U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 at a record high, as fears of a confrontation between Russia and Ukraine eased and Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need to use military force in the Crimea region for now.

• March 4, 2014

U.S. lawmakers are considering options such as imposing sanctions on Russia's banks and freezing assets of Russian public institutions and private investors because of Moscow's moves in Ukraine, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, the chairman of the Senate's Europe subcommittee, said on Monday.

• March 3, 2014

U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday alongside other risky assets globally as Ukraine and Russia prepared for possible war after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbor.

• March 3, 2014

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Saturday that Russian action was a "potentially grave threat" to Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

• March 1, 2014

China's central bank delivered two major surprises to investors this week: it engineered a sharp decline in the yuan against the dollar and at the same time relaxed its tight grip on money markets that had kept interest rates firm.

• March 1, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to continue talks with Ukraine on economic and trade relations and to consult foreign partners including the IMF and the G8 on financial aid, a statement on the Kremlin's website said.

• February 28, 2014

China and Japan must ease tension in the disputed East China Sea to avoid severe "unintended consequences", U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Thursday, days before he steps down as Washington's first Chinese-American envoy in Beijing.

• February 27, 2014

Credit Suisse's chief executive will hit back at allegations the Swiss bank was a willing accomplice in U.S. tax evasion on Wednesday, blaming instead a small group of its private bankers for helping Americans conceal their wealth.

• February 26, 2014