IBT Staff Reporter

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged up on Thursday, hovering around two- and three-year highs respectively, but a recent rise in bond yields and uncertainty over tax-cut legislation unsettled investors.

European Union leaders meet next week under pressure to take bolder steps to quell the euro zone debt crisis, despite signs that volatility in European bond markets is abating toward the end of the year. The European commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said it was time for Europe to show proper coordination, and back its shared currency union with closer economic union.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked the United States on Thursday over secret U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, saying the West had no right to preach to Russia about democracy.

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Russia is seeking an explanation from NATO after documents published by Wikileaks revealed that the military alliance planned to protect Baltic States against Moscow. Russian officials stated that the Kremlin was awaiting clarification from NATO the proposed Eagle Guardian plan.

U.S. wholesale sales climbed at the sharpest rate in seven months during October and inventories kept rising strongly, according to a government report on Thursday that suggested optimism about a healthy holiday shopping season.

Dell Inc deserves more credit for a gradual but steady transformation from its roots as a computer maker into a full-service technology vendor, an overhaul that will take time, its CEO said.

U.S. companies are pulling the plug on WikiLeaks and its activists, raising tough questions about cyberspace as a celebrated free speech forum and about government pressure.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged up on Thursday, hovering around two-year highs, but a recent rise in bond yields and uncertainty over tax-cut legislation unsettled investors.

Dell Inc offered to buy data storage company Compellent Technologies Inc for nearly $1 billion, three months after losing out to Hewlett-Packard Co in a bidding war for another storage firm, 3Par.

U.S. jobless claims fell more than expected during the week ended Dec. 4, providing some relief to the labor market that saw a rise in jobless rate in the week before, the Labor Department said.

Final bids are due within weeks for blocks of patents owned by Canada's once mighty telecom giant Nortel Networks, including some that could change the balance of power among mobile operators.

Howard Stern will be shocking Sirius XM Radio Inc listeners for at least five more years, news that pushed the satellite radio company's shares up more than 6 percent.

Sprint Nextel Corp plans to expand its tablet computer portfolio in 2011 to court business customers looking to replace expensive laptop computers with the lower cost devices, according to a top executive for the No. 3 U.S. mobile operator.

DuPont, the world's fourth-largest chemical maker, forecast earnings through 2011 would continue to grow, with executives saying the maker of Tyvek and Kevlar was also well positioned through 2015.

MasterCard Inc is buying a prepaid cash-card business of foreign exchange group Travelex for 290 million pounds ($459 million) in an effort to win business in fast-growing emerging markets.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose slightly on Thursday after encouraging data on the jobs market, but gains were limited by a stronger U.S. dollar.

China attacked the U.S. congressional resolution on convicted Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, and urged U.S. policymakers to change arrogant and rude attitude. The country's foreign ministry maintained that Liu, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, was not arrested over his calls for democracy, but for the reason that he tried to destabilize the state. Meanwhile, the Nobel committee announced that as many as 18 countries have joined China in the boycott of the Oslo event.

U.S. homes are set to lose more than $1.7 trillion in value during 2010, bringing the total value lost since the market peaked in June 2006 to $9 trillion, which surpassed the cost of 12 Iraq wars, a report said.

State Street Corp , one of the world's biggest institutional investors, said it would post a fourth-quarter loss after it sold $11 billion in securities to meet new regulatory requirements.

For the first time, a private company has successfully launched a spacecraft to orbit and returned it to Earth.

The Bank of England (BoE) continued to maintain its base rate at 0.5 percent, as the economic recovery continues to remain uncertain and financial crisis continues to worsen in the eurozone.

Google has opened a 40,000-square-foot office in Pittsburgh, the search giant said in its official blog.

Newcastle United has appointed Alan Pardew as the new manager on a five-and-a-half year deal, which will run until the summer of 2016.

The company talks about its multimode technology, while showing faith in Clearwire.

Standard Chartered <2888.HK> said costs are rising quickly as it fights to hire and retain staff in its hot Asian markets, taking the gloss off record income and profits.

Speaking to investors this week, Level 3 and Comcast both presented their side of the spat over payments for network traffic.

Spiking demand for food, paint and electronics will push DuPont's earnings and revenue higher through 2015, the chemical maker said on Thursday, and its chief executive promised the company's diverse portfolio has yet to reach its potential.