BUSINESS

Japan Airlines Co plans to relist its shares as early as September in a public offering that could raise up to 1 trillion yen ($13 billion), Bloomberg news reported on Thursday, marking the carrier's recovery from bankruptcy and restructuring.

Concern about the appetite for euro zone sovereign debt pushed European stocks lower and hit the single currency on Thursday, with the first French bond auction of 2012 set to test how much progress policymakers have made in easing tensions.

Congressional investigators have stepped up their inquiry into the work of credit rating firms that examined MF Global's overly risky bets on European government bonds and whether they overlooked crucial information in their evaluations, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Asian shares and the euro eased on Thursday as concerns about the ability of euro zone countries to refinance their huge public debt dampened investors' appetite for risk ahead of a French bond auction later in the day.

BP's $20 billion oil spill fund said it had resumed payments to eligible victims on Wednesday after receiving clarification from a U.S. district court regarding an escrow account set up to cover certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.

Boeing Co said it would close a plant in Wichita by the end of 2013 that employs more than 2,160 workers maintaining and converting planes for the military, part of a move to cut costs as the U. S. defense budget tightens.

New Jersey's legislature has briefly delayed a vote on a bill that would legalize online gambling but Governor Chris Christie said the state should become an epicenter for the business.

Eastman Kodak is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in case it is unable to sell its digital patents to raise capital, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Blackstone Group LP will conclude fundraising for its latest buyout fund in January, raising just over $16 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a 4-year process challenged by the global financial crisis.

U.S. auto sales rose 10 percent in 2011 but major automakers forecast a slowdown in growth this year because of weak job growth and risks to the American economy from a slowdown in Europe.

The surprise departure of PayPal President Scott Thompson from eBay Inc could seriously set back any moves to spin-off the payments business as a separate company, investors and analysts said on Wednesday.

David J. Stern, who became one of the country's best-known foreclosure lawyers before shutting his business under regulatory pressure, has been sued for fraud by the publicly traded company he helped create to take on his now-defunct law firm's back-office operations.

U.S. online sales for the 2011 holiday season rose 15 percent to hit an all-time high, according to data firm comScore.

Major U.S. stock indexes were little changed in a low-volume session on Wednesday, but some investors were encouraged to see equities avoid a sell-off amid lingering euro zone's debt problems.

Comcast Corp, the largest U.S. cable operator, and Walt Disney Co on Wednesday said they had reached a comprehensive 10-year programming carriage deal for TV, Web and handheld devices.

Bill Gross, the manager of the world's largest bond fund, is sounding like a Wall Street ghost-hunter in his latest investment letter.

Boeing Co said it would close a Defense, Space & Security facility that employees more than 2,160 workers in Wichita by the end of 2013.

New orders for factory goods rose solidly in November, but business spending on capital goods is cooling, a government report showed on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks dipped on Wednesday as the euro zone's debt problems curbed market enthusiasm that fueled a rally in the previous session.

As we head into the election year, it is worth noting that no American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent. Despite the recent positive headlines, this series of charts on the U.S. employment situation paints a rather grim picture.

Groupon Inc's main business grew in November as the largest daily deal company extended its lead over rival LivingSocial, according to estimates released on Wednesday.

UniCredit SpA launched a 7.5 billion euro ($9.8 billion) rights issue at a massive discount on Wednesday, highlighting the struggle faced by European lenders under pressure to raise capital to counter a spreading debt crisis.

MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions. But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co , one of the sources said.

Euro zone inflation dropped below 3 percent for the first time in three months in December, kicking off a slowdown economists expect will revive deflation fears and tempt the ECB to cut rates below 1 percent for the first time in its history.

Stocks fell on Wednesday after a sharp rally in the previous session as investors set their sights again on Europe's debt problems.

Swiss central bank head Philipp Hildebrand came under pressure on Wednesday following revelations of sensitively timed currency trades by his wife and the sacking of a whistleblower who passed details to the lawyer of a political adversary.

The German and French governments have both come to accept that the era when leading euro zone countries enjoyed the very best sovereign debt ratings is nearing an end, but a downgrade could shake Paris far harder than it does Berlin.

Yahoo is poised to name PayPal President Scott Thompson as its chief executive after firing former CEO Carol Bartz in September, website AllThingsD reported, citing sources close to the situation.

Wall Street was set to open lower on Wednesday after a sharp market rally in the previous session, as investors focused again on Europe's debt problems.