MARKETS / FINANCE

United Parcel Service said it was in constructive talks to buy Dutch rival TNT Express and reiterated its intention to make an offer, having last month proposed a 9 euros per share deal worth 4.9 billion euros ($6.4 billion).

Several banks including Goldman Sachs have shown an interest in buying American International Group Inc's complex and troubled assets tied to the insurer's bailout, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Britain is poised to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months, two British sources said, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year.

Economic growth showed signs of becoming more self-sustaining as the number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits fell back to a four-year low last week and manufacturing activity in the Northeast picked up this month.

On the heels of Dwight Howard's decision to stay in Orlando just a few hours before the 2012 NBA trade deadline, a flurry of teams made deals, including some within the 11th hour, to shake things up.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday released a new economic analysis that will be used to justify a critical final rule that will determine which companies will face new regulations of their derivatives trading.

Boeing Co said it will move production of the horizontal tail of its 787-9 Dreamliners from Seattle to Salt Lake City, Utah, and to Alenia Aermacchi of Italy by late 2012.

United Parcel Service and TNT Express are unlikely to announce a deal on Friday when they need to update the market about the status of their merger talks, but a deal could come soon after that, sources close to the talks said.

Britain is poised to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months, two British sources said, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year.

A consultant at A.T. Kearney on Thursday pleaded guilty to trading on confidential information about private-equity firm Carlyle Group's planned acquisition of vitamin company NBTY, Inc.

The trustee liquidating MF Global's broker-dealer is asking a bankruptcy court for permission to distribute an additional $600 million to U.S. exchange customers whose accounts were frozen when the futures broker collapsed.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 topping the 1,400-mark for the first time since the financial crisis on a strong run of economic data.

Britain has decided to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months, two British sources said, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year.

U.S. economic growth showed signs of becoming more self-sustaining as the number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits fell back to a four-year low last week and manufacturing activity in the Northeast picked up this month.

The S&P 500 index hit 1,400 for the first time in four years on Thursday as a strong run of economic data continues to cement a strong uptrend in equity markets.

A Chicago-based consultant on Thursday pleaded guilty to trading on confidential information about private-equity firm Carlyle Group's planned acquisition of vitamin company NBTY Inc.

Gold rose Thursday, reversing a three-day plunge that left prices beneath their critical 200-day moving average.

Britain has decided to cooperate with the United States in a bilateral agreement to release strategic oil stocks, two British sources said, in an effort to prevent high fuel prices derailing economic growth in a election year.

Britain should not delay too long kick-starting the sale of its shares in Royal Bank of Scotland , the chief executive of RBS said, as speculation grows that the government could sell an initial stake at a loss.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a 28 billion euro ($36.7 billion) bailout for Greece, part of a broader international rescue package for the debt-strapped euro zone member.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), the No. 1 provider of Internet gear, said it plans to acquire NDS of the UK in a move to bolster its growing presence in media communications.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a 28 billion euro ($36.7 billion) bailout for Greece, part of a broader international rescue package for the debt-strapped euro zone member.

The S&P 500 index continued to rally toward the 1,400 level and was on course to post its best week in over a month on Thursday after data showed the U.S. economy continuing to improve.

A federal appeals court stopped just short of throwing out a judge's controversial rejection of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's $285 million settlement with Citigroup Inc in a fraud case.

Greg Smith was a principled and competitive student, the kind of person whose strong sense of right and wrong probably pushed him to resign from Goldman Sachs in a scathing letter to an international newspaper, his former teacher and coach said.

Every couple of weeks it's nice to look back and see just how far Apple has come.

The pace of factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region improved in March, though new orders slowed, a survey showed on Thursday.

Stocks edged higher on Thursday, putting the benchmark S&P 500 index on track for its sixth advance in the last seven sessions as a round of economic data pointed to a slowly improving domestic economy.

Goldman Sachs faced an unprecedented assault from one of its own on Wednesday after a banker published a withering resignation letter in the New York Times, calling the Wall Street titan a toxic place where managing directors referred to their own clients as muppets.