 |  | Visa reports better-than-expected quarterly profit | (Reuters) - Visa Inc , the world's largest credit and debit card company, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as a strengthening U.S. job market and cheaper gasoline prices encouraged people to spend. | |  | |  |  | Wall St. ends volatile session with big gains | NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks enjoyed a late afternoon rally on Thursday, ending a volatile session sharply higher as crude oil reversed earlier losses and returned the energy sector to positive territory. | |  | |   |  | Politics, mobile overshadow Alibaba's fairy-tale run | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's underwhelming holiday quarter performance and an escalating war of words with a powerful Chinese industry regulator highlight two major risks to its seemingly fairy-tale ascent: politics and the shift to mobile commerce. | |  | |   |  | Conoco, Occidental and Shell cut 2015 budgets on crude slide | HOUSTON/WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp on Thursday slashed exploration spending plans for this year, as the third- and fourth-largest U.S. oil companies attempt to cope with a steep slide in crude prices. | |  | |  |  |  | A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today | | |  | |  |  | The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day. Register Today | | |  | | » MORE NEWSLETTERS | |