Business News - Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks tumbled more than 2 percent on Thursday after a report showing yet another drop in U.S. home sales prompted investors to take profits in financial shares, which had rallied over the past week.

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. investment bank JP Morgan has held talks with potential partners about forming a consortium to break up British bank HBOS , the UK's Telegraph newspaper reported on its Web site.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp , which posted a record $8.86 billion second-quarter loss Tuesday, said Chief Financial Officer Thomas Wurtz will resign from the fourth-largest U.S. bank after a successor is named.

(Reuters) - Two private-equity firms are considering investments in BankUnited Financial Corp , weighed down by a huge portfolio of adjustable-rate mortgages, The Wall Street Journal said citing people familiar with the situation.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) posted a surprise 8 percent increase in quarterly net profit after it raised car prices and cut costs, helping it overcome a stronger yen, crumbling U.S. auto market and higher commodity prices.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Clear Channel Communications Inc shareholders on Thursday approved a $17.9 billion takeover by private equity funds Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, ending a 20-month effort to take the radio and billboard operator private.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday against UBS AG , accusing the Swiss bank of deceptively steering customers into auction-rate securities that this year became impossible to sell amid the credit crunch.

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Harbinger plans to bid for British satellite communication firm Inmarsat , pending regulatory approval, and combine the group with its SkyTerra business, it said on Friday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and faces a tough second half with a sluggish memory chip market and lower margins in flat screens and mobile phones.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Vonage Holdings Corp will name a new chief executive as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Yahoo Japan (4689.T) said on Friday that it would cancel 2.01 percent of its outstanding shares, or roughly 1.22 million shares, on Aug 8.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. banks' direct primary credit borrowing from the Federal Reserve rose to the highest level ever in the latest week, reflecting the growing need of the banking sector to rely on the central bank for cheap funding, analysts said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday urged Congress to give his agency authority to oversee investment banks, even as a top Federal Reserve official said the central bank needed similar powers to do its job.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley said on Thursday it is poaching brokers from Merrill Lynch and other rivals, accelerating the expansion of its global wealth management business during a period of turbulence on Wall Street.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobless claims jumped and the pace of existing home sales tumbled to a 10-year low as slowing growth hit hiring and a glut of unsold houses weighed on real estate, data released on Thursday showed.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world's top maker of memory chips, posted a 51 percent rise in second-quarter profit as strong earnings in flat screens and handsets made up for sluggish chip results.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co posted a record $8.7 billion quarterly loss on Thursday as it wrote down the value of slumping truck and SUV operations and revamped plans in a bid to break its reliance on the gas-guzzlers that have been its franchise vehicles for a decade.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares of Crocs Inc lost about half of their value on Thursday after the shoemaker slashed second-quarter and 2008 profit and revenue forecasts on an unexpected slowdown in business and weak reorders.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp will announce plans to expand its relationship with online social network Facebook to provide web search and search advertising, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.