Mark Brooks

Oil prices were undercut by analysts' expectations for higher U.S. crude supplies when the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration releases its weekly inventory report on Thursday.

Minutes of the Fed's Jan. 29-30 policy meeting released Wednesday showed that some officials worried about the Fed's monthly purchases of $85 billion in Treasurys and mortgage bonds.

At the heart of the trial, which got under way Wednesday, is whether Macy's has the exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart-branded products in such categories as cookware, bedding, and bath.

Months of negotiations have failed to resolve lingering differences -- not just with the London-based oil giant, but among federal and state officials.

Republicans argue his door isn't very open considering the president's refusal to consider a fix of targeted spending cuts alone, as Republicans want.

In spite of Greece receiving much-needed bailout loans, life seems to be getting worse for ordinary people.

The government has been trying to heal its public finances since it came to power 14 months ago by slashing spending and raising taxes.

The dollar is up against the euro as well as the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar.

The U.S. currency fell against the euro and rose against the British pound.

President Barack Obama, back from a Florida golfing weekend, warned Tuesday that "people will lose their jobs" if Congress doesn't act. But lawmakers weren't in session to hear his appeal, and they aren't coming back to work until next week.

In other trading, wheat and corn both fell on forecasts that winter storms would bring snow to the Plains region, giving soil there much needed moisture and boosting the outlook for this year's crops.

The Treasury Department auctioned $35 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.115 percent, up from 0.085 percent last week.

With no top-level talks under way and Congress off until next Monday, each side is blaming the other.

As part of the process, all users of Microsoft's Hotmail and other email services operating under different domains such as MSN.com will be automatically converted to Outlook.com by the summer, if they don't voluntarily switch before then.

While on a six-hour visit to Greece, Hollande said "everyone knows that for 2013, we will not reach our target, which was 0.8 percent."

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 46 cents to $95.40 per barrel by midday in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The $85 billion in cuts, known as the sequester, will start taking effect on March 1 unless Congress acts.

Gold for April delivery fell $26 to $1,609.50 an ounce Friday. That's a loss of 1.6 percent.

The Treasury Department said Friday that foreign holdings of U.S. Treasurys rose 0.3 percent in December from November to $5.56 trillion. It was the 12th consecutive monthly gain.

The reductions would affect everything from security funding for allies like Israel to humanitarian aid in war-torn nations like Syria.