Republicans bail on budget talks, blame Democrats

WASHINGTON – Republicans pulled out of debt-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden with a flourish on Thursday, blaming Democrats for demanding tax increases as part of a deal rather than accepting more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare and other government programs. "Let me be clear: Tax hikes are off the table," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner spoke shortly after the House GOP second-in-command, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, announced he would not attend a...

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Jobless claims data points to weak labor market

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, suggesting little improvement in the labor market this month after hiring stumbled badly in May. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed by 9,000 to 429,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists had expected claims to come in at 415,000. The claims report, which covers the survey period for the government's closely watched data on nonfarm payrolls for...

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LSE bid on knife edge as TMX battle heats up

TORONTO/LONDON (Reuters) – A brace of sweetened offers has failed to sway shareholders in the race to buy the operator of Canada's biggest stock exchange, and time is running out ahead of a June 30 shareholder vote. Shareholders said the London Stock Exchange must raise its friendly bid for TMX Group significantly before they will back the proposal, which now includes a welcome cash element in the shape of a special dividend. But anti-trust concerns could derail...

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Oracle hardware sales drop, shares fall

BOSTON (Reuters) – Oracle Corp shares dropped 6.3 percent as investors were disappointed that its profit beat estimates by a narrower margin than in recent quarters. It released the disappointing results as Micron Technology reported quarterly revenue below expectations. The reports from the two companies don't bode well for other tech companies, which face shaky economies, especially in Europe. Most tech companies don't report until next month. "IT spend has slowed down. Any company that is in technology is going to get impacted," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research. Oracle reported profit, excluding...

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Wall Street reverses sharp sell-off on Greek deal

     NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks closed way off session lows on Thursday on news Greece agreed to a five-year austerity plan, but lingering economic uncertainty ultimately drove indexes mostly lower, keeping a downward trend in place. The Nasdaq wiped out all its losses, ending the session higher and back in the black for the year. The news out of Greece set the stage for a resolution to Athens' credit problems, which have hurt investor sentiment around the globe. "Shorts will unwind some positions, but this isn't the whole story," said...

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