Google users in China were temporary blocked from accessing the search engine, the company said Thursday, but the site was was once again working a few hours later.

Stocks slid Thursday, although they finished off their session lows, as investors weighed cautious comments from a regional Federal Reserve president about the health of the economy and a mix of quarterly profit reports.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Thursday that the software giant is urgently working with its partners to unveil a host of tablet computers running Windows 7, to compete with Apple's fast-selling iPad.

Two days after BP said it will write off the cost of the oil spill cleanup against its income taxes, a U.S. senator is calling for a Congressional probe into the company's tax plans.

Longer-dated Treasury prices turned lower Thursday, with the 30-year yield spiking to a one-month high, as investors took in a better-than-expected report on jobless claims and prepared an auction of government debt later in the day.

Citigroup said Thursday it would pay $73 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the bank, as well as two of its executives, misled investors about the company's exposure to the subprime mortgage market.

April may be eight months away, but it is never too early to start thinking about saving on your taxes. Take advantage of these summer savings before it is too late.

The world's largest toothpaste maker reported disappointing sales Thursday, and who's to blame? None other than the country of Venezuela, the company said.

Amazon unveiled its long-awaited Kindle 3 on Thursday, slashing the price to $139 and setting the tech world abuzz about what the move means for the ongoing e-reader wars.

Elizabeth Warren doesn't look or sound scary. She's a 61-year-old Harvard Law School professor from Oklahoma who has written personal finance books, some with her daughter.

One of Wall Street reform's littlest known provisions is getting big attention for giving a government agency a possible loophole for avoiding journalists' requests for information.

Better watch your back Exxon Mobil.

Public but personal details from more than 170 million Facebook profiles were harvested from the site and made available in a downloadable torrent file this week.

Exxon Mobil Corp. reported quarterly earnings Thursday that easily beat analysts' expectations on higher crude prices.

While much has been made out of the sheer heft of the 2,300-page behemoth known as the Dodd-Frank Act, it's a mere 26 pages that address the corporate governance and compensation issues that will have a profound effect on public companies and their investors.

Q: I'm 37, married, and have four kids ages 2 to 13. I'm in the market for term life insurance. What features should I look for? -- N.N., Lutherville, Md.

The dollar continued to slide this week, hovering near monthly lows versus major currencies as worries about an economic slowdown weighed on investors.

Michelle Spranger and Scott Zuckerberg have been husband and wife for eight years, but they've yet to marry their finances.

Applied Materials had to fly in 100 interviewers just to screen all the job applicants for its new Solar Technology Center in Xi'an, China, last year. The company wanted to fill 260 high-tech jobs. It got 26,000 resumes. A fraction of those applicants were invited to interview. The final selectees, board member Andy Karsner tells me, "were top-of-their-class, English-speaking engineers. They're the best of the best."

It's a pretty good time to be Microsoft -- but the company still has a lot to prove.