Legerdemain: Remember the $246 billion that Democrats were going to take out of Medicare to keep the program solvent as well as help fund their…

Health insurance and Medicare help cover the costs of medicine, physicians and hospitals for the elderly who are ill or recovering from an…

Stocks ended a holiday-shortened session Thursday at new highs for the year following upbeat reports on unemployment and durable goods orders.

Stocks ended a holiday-shortened session Thursday at new highs for the year following upbeat reports on unemployment and durable goods orders.

U.S. stocks rallied in a brief pre-holiday session on Thursday, closing at 2009 highs, after data showing a drop in initial jobless claims and growth in durable goods orders suggested an economic recovery was picking up steam.

U.S. and European stocks hit more than one-year closing highs on Thursday after better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims and durable goods orders drove optimism that the economic recovery is gaining hold, while the dollar slipped after a recent rally.

The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market:

Apple Inc shares reached their all-time high on Thursday as excitement builds over the expected release of its tablet computer.

Shares of tax-return preparer Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. tumbled Thursday after the company said a bank that is supposed to supply most of its tax-refund loans to customers in 2010 will not be able to do so.

The Energy Department on Thursday is expected to report a draw of 171 billion to 175 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage inventories for the week ended Dec. 18., according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.