Sales of new homes rocketed up 27 percent in March

Sales of newly built homes shot up 27 percent in March -- the largest monthly gain in nearly five decades -- as mild weather and a lucrative tax credit pumped up demand for homes in all four regions of the country, according to federal data released Friday.

SEC confident on IKB part of Goldman Sachs lawsuit

Inside the Securities and Exchange Commission, top investigators remained confident this week that a largely overlooked part of the agency's fraud suit against Goldman Sachs would prove pivotal in court, even as potential flaws surfaced with other parts of the case.

W.Va. and Gulf of Mexico disasters muddy the image of ??clean' energy industries

Can the energy industry ever be truly clean? The lethal explosions this month in a West Virginia coal mine and on a Gulf of Mexico drilling platform have served as reminders that the energy industry remains a sometimes dangerous endeavor, despite advances in safety and environmental practices. On...

Goldman Sachs e-mails

E-mail exchanges cited by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its fraud suit against Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents, Fabrice Tourre, include messages between Tourre and his girlfriend. The Washington Post obtained copies of some of the e-mails Friday.

New home sales jump from record low

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes surged 27 percent last month, bouncing off the previous month's record low and blowing past expectations as government incentives and better weather boosted sales.

Inspectors found negligence at West Virginia mine months before blast

Federal safety inspectors who visited Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine early this year said senior managers showed "reckless disregard" for worker safety by telling a foreman to ignore a citation the mine had received for faulty ventilation, according to the inspectors' handwritten notes.

SEC divided on vote to file Goldman lawsuit

Behind closed doors, the two Republican members of the Securities and Exchange Commission sharply questioned senior investigators last week about whether the evidence they had assembled was strong enough to file a fraud case against Goldman Sachs, according to current and former SEC officials fam...

Report says 33 SEC staff members viewed pornography at work

Dozens of Securities and Exchange Commission staff members used government computers in the past five years to access and download pornographic images, according to a summary prepared by the agency's watchdog.

Kerry, Graham, Lieberman to unveil climate bill

In their last and best shot at enacting a climate bill this year, Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) plan to unveil a draft Monday that will provide a streamlined system for capping greenhouse gas emissions from the utilities and transport...

Senate moves toward combined bill on derivatives oversight

Senate aides inched closer Friday to combining separate bills that would establish oversight of the vast market for derivatives, an effort central to the ongoing push to revamp the nation's financial regulations.

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Former credit-rating firm executives say they were told to cut corners

Former officials at the nation's major credit-rating companies told a Senate panel Friday that a pressure-cooker culture fostered by top executives encouraged them to cut corners so their firms could handle an exploding volume of deals and keep raking in profits during the bubble years.