Stocks

With Facebook's upcoming initial public offering, some Facebook fans and potential investors are looking to get into the action without plunking down some significant cash, according to a blog post on Latimes.com . Some would-be investors are turning to services that allow them to buy a single share of stock. These services, which include websites such as GiveAShare , OneShare and FrameAStock offer their customers the option to buy one share above the selling price, according to the story.

Stocks reversed their gains in the final hour as concern that Greece is preparing to exit the eurozone — and the financial contagion that could result — overshadowed news that US home prices rose 10% in the past year, the most in six years. Homebuilder stocks rose more than 2%. European leaders gather Wednesday to discuss how to revive growth.

Even the hottest initial public stock offerings can lose steam after their first day of trading. Sure, company insiders will make money selling at the opening price. And investors who used connections or big bucks to score shares at the IPO price will profit if they sell after a first-day "pop. " For everyone else, the wildly mixed record of other ballyhooed IPOs beyond their first trading session offers a lesson. It's one that should remind us that buying Facebook stock Friday provides a chance to lose money.

Facebook Inc. tumbled 8.9 percent to $31, extending Monday's 11 percent plunge, on its third day of trading after selling shares at $38 in the biggest IPO for an Internet company. The plunge had investors faulting Morgan Stanley's role as lead underwriter, the company's greed, and the Nasdaq's mishandling of the first day of trading.

Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged. After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied. The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market — Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few...

Unsettling news about Europe's debt crisis and disappointing U.S. corporate earnings weighed on Asian stock markets Tuesday. Strong headwinds continued to emanate from Europe, where a festering, two-year debt crisis has begun jolting the region's political landscape. The Dutch government collapsed Monday, and a new report showed that European government debt is piling up despite severe budget cuts. Separately, a survey of the eurozone's manufacturing and services sectors unexpectedly fell in April to a five-month low of 47.4,...

Facebook's tepid start as a publicly traded company dragged other social media and related stocks lower on Monday. Facebook Inc., which began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday, fell $3.94, or 10.3 percent, to $34.29 in late afternoon trading on Monday. The company's initial public offering was one of the most hotly anticipated ones in history. But the resulting staggering valuation — more than $100 billion — likely gave investors pause as they sought to assign value to the world's largest online social network.

Despite improvements in the economy, Massachusetts residents hold deeply pessimistic views about the future, including a stark lack of confidence in real estate and stock markets, two traditional paths to financial security, according to a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll. The survey found more than a continued bleak outlook; it found a disheartened population that says it is saving less, giving less to charity, and planning to work longer, generally for one reason: lack of money.

NEW YORK (AP) — A drop in the unemployment rate to its lowest level in three years propelled stocks higher Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 130 points, drawing the average to its highest mark since before the financial crisis hit in 2008. The Nasdaq index reached levels last seen in December 2000. Before the market opened, the Labor Department said companies hired 243,000 employees in January. That's the strongest job growth in nine months. The increase in hiring pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent.

Stocks edged up as gains in transportation firms including Union Pacific and consumer staple companies like Costco overshadowed a slowdown in June service industry growth and China’s interest rate hike, the third this year as it tries to rein in inflation. Financial stocks including Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase retreated. DuPont, Intel, and Caterpillar rose.

A report that Greece is considering preparations to leave the euro common currency sent Asian stock markets lower Wednesday. Investors have long acknowledged the possibility of a Greek withdrawal from the 17-nation euro currency union as the country struggles to meet harsh austerity targets that are a condition of getting international bailout money. But a financial news service's report, which quoted former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos suggesting such a euro exit could be approaching, flustered markets.

California's budget could take a hit if Facebook's stock price keeps sliding. Gov. Jerry Brown estimated the state will generate between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion over the next 13 months from taxes related to sales of Facebook stock. The estimates were based on prices at $35 per share. Facebook went public Friday at $38 per share but was trading below $32, or 15 percent below its IPO price, on Tuesday afternoon. Deputy Legislative Analyst Jason Sisney says the "potential hit from Facebook's share price is nothing compared to the...

Just how nervous are investors about Greece? All it took to derail a day of stock market gains was a headline saying that the country was preparing to leave the euro, an outcome many analysts expect to happen eventually. Major indexes were higher for most of the day after the National Association of Realtors reported that home prices surged 10 percent over the past year, the biggest gain in six years. Then, with less than an hour of trading left, news hit that Greece's former prime minister said the country was considering dropping the euro.

Facebook Inc. began trading publicly on Friday following one of the most anticipated stock offerings in history. The initial public offering of stock priced at $38 on Thursday. It was at the top end of a projected range that Facebook had already increased just days earlier. Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened Friday at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day. It closed barely above its IPO price, at $38.23. Here's how Facebook's stock has traded since the IPO: — Friday:...

NEW YORK — Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged. After the social network's stock fizzled Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied. The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the last week since the much-hyped company came to the stock market — Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is...

Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged. After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied. The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market — Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few...

Fresh concerns about Europe's debt crisis depressed stocks. Spain said the proportion of bad bank loans rose to an 18-year high, unnerving investors. Bank of England policy makers said inflation there may be higher than forecast. BlackRock's Laurence Fink, who has been advising clients to buy more stocks, said they are still fearful as global markets remain fragile.

Stronger profits from Microsoft, McDonald's, and other major corporations pushed stocks higher Friday. Optimism from Europe helped brighten the mood. ‘There's been a wrestling match all week long between strong earnings and weak economic data,' said Lawrence Creatura of Federated Investors. ‘At the moment, earnings are winning.'