LONDON -- The last five years have been tough for those in retirement. Portfolio valuations have been hammered and annuity rates have plunged.

How do you spot a share that will go on doing the business for years? It's a question that perplexes many investors, who often rely on intuition, newspaper tips and friends for suggestions on where to park their cash.

Every morning we put out a report with the latest news in global stock markets, company news, and global economic news. Stocks in focus today include; MA, CMCSA, ADP, HOG, COST, BMW, GLE, MS, EMC.

Can Hargreaves Lansdown's dividend continue to beat the wider market? In an outcome that's tough on investors, the FTSE 100 (UKX) has failed to deliver a rising dividend payout over the last few years.

Will Capita and Serco suffer from G4S's travails? The successful start to London's Olympics has distracted the public's attention away from the role played -- but perhaps not played to gold medal standard -- by security firm G4S (LSE: GFS).

By MarketWatch. Transocean swings to $304 million loss. (5:44 PM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) , the world's largest offshore drilling company, reported late Wednesday it had swung to a second-quarter loss of $304 ...

Next (LSE: NXT) gets a high-street boost, and Rightmove (LSE: RMV) sees profits soar. The FTSE 100 (UKX) rose 33 points to 5668 points in morning trading, as interim earnings from big blue-chip shares boosted confidence.

Good news or bad, more often than not there is a knock-on effect... Whenever news emerges about a company, its products, its markets and even unrelated things like wars in distant countries, the stock market decides how this will affect the company's ...

By Preeti Upadhyaya, MarketWatch. LONDON (MarketWatch) - The main London stock index closed higher Wednesday, boosted by well-received corporate-earnings reports and optimistic labor market data from the U.S.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Weak U.K. manufacturing data added pressure on European stock markets in morning action on Wednesday, pulling stocks off session highs.