the day at $93.98 per barrel in New York. Oil hasn’t finished this low since Dec. 19. Oil has [...]..

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People love to give advice. While it’s useful to hear what others think, sometimes they give off-target or foolish guidance. Here are a few ways to increase your odds of getting good input: Target your requests. Don’t ask whoever is available. Create a list of people who have access to relevant resources, information, and experience on [...]..

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(WASHINGTON) — Lower gas prices in April weren’t enough to embolden U.S. consumers to spend more elsewhere. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose only 0.1 percent last month. Even after excluding gasoline station sales, consumers increased their spending on retail goods by just 0.2 percent. That followed two stronger months in February and March. [...]..

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