Business News

Consumer confidence improved for the second consecutive month in January, lifted by increased optimism about jobs and the economy.

President Bush told congressional leaders "very strongly" Tuesday that he will not give congressional investigators the names of business executives with whom he discussed energy policy, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said.

Investors still stunned by the swift financial plunges by Enron Corp. and Kmart Corp. got more bad news as Global Crossing Ltd. filed for bankruptcy in one of the largest corporate failures ever.

Orders to U.S. factories for costly goods rose a bigger-than-expected 2 percent in December, suggesting better days may be ahead for the nation's battered manufacturing sector.

Cousins Properties Incorporated today announced that the Board of Directors has elected Thomas D. Bell, Jr. President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective immediately.

A surge of strong holiday shipping helped United Parcel Service Inc. beat Wall Street forecasts, but net income still dropped 11 percent as the U.S. recession battered business, the company said Tuesday.

The executive in charge of General Motors Corp.'s electronic commerce and Internet activities will oversee future vehicle development for the automaker, according to a published report.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 38,626 trucks and buses for several defects that could weaken the vehicles' brakes and produce too much polluting gases.

Timber giant Weyerhaeuser Co. has signed a definitive agreement to buy Willamette Industries Inc. for $6.1 billion.

The collapse of Enron Corp. shows that government oversight of competitive power markets is still needed, says a Democratic senator whose energy legislation will be taken up by the Senate in coming weeks.