TechStop

NEW YORK – Stocks are set to open the week higher, building on their first winning week in a month. Futures rose Monday following signs that Europe’s economy is still growing.
Major European markets all rose after a report showed industrial production in the 16 countries that use the euro grew more than expected in April. [...]

The tricky process of sealing an offshore oil well with cement — suspected as a major contributor to the Gulf of Mexico disaster — has failed dozens of times in the past, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Yet federal regulators give drillers a free hand in this crucial safety step — another example of lax [...]

ATHENS – Europe’s government debt crisis worsened ominously Tuesday when Greece’s credit rating was downgraded to junk status and Portugal’s debt was lowered on fears the trouble could spread. Stocks slid on the news.
The Portuguese downgrade was a sign the European Union’s fears of that the debt crisis would spread beyond Greece — and further [...]

WASHINGTON – Top Goldman Sachs officials defended their conduct in the financial crisis on Tuesday, flatly disputing the government’s fraud allegations against the giant financial house. “I did not mislead” investors, insisted a trading executive at the heart of the government’s case.
But they ran into a wall of bipartisan wrath before a Senate panel investigating [...]

DETROIT – Chrysler Group LLC lost a staggering $3.8 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection June 10 through the end of last year, but the automaker says its fortunes improved dramatically in the first quarter.
The struggling company, now run by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, cut its net loss to $197 million from January [...]

LONDON – Europe began to emerge from a volcanic cloud Monday, allowing limited air traffic to resume and giving hope to millions of travelers stranded around the world when ash choked the jet age to a halt.

Even then, however, the eruption from the Icelandic volcano that caused the five days of aviation chaos was said [...]

ATLANTA – Fares are higher, demand is up and the airlines have established a steady revenue stream from add-on fees for baggage, pillows and food.
That formula is moving the industry back toward profitability as early as this summer, a change that will have implications for travelers.
But first: more red ink. Starting Tuesday, airlines begin reporting [...]

WASHINGTON – Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to agree to a fine of more than $16 million, the largest government penalty levied against an automaker, for a four-month delay in telling federal authorities about defective gas pedals on its vehicles, a Transportation Department official said Sunday.
Toyota faces a Monday deadline to accept or contest the [...]

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Tuesday:
___
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s borrowing costs shot up following a report, later denied, that Athens was seeking to revise a deal hammered out last month which would provide a European and International Monetary Fund rescue to prevent a default.
Markets have so [...]

SINGAPORE – Asian stock markets were mostly higher Wednesday amid expectations low global interest rates will continue to fuel strong economic growth.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.4 percent to 11,321.29 ahead of the central bank’s latest decision on monetary policy, due out later in the day. The Bank of Japan is expected to keep [...]