IBT Staff Reporter

President Barack Obama will tell Wall Street on Thursday to accept a sweeping bill to overhaul financial regulations, warning of another crisis unless there were tighter rules to rein in the industry's risky practices.

Greece's budget gap last year was worse than feared, the European Union's statistics office revealed on Thursday, triggering a fresh slide of asset prices in Greece and other debt-choked European countries.

Greece's budget gap last year was worse than feared, the European Union's statistics office revealed on Thursday, as Moody's Investors Service downgraded its rating of Greek government debt.

Private lenders did not use prudent lending practices for a small business program that President Barack Obama hopes to expand to improve the economy, a government watchdog said on Wednesday.

U.S. existing home sales climbed in March as Americans rushed to take advantage of a tax credit for home buyers, but activity remained severely depressed from levels preceding the country's sharpest housing downturn in modern history.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless aid fell last week as the labor market gradually heals and producer price data showed inflation remained muted, despite a surge in food costs last month.

Kimberly-Clark Corp said higher pulp costs and increased marketing spending to promote new products will weigh on profit this year as it posted lower first-quarter earnings.

Regional banks PNC Financial Services Group , BB&T and Fifth Third Bancorp

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PepsiCo Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations, hurt by ongoing weakness in its Americas beverage business.

PNC Financial Services Group reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit, even as it issued stock and repaid $7.6 billion in bank bailout money and its shares rose 2.3 percent.

U.S. producer prices rose more than expected in March on strong consumer food and gasoline costs, but a small gain in the core measure pointed to tame underlying inflation, a government report showed on Thursday.

(Reuters) - Children born extremely early -- at 25 weeks or before -- may risk a lifetime of lung problems, including asthma, British researchers reported on Thursday.

Telephone operator Verizon Communications Inc posted a smaller quarterly profit and wireless subscriber growth slowed more dramatically than Wall Street analysts' already low expectations.

Corrects last paragraph to show volume increase is in food business, not overall company

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says some parts of the U.S. economy are very strong and that the United States was rebounding from recession more quickly than most other major economies.

Investors are backing off worst-case housing scenarios for the first time in this cycle -- a milestone shift that is keeping a mortgage bond rally alive and setting the stage for a recovery in securitization.

Private equity giant Blackstone Group reported a rise in quarterly earnings that beat analysts' estimates, and said it was seeing concrete signs of improvement in its investment portfolio.

Greece's 2009 budget deficit was far larger than expected and the data may yet be revised again due to its unreliability, the European Union's statistics office said, sending the euro lower and Greek debt spreads wider.

Home improvement spending is expected to rise 5 percent in the United States in 2010, but the surge might not foretell an increase in sales of new homes.

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell as expected last week, resuming a downward trend that had been interrupted by the Easter holiday, government data showed on Thursday.

A new decades-long study examining the link between the use of mobile phones and long-term health problems such as cancer and neurological diseases launched on Thursday across five European countries.

Kimberly-Clark Corp said higher costs for materials and other factors will weigh on profit this year as it posted lower first-quarter earnings.

PepsiCo Inc reported higher quarterly earnings on Thursday, helped by the recent purchase of its largest bottlers and sales gains in its snack and international beverage businesses.

Severe winter weather and higher fuel costs pinched Continental Airlines Inc's first-quarter results on Thursday and the company posted a larger-than-expected loss despite a jump in revenue.

Philip Morris International posted a quarterly profit below Wall Street estimates, pressured by weakness in markets like Turkey and Romania that have been hit by the struggling economy and excise tax increases.

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Defense contractor Raytheon Co reported higher per-share earnings on Thursday as it bought back shares and saw growth in training programs provided for the U.S. Army.

Moody's cut its credit rating on Toyota Motor Corp by one notch, predicting a long slump in profitability and potential litigation costs for a massive recall that has tarnished the Japanese automaker's brand.