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- Make that seven straight days of gains for the Dow. It rose 50 points to end the day at 14,447, with Boeing being the index's top stock. The S&P 500 edged up over 5 points to close at 1,556 and the Nasdaq added 9 points to 3,253.
- A judge has struck down New York City's ban on big sugary drinks, just hours before it was supposed to take effect. The judge ruled the first-in-the-nation measure arbitrarily applies to only some sweet beverages and some places that sell them.
- Oil reversed an early decline today and has finished above $92 for the first time this month. Benchmark oil rose 11 cents to end at $92.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Although oil shows a gain of nearly 2 percent over the past three trading sessions, many traders believe the large supply of oil in the U.S. will keep a lid on the price.
- The Treasury Department is placing sanctions on North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank and a senior government official. The move is aimed at slowing Pyongyang's ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs. The action against the Foreign Trade Bank and a senior official linked to the missile program, generally prohibits transactions between them and any U.S. person, and freezes any assets they may have in the U.S.
- Yum Brands Inc.'s sales in China slid 20 percent in January and February, but still weren't as bad as expected. The parent company of KFC is working to rebuild its reputation in China following a food scare. The Louisville, Ky.,-based company had forecast a 25-percent decline for the two months for sales at Chinese restaurants open at least a year.
Read more business stories on the Back To Business page.
