Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week, fueled by demand for refinancing.

New Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has closed some loopholes.

Target hopes Cartwheel, a service that combines social networking and discounts, will lure shoppers into stores.

Hedge funds are likely to double their returns this year, but that amounts to only one-third the stock market's performance.

Kleiner, one of the top technology venture capital firms, has held a series of status-report meetings with its outside investors, the NYT reports.

Cyprus was warned about its "excessive economic imbalances" and was told that financial assistance was "unavoidable" months before it requested aid.

Investors who bought on the basis of tips from Ira Sohn Investment Conference last year failed to beat the market, the FT reports.

We look at the top 10 countries in the world with the highest alcohol consumption in 2012, according to Euromonitor.

Better-than-expected China trade numbers have eased concerns about China's economic outlook.

The long-term impact of rising unemployment among the young could be felt for decades, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The first of the big spring auctions began Tuesday night at Sotheby's. The New York Times reports.

Sell in May and go away? Not according to one pro who says the Dow closing above 15,000 for the first time ever on Tuesday.

Specialized hedge funds which transformed corporate bankruptcies may be poised to descend on another landscape: struggling cities and counties.

Squawk Box anchors debate Nouriel Roubini's change of sentiment on the markets.

Long running manager of U.K. soccer club Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, is retiring, the club announced on Wednesday.

Standard Chartered said on Wednesday its first quarter operating profit was likely to be slightly lower than a year ago.

Stocks aren't in bubble territory as yet, but a "huge rally in risk assets" over the next two years puts markets in danger.

The bond markets will crash once global central banks stop buying debt, strategist David Roche told CNBC.

Japan's benchmark stock index rose to its highest level in five years on Wednesday, taking its gains this year to just over 35 percent.

Roberto Azevedo, picked to head the World Trade Organization, is in every respect the quintessential Brazilian diplomat.