The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 American public corporations as measured by their gross revenue.

Wal-Mart tops the list again in 2008 — the retail giant maintains the top spot on the FORTUNE 500, making it the largest company in the United States for the sixth time in the last seven years.

Top 25 Companies in Fortune 500

1 Wal-Mart Stores
2 Exxon Mobil
3 Chevron
4 General Motors
5 ConocoPhillips
6 General Electric
7 Ford Motor
8 Citigroup
9 Bank of America Corp.
10 AT&T
11 Berkshire Hathaway
12 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
13 American International Group
14 Hewlett-Packard
15 International Business Machines
16 Valero Energy
17 Verizon Communications
18 McKesson
19 Cardinal Health
20 Goldman Sachs Group
21 Morgan Stanley
22 Home Depot
23 Procter & Gamble
24 CVS Caremark
25 UnitedHealth Group

– Full list of Fortune 500 companies - 2008

Generally the origin of the stock exchange is traced back to the stock exchange in Antwerp (1460). Still the Amsterdam Stock Exchange is considered as the oldest stock Exchange in the World. This was established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or called VOC) that issued the first shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

The company was the first in issuing the stocks and bonds. It was later renamed as the Amsterdam Bourse and was the first to begin trading in secuirities.

Nano - World’s cheapest car - costing just £1,200 - unveiled by Indian buyers of Jaguar . The price of the tiny Nano, made by the Indian conglomerate Tata, starts at just £1,250.

The base model has no air conditioning (other than the wind-down window variety) no power steering, no passenger-side mirror and only one windscreen wiper.

The Nano will be launched in India later in 2008. The car will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. Both versions will offer a wide range of body colours, and other accessories so that the car can be customised to an individual’s preferences.

Stylish, comfortable :

- Can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy. Continue reading…

From money.cnn

In the U.S., IPhone exclusive service provider AT&T will charge $199 for an iPhone with an 8-gigbyte hard drive and $299 for a model with a 16-gigabyte hard drive, as long as the buyer also subscribes to its cell phone service (2 years contract). It also will sell an iPhone contract-free, at $599 and $699 respectively, and then give buyers an option to use AT&T services without a contract.

While the consumer will be paying about $200 less for each iPhone, Apple is seen as making more money, thanks to the subsidies that the phone’s carriers, including AT&T Inc. (T), will pay. While the companies involved won’t comment on the plan, industry observers now suspect the subsidies may total more than $300 a phone, giving Apple an extra $100 or more on each phone sold.

[ New IPhone Rules: More Apple Revenue, Fewer Unlocked Phones ]