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The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose for a fourth straight day on Wednesday as tech shares gained and offset some weak economic data.   Equities have rallied in recent weeks, with both the Dow and S&P 500 hitting all-time highs as investors expect central bank stimulus measures will keep supporting market gains. Such policies have helped spur advances of about 15 percent in major indexes this year despite data showing signs of slowing growth. Activity in New York state's manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in May, falling to minus 1.43 from 3.05, below expectations for an increase to 4. Another report showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.5 percent in April, more than expected. "It's disconcerting that the data was so much lower than what we were looking for, but there's no reason for investors to sell," said Michael Binger, senior portfolio manager at Gradient Investments in Minneapolis. "The main things driving the market - the Fed

Southwest Airlines Co on Wednesday announced a boost in its dividend and its share repurchase program and said it is changing some plane orders and deliveries. _0"> The discounter said its board boosted the quarterly dividend to 4 cents a share from 1 cent a share, to begin with the payment on June 26 to shareholders of record on June 5. The company said its share buyback authorization was increased to $1.5 billion from $1 billion.   Southwest also said it plans to buy 10 pre-owned 737-700s airplanes to be delivered in 2014 and 2015, and it made changes to some existing aircraft orders. The carrier said it would be the first customer to take the 7 series of Boeing's upcoming 737 MAX plane in 2019. Southwest has an all-Boeing fleet.

Canadian home sales rose in April, the second straight monthly gain, as spring homebuying breathed life back into the slowing real estate sector and bolstered hopes Canada will manage a soft landing rather than a U.S.-style housing crash.   Sales of existing homes climbed 0.6 percent in April from March, but year-over-year sales were down 3.1 percent, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Wednesday in a report that showed a spring bounce in a housing sector that had been slowing since the middle of 2012. "Realizing that it may be a tad premature for victory laps, but evidence continues to mount that the Canadian housing market seems to have pulled off the fabled soft landing," Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a research note. CREA's home price index rose 2.2 percent in April from a year earlier, its smallest gain in more than two years. That echoed the 2.0 percent April gain in the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index

Angola's hopes of becoming this year's only major new liquefied natural gas supplier suffered another setback in April after fire occurred at its plant just hours before production was to begin.   This could further delay the troubled project, which is seen as key to relieving a global shortage of the fuel and could help push global LNG prices back towards record highs. A small electrical fire broke out when a high voltage cable overloaded as operations were about to begin, according to a private report by energy consultants Poten & Partners, seen by Reuters and corroborated by industry sources. In June 2012, a fire ignited at the site, delaying its opening, which is now 18 months behind schedule. "Operators were just hours away from making LNG when the incident occurred," the Poten report said of the April 15 fire, adding the overloaded cable was connected to a helper motor linked to a compressor. Helper motors are used to get the plant's turbines and

Moon explosion: Massive explosion on Moon as Meteorite crash. Massive explosion as meteoroid struck the surface of the moon recently, causing an explosion that was visible on Earth without the aid of a telescope, NASA reported Friday . But don't be alarmed if you didn't see it; it only lasted about a second. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before," said Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. NASA astronomers have been monitoring the moon for the past eight years, looking for explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. It's part of a program to find new fields of space debris that could hit Earth. NASA says it sees hundreds of detectable lunar meteoroid impacts a year. None however can match the size of the explosion they say they saw March 17. NASA says the meteoroid was about 40 kilograms and less than a meter wide, and it hit the moon's surface at 56,000 mph. It glowed like a

Google Inc faces another grilling over its tax affairs from a committee of British lawmakers on Thursday who have called the company back after questions were raised about testimony given in an earlier hearing. Corporate tax avoidance has become a major issue in Britain, where there are concerns over rising government debt and accusations from lawmakers that the UK tax authority has adopted a light touch approach to taxing big businesses.   Google's Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, was called to testify to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in November about Google's low UK tax bill. From 2006 to 2011, Google generated $18 billion in revenues from the UK, according to statutory filings, and paid just $16 million in taxes. Brittin told the PAC Google was not taxed on the profits of its core advertising business in Britain, because all UK sales were conducted from Ireland . Reuters revealed that the Internet search giant had described its London offices on its website

U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs as the market's recent upward momentum persisted and offset some weak economic data.   The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have risen for four straight sessions, extending their gains for the year. Equities have rallied in recent weeks as investors bet that central bank stimulus measures will keep supporting market gains. Such policies have helped spur advances of about 15 percent in major indexes this year despite data showing some signs of lackluster growth. In the latest reads on the economy, activity in New York state's manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in May, falling to minus 1.43 from 3.05, below expectations for an increase to 4. Another report showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.5 percent in April, more than expected. "It's disconcerting that the data was so much lower than what we were looking for, but there's no reason for investors to sell,&q