Online Journal

Oil prices headed higher overnight on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling to a trading session low of $96.22 per barrel. more

The Aflac duck voice will no longer be a gig for famed comedian Gilbert Gottfried. The Aflac insurance company has fired the spokesman for making jokes via Twitter about the recent natural disaster in Japan. more

Ruth Madoff may be on the verge of losing nearly $45 million in asssets after a trustee liquidating Bernie and Ruth Madoff�s assets found that at least $14 million was fraudulently transferred into Ruth's bank account. more

The crisis in Japan continues to dominate world and business headlines - and on Wednesday - the major stock markets in the United States certainly took notice. more

In light of airline security hassles, a travel group is calling for creation of a voluntary "trusted traveler" program. The program would be seen as one step toward easing bottlenecks at U.S. airport security checkpoints which impact many business travelers every day in the country. more

New Pepsi bottles may be the advantage that the beverage company needs to gain an upper hand on rival Coca-Cola. The new bottles, which were discussed by the media on Tuesady, feature 100% non-plastic, plant-based materials. Key ingredients in the new compound are switch grass, pine bark, corn husks, and other materials. more

The Bank of Japan, the Japanese central bank, stepped-in again Wednesday with an unprecedented emergency funding effort as the country convulsed in the quake-tsunami aftermath. BOJ offered an additional 13.8 trillion yen (about $170 billion) to short-term money markets, with an immediate injection of 5 trillion yen, Kyodo News reported. more

Emerging markets like the Dow, FTSE and S&P; are all continuing their sharp decline in the wake of the disasters in Japan. Most markets are being hurt by energy sector cautiousness as the nuclear situation on the Eastern shores of Japan continue to unfold. more

Broadband Internet services may be available to everyone in Britain should the new government program be a complete success. Last week, we learned that the British government is beginning an ambitious program to wire the country with broadband Internet technology. more

Ben Bernanke says that U.S. gasoline prices, up more than 40 cents in the past month, will probably not drive up underlying inflation. more

The tsunami that hit Hawaii Friday caused tens of millions of dollars in damage but less than originally thought, Gov. Neil Abercrombie's office said. more

Last week, the iPad 2 debuted to long lines at retail outlets. Some economists, like the president of the New York Federal Reserve said Friday that the lines were a good example of price inflation on hold. more

Stock markets closed on Monday feeling the pain of the crisis in Japan. The earthquake induced nuclear problems sent stock prices crashing again Tuesday even as its central bank boosted emergency funding to restore confidence. more

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 240 points in mid-morning trading as the U.S. markets plunged early Tuesday following a huge sell-off in Tokyo that sent the Nikkei 225 index down 10.55 percent. more

The "Ides of March" is George Clooney's latest film, and we felt it necessary to address the production of the film on date of the namesake. We're not alone in our interest of the "Ides of March", either. More than 23,000 people applied to be extras in actor George Clooney's latest film, which is heading to Michigan to film its final scenes, officials said. more

Oil prices remain settled around $101 per barrel Tuesday morning, despite ongoing strife in Libya's oil town of Brega. Government forces and rebels fought for control of Brega, with each side, at one time or another, claiming the upper hand, witnesses said. more

Interest rate concerns prompted the Bank of Japan to ready more than $220 billion, but the markets continued to set the pace in a troubling day of trading in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami - dropping nearly 10% in one day. more

Mortgage rate averages for 30-year and 15-year mortgages rose a tiny amount in the week ending March 10, the U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation said last Thursday. more

Warren Buffet and his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, announced on Monday that it agreed to buy Lubrizol Corporation, a U.S. lubricant producer, for $9.7 billion in an all-cash deal. more

Crude oil prices rose back above the $100 per barrel mark on Monday while markets adjusted to news of the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan. more