A sharp surge in wholesale inventories lifted the markets to a higher close with the Dow rising 47 points to 10,462.

An explosion from a PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) gas transmission line in the city of San Bruno killed at least four people and destroyed 53 homes. The stock price plunged $4.03 to close at $44.21....

First quarter earnings surged nearly threefold for National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) from 13 cents per share a year earlier to 36 cents per share but the chipmaker forecast second quarter revenue below estimates sending the stock price down 82...

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) chairman Jay L. Schottenstein purchased nearly $6.8 million worth of common stock lifting the stock price 89 cents to close at $14.34....

Wholesale inventories surged by a greater than expected 1.6% in July to lift the markets higher during the midday with the Dow gaining 28 points to 10,443.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toys R Us Inc , which is looking to go public, reported a quarterly loss on higher costs and weakness in its international business.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department has selected Patricia Geoghegan to replace Kenneth Feinberg as the "pay czar" overseeing compensation at companies bailed out by the government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. banking group is urging Basel Committee negotiators working on new international capital standards to ditch part of their proposal.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. corporations DuPont Co and United Parcel Service Inc were among eight companies removed from a social investment index series because of concerns about human rights, climate change and similar matters, the UK index provider FTSE Group said.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co's new chief executive, Dan Akerson, will receive a $1.7 million cash salary as well as stock grants, the U.S. government-owned automaker said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi used the platform of the U.S. Open to deliver a message of peace on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - All candidates vying to be the next so-called Sheriff of Wall Street say they will find the bad apples without overturning the applecart in the financial capital's fragile economic recovery.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eric Schneiderman's rivals are painting the New York state attorney general candidate as the ultimate insider, a state senator in a corrupt institution who has won the endorsement of some of the state's leading Democrats.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The imam behind a proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site said on Friday he has no meeting planned with the Florida pastor who had threatened to burn copies of the Koran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Airlines would be required to give pilots longer rest periods and scale back duty time under a U.S. government proposal on Friday aimed at combating fatigue in the cockpit.

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - Once completely cut off from the outside world, 33 miners trapped for more than a month deep below the Chilean desert could face their next big challenge on the surface -- dealing with the media furor.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Fidel Castro said on Friday his recent comment that communist-led Cuba's economic model does not work was badly understood and that what he really meant was that capitalism does not work.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has canceled the planned release of a detained American woman because the legal process is not completed, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was quoted as saying on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has donated $42 million to the Palestinian Authority, boosting support for President Mahmoud Abbas' cash-strapped government as it embarks on direct peace talks with Israel, Arab officials said on Friday.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Left-wing guerrillas have increased their attacks against police installations in cocaine-producing areas of southern Colombia, killing eight officers on Friday and bringing this month's death toll to 55.