By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose modestly on Friday after an unexpectedly strong payrolls report in February, although gains were curbed by lingering tensions in Ukraine, with the S&P 500 at record highs. "It was incredible, the market loves it, we were definitely braced for something lower," said Sean McCarthy, regional chief investment officer, Wells Fargo Private Bank, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Traders remained cautious ahead of the weekend, with the S&P 500 at record highs and amid a simmering crisis in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffed a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea, saying Russia could not ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fund investors worldwide poured $7.5 billion into stock funds in the week ended March 5, marking the fourth straight week of inflows into the funds, data from a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report showed on Friday. While stock funds attracted net new cash, funds that specialize in emerging market stocks posted $3.8 billion in outflows, extending their record outflow streak to 19 straight weeks. ...

The U.S. trade deficit was little changed in January as a rebound in exports matched an increase in imports. The Commerce Department said on Friday the trade gap was at $39.1 billion from December's revised shortfall of $39.0 billion. December's trade gap was previously reported as being $38.7 billion. January's trade deficit was in line with economists' expectations.

British telecoms group Vodafone has reached a preliminary deal to buy Spanish cable group Ono after revising up this week an initial bid for the company, two sources with knowledge of the discussions said on Friday. "A meeting took place yesterday between the shareholders and (Vodafone Chief Executive) Vittorio Colao. The due diligence will start this weekend in order to make the offer binding," said one of the sources. A second source said Ono's private equity shareholders told Vodafone at the meeting that the offer would have to be "substantial" and come before March 13, when the cable group is due to formally go ahead with a planned initial public offering to list on the Madrid stock exchange.

By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into whether high-speed trader Infinium Capital Management violated federal securities laws, according to a SEC letter obtained by Reuters. The SEC has sought documents and recordings related to a lawsuit that former Infinium employees brought against the firm in January, the February 27 letter said. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleged Infinium and company executives committed "securities fraud" by tricking the employees into investing millions of dollars into the firm while hiding financial troubles. "This inquiry is a non-public, fact-finding inquiry," the SEC letter said.

By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock and crude futures jumped and the dollar strengthened on Friday after a report on U.S. employment showed jobs growth was greater than expected last month, easing fears a recent soft patch in the economy was due to more than a harsh winter. A leading European stock index pared losses, and government debt prices fell after the U.S. Labor Department said employers added 175,000 jobs to payrolls in February after creating 129,000 positions in January. The U.S. unemployment rate, however, rose to 6.7 percent from a five-year low of 6.6 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to rise 149,000 and the unemployment rate to hold steady.

From 2003 to last year, Oceanografia SA, a provider of engineering and maintenance services on offshore oil platforms and pipelines, signed more than 100 contracts worth nearly $3 billion with state-owned Pemex, according to a Reuters review of Mexican government contracts. As those deals were being made, Mexico's Federal Audit Office, known as the ASF, was raising questions about Pemex's contracting relationship with Oceanografia. It audited the state-run oil firm in 2006 over alleged irregularities in several multi-million-dollar contracts with Oceanografia. The ASF said in a report it found cases in which Oceanografia appeared to have received favorable treatment from Pemex.

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - The Middle East's driest winter in several decades could pose a threat to global food prices, with local crops depleted and farmers' livelihoods blighted, U.N. experts and climatologists say. Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two thirds of the limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Iraq. "Going back to the last 100 years, I don't think you can get a five-year span that's been as dry," said Mohammad Raafi Hossain, a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) environmental economist.

By Manuela D'Alessandro MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan appeals court has acquitted four international banks, including JPMorgan and UBS, found guilty in an earlier trial of mis-selling derivatives to the city of Milan. Depfa Bank, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS had appealed against a landmark verdict from December 2012 ordering the seizure of 89 million euros ($123 million) and fines of 1 million euros for each of the banks. The original trial was the first of its kind in Italy, where hundreds of local governments entered opaque and risky derivatives deals that turned sour.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were wavering between small gains and losses early Friday after the government reported a pickup in hiring last month as well as a slight increase in the unemployment rate as more people started looking for work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers stepped up hiring in February despite a blast of harsh winter weather, renewing hopes that the economy could accelerate this year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto said Thursday that he is not the creator of bitcoin, adding further mystery to the story of how the world's most popular digital currency came to be.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy has been skating on an icy patch in advance of the February jobs report being released Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in January as a rise in imports of oil and other foreign goods offset a solid increase in exports.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — In a surprising move after Russia flexed its military might in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine's new leadership has reached out to oligarchs for help — appointing them as governors in eastern regions where loyalties to Moscow are strong.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Arwin Buditom guards some of the most successful high-tech firms in America. Joseph Farfan keeps their heat, air and electric systems humming. But these workers and tens of thousands like them who help fuel the Silicon Valley's tech boom can't even make ends meet anymore. Buditom rooms with his sister an hour's drive from work. Farfan gets his groceries at a food pantry.

LONDON (AP) — The euro has struck its highest level against the dollar for nearly two and a half years in the wake of the European Central Bank's decision not to cut interest rates further.

It took a mandatory Securities and Exchange Commission filing, but McDonald's appears to have finally acknowledged the obvious in its recently-issued 2013 annual report: it may have to pay its workers more money.

In a report that has both good and bad news for the American workforce, February payrolls appeared to shake off analysts' cold-weather concerns, adding a solid 175,000 jobs and revising job counts for the prior two months up by a total of 25,000.

The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, as the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. More from the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. hiring improved in February from the previous two months despite a blast of wintry weather, likely renewing hopes that growth will accelerate this year. The Labor Department said Friday that employers added 175,000 jobs last month, up from just 129,000 in January, which was revised up from 113,000. December's gain was also revised higher. The unemployment rate rose to 6. ...

A new GIF shows just how far the Motor City has fallen since 1970. And its population had already started to drop twenty years before that. As you can see, a lot more of the city's residents clustered around central Detroit in 1970. But over the next few decades, as companies began outsourcing manufacturing and automobile jobs, the population dispersed and declined. Today, just over 700,000 people live in Detroit, compared to its peak of 1.8 million in 1950. But there's still hope for Detroit. The Hispanic community has nearly doubled since 1970, and the areas around University of Michigan

The world many of us knew as teenagers is over: It’s no longer cool to hang out at the mall and grab a slice of pizza. That's hurting Sbarro, probably the most famous purveyor of mall pizza. The company is planning to file for bankruptcy protection as early as Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The news came less than a month after the chain announced it would be closing 155 of the 400 restaurants it owns and almost three years after its last bankruptcy filing. Sbarro is dealing with two challenges. First, customers appear to be cooling

Across America, lawmakers are eyeing tax revenue from legalized marijuana. In a few days, the Colorado Department of Revenue is due to report how much marijuana tax was paid there for January, the first full month of recreational sales anywhere ever.

The current slowdown of home prices has been sharpest in markets that crashed during the bust and bounced back last year. And although asking-price gains have been slowing since last spring, price increases remain high by historical standards. The Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor are the earliest leading indicators of how asking prices and rents are trending nationally and locally. They adjust for the changing mix of listed homes and therefore show what's really happening to asking prices and rents. ...

New York's top law enforcement official brought Facebook to the table to talk about getting tough on guns. But it was an increasingly powerful group of mothers that likely forced the social media giant to crack down on what some saw as an underground market for gun sales in the U.S. Facebook announced Wednesday that it would start policing gun sales on the site, blocking minors from selling weapons and deleting any post that breaks state or federal gun laws, among other measures. "While we've recently heard specific concerns from people about offers for the private sales of firearms, this

With such a low percent of net interest margin, the best possible outcome on a loan for these money making lenders is to get paid back all of its principal and make a small spread on the interest.

Building a startup is, with absolute certainty, one of the most difficult journeys someone can embark on. Sleepless nights accompany early mornings and the looming taste of coffee and whiskey never quite leave your taste buds.

In light of Women's Day (March 8,2014), we chatted with Julia Hartz of Evenbrite and Daphne Koller of Coursera, two of today's leading women entrepreneurs who kindly shared their wisdom, trials and triumphs with us.

If you're like me, you were super psyched when you heard Chipotle was going to begin serving tofu. We live in an age where pizza can be vegan and gluten-free. Even Burger King offers a veggie burger. So Chipotle was really just playing catch-up. But it didn't take me long to realize what Chipotle was really doing by adding tofu (aka Sofritas) to its menu: It had cleverly devised a way to get vegetarians to pay more for a meatless burrito. Now, vegetarians can spend just as much as omnivores. Chipotle is a staple in my work lunch diet (as

You worked long and hard to save that retirement money. Now is the time to be wise about paying the least amount of taxes you can and keep all that you can.