Payments processor MasterCard Inc. says its profit and revenue rose in the first quarter as its customers spent more. Profit beat the forecasts of Wall Street analysts, though revenue missed slightly and the company's stock fell in pre-market trading.

U.S. auto sales looked set to continue their winning streak in April as Ford and Chrysler reported double digit growth Wednesday.

U.S. home prices rose in February at their fastest rate in almost seven years, a fresh sign the housing market recovery will help counter the drag on the economy from government belt tightening. The S&P/Case Shiller index of 20 metropolitan areas released on Tuesday showed single-family home prices rose 9.3 percent in February from a year earlier.

U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March as benign inflation supported households' buying power, but the growth momentum was unlikely to be sustained amid higher taxes.

The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in March to the highest level in three years.

Six months ago, Jane Adhiambo Achieng walked into a local Kenyan bank with the hope of getting a loan for her small grocery business.

Paying taxes in the United States can be incredibly unpleasant. Writing the actual check and mailing it off to the Internal Revenue Service isn't the hard part. No, the irksome part of the process is figuring out how much you actually owe the government.

U.S. economic growth regained speed in the first quarter, but not as much as expected, which could heighten fears the already weakening economy could struggle to handle deep government spending cuts and higher taxes.

Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in seven months in March and a gauge of planned business spending rose only modestly, signs of a slowdown in economic activity.

The richest Americans got richer during the first two years of the economic recovery while average net worth declined for the other 93 percent of U.S. households, says a report released Tuesday.