Stocks rose Thursday morning after an encouraging employment report, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 index above 1,700 points for the first time.

Hedge funds were once the rock stars of the financial industry. The smartest people worked for them. The wealthiest gave them their money. They were an easy path to fortune.

The Standard & Poor's ratings agency said Monday it's getting more optimistic about the U.S. economy. But investors just yawned.

Down, down, down. That's the direction of stocks in the BRICS economies, which were investment darlings last year but now seem deadweights.

CEO pay has been going one direction for the past three years: up.

Shareholders at JPMorgan Chase will let Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO, keep both his jobs.

Banks aren't the big jobs machines they used to be.

The engines driving the stock market were more tepid than turbocharged Thursday, but they were enough to help stocks rise for a fifth straight day.