Few companies were clobbered harder than Starbucks in the recession. The coffee chain with outposts on every corner came to represent all that was wrong with American businesses and shoppers: unchecked expansion, self-indulgence and mindless credit-car…

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is stepping up his defense of the Fed’s $600 billion Treasury bond-purchase plan, saying the economy is still struggling to become “self-sustaining” without government help.

The economy is starting to fire on almost every cylinder these days but the one that matters most: Job creation.

The nation added only a trickle of jobs in November, far fewer than experts had expected and a reminder that the economy is still recovering only fitfully.

WikiLeaks’ release of secret government communications is a warning to the world’s biggest companies: You may be next.

A recent working paper by an Israeli researcher found that company recruiters were more reluctant to call a beautiful woman in for interviews, preferring applicants who were – to speak plainly – ugly, or women who didn’t include a picture with a resume.

European Union nations agreed to give euro67.5 billion ($89.4 billion) in bailout loans to Ireland on Sunday to help it weather the cost of its massive banking crisis, and sketched out new rules for future emergencies in an effort to restore faith in t…