Reuters - U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday as a string of corporate deals, plus a robust initial public offering for credit-card company MasterCard Inc., lifted investor sentiment.

Reuters - The convictions of former Enron Corp. chief executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling on Thursday send a blunt message to corporate America -- lie to your shareholders and you will go to prison.

Reuters - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted on Thursday for lying to investors as the energy giant stumbled toward bankruptcy in 2001 in a stunning collapse that shook the country's faith in corporate America.

Reuters - Yahoo Inc. and Web auctioneer eBay Inc. said on Thursday they had agreed to form a broad alliance in the United States designed to boost their positions amid growing competition from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. .

Reuters - The U.S. economy shot ahead at an upwardly revised 5.3 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the fastest pace of growth in 2-1/2 years, but prices remained in check, a Commerce Department report on Thursday showed.