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Stocks rose on Thursday as a surge in crude oil prices lifted energy shares, sending the benchmark S&P 500 to a session high.

OPEC ministers set their sights on oil prices above $70 a barrel as they gathered for talks in Vienna, but they were expected to hold output steady and rely instead on economic recovery to push the market up.

North Korea will pay a price for its latest nuclear test if it does not reverse course but the door remains open to talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

U.S. consumer confidence soared in May to its highest level in eight months, suggesting underlying improvement in the economy after a grim first quarter that witnessed a record plunge in home prices.

Energy leaders on Sunday debated what oil price would spur investment in the sector without hurting a wider global economic recovery, as top producer Saudi Arabia forecast prices eventually moving toward $75 a barrel.

OPEC ministers are expected to make no change to oil supply when they meet in Vienna next week as higher prices ease their concerns about overflowing fuel inventories and the deepest fall in demand for years.

The Palm Pre, the supposed iPhone killer, is set to launch June 6 in the U.S., and will only be available through Sprint, Palm confirmed on Tuesday, ending months of speculation as to when it will be rolled out to the public.

Digital music supplier Napster said on Monday it is slashing its monthly subscription price to $5 and adding downloads of songs to its streaming service in a bid to expand its customer base and compete with Apple Inc's iTunes.

British consumers are expected to cut back even further on their communications spend in the months ahead, a study found, adding additional pressure to telecoms who have already seen profits shrink.

Deutsche Bank downgraded PepsiAmericas Inc and Pepsi Bottling Group Inc to hold from buy, even as it raised price targets on the two largest Pepsi bottlers, saying it expects PepsiCo's bid price to move up, following the bottlers' initial rebuff.

A price valuation of $2 billion would be low for Skype, the chief executive of parent eBay Inc said on Wednesday.

Kraft Foods Inc posted a higher first-quarter profit helped by price increases and cost cutting measures.

A proposed federal mandate to force power companies to provide up to 25 percent renewable energy by 2025 is likely to have little impact on electric prices though 2020 and negligible impact after 2030, the Energy Information Administration said in a study Monday.

Oil prices fell 1.5 percent on Monday on worries a flu outbreak in Mexico could become a pandemic, hurting the global economy and hindering air travel.

Hershey Co posted a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Thursday as the chocolate maker increased its market share despite raising prices.

Using a mobile phone to send text messages or surf the Web by laptop will be up to 60 percent cheaper for travelers in the European Union under price curbs adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday.

Amazon's Kindle 2 electronic reader retails for $359 but costs about half that amount to build, research group iSuppli Corp said on Wednesday.

Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide said on Tuesday it would start including all taxes and fees in its initial price display for hotels on Orbitz.com instead of just the base rate.

Apple, in its newly ads Get a Mac campaign addressing a selling point for Macs vs. PCs has ignored price wars and over Microsoft’s latest “laptop hunter” series of commercials.

Nippon Steel Corp and other steelmakers have agreed with Toyota Motor Corp to cut steel prices by more than 10 percent this business year, a newspaper said, a smaller-than-expected price cut.

IBM is no longer interested in buying smaller rival Sun Microsystems Inc at any price, CNBC reported on Thursday, although many investors appear to believe a deal was still possible.