WASHINGTON (AP) -- Manufacturing activity contracted in the mid-Atlantic region in May for the first time in eight months. New orders decreased and firms cut jobs....

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks slipped in early trading Thursday as unease over Europe overshadowed an encouraging report on unemployment claims and good results from big retailers including Wal-Mart Stores....

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On April 25, I wrote about the strength in home builder stocks despite what the Federal Reserve described as a housing depression. Today, we review the housing starts data for April and the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index for May. In addition, I will show a graph of the housing sector index that I use to evaluate the risk/reward of the stocks that represent the housing sector within the symbol HGX. Housing starts rose by 2.6% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 717,000 homes, which was stronger than expected by Wall Street analysts. The single-family component came in at 492,000 units. The NAHB described this data as 'very solid' but at half the pace of a fully healthy housing market. In my opinion, this pace is still within the framework...

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- If you think your portfolio is immune from all of the drama surrounding the Facebook IPO tomorrow, think again. Facebook officially goes public in the primary market this evening and opens for its first day of regular trading on the Nasdaq tomorrow morning. That means that all of the retail investors clamoring to buy shares of the social network will get their chance tomorrow. But for everyone else, it means that stocks are going to get 'sympathetic' to Facebook's attention. >>8 Stocks Set to Soar off Facebook's IPO ... Click to view a price quote on FB .

Certain kinds of moonlighting may actually help you in your main job, and wise organizations can embrace, rather than squelch, entrepreneurial zeal.