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The Nikkei 225 average ended its best year in nearly two decades in slight anti-climax as investors locked in profits, sending the benchmark index down 232.7 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 16,111.43 on Friday. // Still, benchmark average was 40.24 per cent up on the year, its best performance since the height of the asset bubble in 1986. The broader Topix index also had a strong year in spite of  ...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was the top U.S. technology dealmaker in 2005 as the investment bank used long-nurtured relationships with company leaders to advise on some of the biggest mergers and acquisitions in the industry.   MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS AT&T, Intel work on redefining image U.S. stocks close lower as yield curve inverts Hilton ...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp.'s (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shares touched their lowest price in more than 20 years on Thursday, in keeping with the rough road the world's largest automaker has travelled in 2005 and uncertainty about the future. An expected weak end to GM's U.S. sales year, a possible change in pension accounting that could erase most shareholder equity and investors taking their losses in the stock to offset gains in other investments depressed GM stock on Thu ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's Nikkei share average finished the year on Friday with its biggest annual gain since the 1980s asset bubble, surging 40.24 percent on expectations that Japan's once-moribund economy can post steady growth. Driven by record levels of buying by foreigners and confidence that the world's second-largest economy will soon shake off years of deflation, the benchmark booked it ...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Friday's session are Learning Tree International Inc., Omni Energy Services Corp. and Flowserve Corp. EARNINGSWATCH FTD: Consumer holiday sales down 4%; cuts full-yr rev view Learning Tree dinged in late trading Learning Tree expects to post loss, lower rev for Q4, FY05 Hilton t ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- U.S. stocks closed in negative territory Thursday, as an inversion in the Treasury yield curve and weak housing sector data unnerved investors, and overshadowed a better-than-expected reading of manufacturing activity in the Chicago region and a sharp bounce in General Motors. The Dow Jones Industrials Average (DJI) dropped 11.44 points to 10,784.82, as 17 of 30 componen ...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares trading in the United States Thursday zigzagged back and forth between positive and negative territory, ignoring an earlier widespread rally across the Pacific.   MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS U.S. stocks close lower as yield curve inverts Hilton buys International Hilton brand for $5.7 billion Flyi 'pursues all options' but may fac ...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Oil and gas stocks failed to cling to tenuous gains made early in the day, shrugging off a rally in crude oil prices to finish a lightly-traded session with losses on all three indexes. document.write('');  ENERGY ETFs SymbolFund NameLast Price% Daily Return XLE Sel Sector:Energy SPDR 50.1 -0.77% XLU Sel Sector:Util SPDR 31.56 -0.19% IYE ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks closed in negative territory Thursday, as an inversion in the Treasury yield curve and weak housing sector data unnerved investors, and overshadowed a better-than-expected reading of manufacturing activity in the Chicago region and a sharp bounce in General Motors. document.write('');   MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS Hilton buys International Hil ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail stocks followed the broader market lower Thursday as the yield curve inverted again and weak housing data weighed on sentiment. document.write('');  RETAIL ETFs SymbolFund NameLast Price% Daily Return XLY Sel Sector:Cnsmr SPDR 32.85 -0.03% XLP Sel Sector:C Stp SPDR 23.48 -0.25% IYC iShares:Dow US Cns Svc 59.88 -0.13% IYK iShares:Do ...