IBT Staff Reporter

New claims for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week but hovered near levels normally associated with improving labor market conditions, in a hopeful sign for the struggling economy.

AstraZeneca Plc said on Thursday it will cut about 400 jobs from its U.S. commercial business as Britain's second-largest drugmaker seeks to reduce costs.

Del Monte Corp and Barclays Capital have agreed to pay $89.4 million to Del Monte shareholders in one of the largest cash settlements on record in Delaware Chancery Court, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Thursday.

Herman Cain is tied with Mitt Romney for first place in the latest CBS News poll of Republican primary voters. He has gained 12 percentage points, while Rick Perry has fallen 11 points.

Amidst an outpouring of social media tributes to Steve Jobs on Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the Apple co-founder's death, so have donations toward awareness and research of his longtime battle with pancreatic cancer.

Stocks rose for a third day in a row on Thursday as developing euro zone plans to backstop European banks gave investors hope the threat of a financial crisis was waning.

Police shot dead on Thursday a man suspected of killing three people and wounding six others during a shooting spree at a Northern California cement plant and quarry, authorities said.

Steve Jobs, almost single-handedly, turned personal technology into personal technology. Which is a truly astonishing legacy to leave.

TNT has scheduled back-to-back re-airings Thursday night (8 and 10 p.m.) of Pirates of Silicon Valley, the 1999 TV movie about the race between technology rivals Apple and Microsoft to build their computer empires.

The following are highlights from a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Thursday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifying on the Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress.

News of the death of Apple's iconic leader, Steve Jobs, made it to the International Space Station, where a trio of astronauts are living, working -- and listening to music on iPods.

When I was growing up in Palo Alto in the 1960s, it was a town of engineers and Stanford professors. Today, it's the capital of Silicon Valley, the home of venture capitalists, titans of industry and $1 million teardowns.

While the world mourned the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs in California, many Syrians were quick to claim the computer genius as one of their own on Thursday through a little-known connection to his biological father.

When Apple announced the death of its co-founder and Chairman Steve Jobs Wednesday afternoon, friends, rivals, colleagues and even the President all responded swiftly to pay tribute and express sadness.

It’s probably fitting that on the day Steve Jobs died the company he co-founded was vying for the crown of most valuable with Exxon Mobil, the legacy of an earlier titan of commerce, John D. Rockefeller. In the early 20th century it was Rockefeller who had the vision to remake entire industries and help modernize the U.S. economy while creating vast fortunes in the process.

Shares of OCZ Technology Group (OCZ.O) rose almost 19 percent in early morning trade on Thursday, a day after the computer memory and storage hardware maker raised its full-year revenue outlook and said it will acquire the UK design team of PLX Technology Inc (PLXT.O).

The head of General Electric Co's finance arm is sympathetic to the protesters who have taken to the streets of U.S. cities to decry the nation's financial system, but is not sure what corporate America could do to assuage them.

Corporate America's chiefs do not expect the nation to slip back into recession, but say political gridlock in the United States and Europe could make for a long, slow recovery.

OCT 6 - Sony Corp is nearing a deal to buy out Telefon AB LM Ericsson's stake in their 50:50 smartphone joint venture, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.

Stocks rose on Thursday after the European Central Bank launched fresh liquidity measures to help banks weather the euro zone's debt crisis, easing one of the major concerns overhanging markets.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, preparing for a return to the Kremlin, urged Europe on Thursday to deal resolutely with its sovereign debt crisis and said Moscow was better prepared to cope than it was before the global crash of 2008.

Apple fans from New York to Australia gathered to mourn the death of Steve Jobs, leaving Apple products, bouquets and heartfelt messages in tribute to the man who transformed the computing, music and phone industries.

Iowa health officials told reporters Wednesday that a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage after eating cantaloupe containing listeria, a rare yet serious food-borne bacteria-caused illness that arose in early September.

Outpourings of public grief and appreciation swept the globe on Thursday after the death of Apple (AAPL.O) co-founder Steve Jobs.

“I apologize to those whom are disappointed in this decision… But I believe that they, when they take a step back, will understand why the decision was made and understand that really you don’t need a title to make a difference in this country,” Sarah Palin said on Fox New after closing the door to a 2012 presidential campaign.

One day in 1991, when I was working as the Silicon Valley correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, I picked up the phone at my girlfriend’s apartment and was greeted by a soft, friendly voice: “Hey Jonathan, it’s Steve. Steve Jobs.” He wanted something from me — I don’t remember what — and he couldn’t have been nicer.

ABC's Modern Family took the evening's top ratings on Wednesday, while Fox grabbed an overall win for the night based largely on the strength of The X Factor, according to preliminary numbers.

The U.S. economy is not slipping back into recession but will face a long, slow recovery as political gridlock in Washington and Europe make businesses wary of investing, according to General Electric Co's Jeff Immelt and other top executives.

New claims for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week but hovered near levels normally associated with improving labor market conditions, a hopeful sign for the struggling economy.