NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks extended losses as data showed manufacturing in the in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly contracted in May, adding to concerns about the global economy as Europe's debt crisis threatens to worsen. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.16 points, or 0.41 percent, to 12,547.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 7.36 points, or 0.56 percent, to 1,317.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 20.10 points, or 0.70 percent, to 2,853.94. (Reporting By Edward Krudy)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefits were unchanged last week, according to government data on Thursday that will do little to ease concerns about a recent slowdown in jobs growth. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits held steady at a seasonally adjusted 370,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 370,000 from the previously reported 367,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 365,000 last week. ...

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as more people shopped its established U.S. discount stores and spent more money. The world's largest retailer, which was recently rocked by allegations of bribery in Mexico, earned $1.09 per share from continuing operations, compared with a profit of 98 cents a year earlier. An earlier Easter and warmer weather contributed to the gains, the company said. Wal-Mart had forecast earnings per share of $1.01 to $1.06. Analysts, on average, expected it to earn $1. ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Even as Facebook fever grips investors ahead of the social networking giant's potential $100 billion-plus initial public offering, its breakneck growth in Asia may be slowing as it moves beyond desktop users to those who access the Internet largely or solely from a mobile phone. In March, Facebook revised its own SEC filings to scale back its scope for further growth in India - its third-biggest user base and the largest population it currently has access to - China remains off-limits to Facebook. ...

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc is making another bet on the newspaper industry, with a deal to buy the majority of Media General Inc's papers for $142 million in cash. Berkshire will also loan $400 million to the company and provide a $45 million credit line. Media General will issue warrants for approximately 4.6 million Class A shares, representing 19.9 percent of its existing shares outstanding. The 63 daily and weekly newspapers scattered throughout the U.S. ...

LONDON, May 17 (IFR) - The euro zone crisis was in full swing when Jean-Claude Trichet took the podium in Berlin last October 6 for his final press conference as president of the European Central Bank. Having helped create one of the longest periods of price stability in the history of central banking, Trichet was closing out his eight-year reign under siege. Soaring oil prices had made a mockery of the bank's superlative record on inflation, while the worst recession on the continent since World War II had morphed into a full-scale sovereign debt crisis. ...

(Reuters) - Upscale jeweler Tiffany & Co raised its dividend for the 11th time in 10 years on Thursday. The quarterly dividend will be increased by 10 percent to 32 cents per share from 29 cents. Tiffany will report quarterly earnings next week, with analysts expecting a profit of 69 cents per share on revenues of $816.9 million. A year earlier it earned 67 cents a share. (Reporting By Phil Wahba; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

(Reuters) - It's the biggest parlor game on Wall Street: Estimating how large JPMorgan Chase & Co's trading loss will be from a hedging strategy that went wrong. The biggest U.S. bank by assets has already disclosed $2 billion of paper losses, and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said it could lose another $1 billion or more. The losses will grow, some traders say, because it appears JPMorgan has only sold a small portion of its position, leaving it vulnerable to price swings in a thinly traded market. Others are not so sure the bank will suffer much more than it already has. ...

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc kicked off one of the most sweeping expansions in its history on Wednesday, a C$3.2 billion ($3.2 billion)series of projects across its pipeline system aimed at moving western Canadian crude to Eastern refineries and preventing bottlenecks in the U.S. Midwest. Enbridge, already the largest transporter of Canadian oil exports, said C$2. ...

(Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp said on Thursday it plans to spin off a large part of its stake in its Canada unit, which Chairman Edward Lampert spent years trying to gain control of, to better focus on its U.S. business. Separately, Sears Holdings reported a first-quarter adjusted operating loss that came in better than analysts' estimates but revenues fell from a year ago. Sears Holdings owns about 95 percent of Sears Canada and would still hold about 51 percent after the spinoff, which it expects to complete this year. Sears said it could further reduce its Sears Canada stake after that. ...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday, after economic data confirmed the country is back in recession and reports of an outflow of deposits from nationalized Bankia hammered its share price. The Spanish Treasury had to pay around 5 percent to attract buyers of three- and four-year bonds. The longer-dated paper sold with a yield of 5.106 percent, way above the 3.374 percent the last time it was auctioned. "This ... ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House, following a trading loss of more than $2 billion by JPMorgan, wants to ensure a tough interpretation of a regulation aimed at preventing banks from making bets with their own money, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said White House officials have stepped up talks with the Treasury Department in the several days since the staggering loss was disclosed by the bank. The discussions, according to the report, represent the first tangible political impact from the trading debacle. ...

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Canada and Credit Suisse are among suitors who have put in initial bids to buy the non-U.S. wealth management business of Bank of America in a deal that could be worth about $2 billion, sources said. Swiss bank Julius Baer was also keen to bid for some of BofA's units in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia excluding Japan, the sources, who had knowledge of the matter, told Reuters. It was not clear whether Switzerland's third-biggest bank had submitted an initial bid. ...

HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC doubled the annual revenue boost expected from its turnaround plan to $2 billion, as Europe's biggest bank picks 22 markets to drive its growth and eyes more cost cutting to cope with new regulations in the wake of the financial crisis. Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said on Thursday that, one year into a three-year recovery plan, HSBC was on target to meet profitability and cost savings targets. ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy bounced back in the first quarter from a year-end lull, powering ahead of other major industrial nations thanks to rebuilding of the tsunami-battered northeast, solid private spending and some improvement in exports. The world's third-largest economy grew 1.0 percent in the January-March quarter, just above a median forecast of 0.9 percent. A 0.2 percent contraction in the economy reported for the final three months of 2011 was revised up to flat in the government data released on Thursday. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro slipped to near four-month lows and European shares extended their losing streak on Thursday, as investors avoided riskier assets due to the deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion spreading to other stressed euro zone economies. Worries about the health of Spain's banks also resurfaced after a report that customers at Bankia had withdrawn more than 1 billion euros from their accounts in the past week, though the Spanish government said there had been no exit of deposits from the lender. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed lower in a choppy session on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 logging its fourth straight decline as investors worried about Greece's future as a member of the euro zone. Early U.S. gains were erased after the European Central Bank said it had stopped providing liquidity to some Greek banks that had not been recapitalized. The ECB's move caused some market confusion, adding to volatility as traders have a quick trigger finger when it comes to news about Greece. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum was among the first major U.S. oil drillers to make a big bet on the resurgence of domestic production, spending billions to grab oil patches from Texas to North Dakota. Now, as it bemoans steep costs and moves its rigs out of the Bakken shale oil fields, some analysts wonder if the company has lost its clairvoyance. After two years of unyielding gains, costs are bound to fall, they say. The California-based energy giant is beset by escalating labor costs in North Dakota, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. ...

(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc shares plunged nearly 20 percent on Wednesday, their worst decline ever, wiping away $1.43 billion in market value a day after the retailer shocked Wall Street with a much worse-than-expected drop in sales and by scrapping its dividend. A number of leading Wall Street firms also lowered their price targets on the company. Penney shares closed down $6.57 at $26.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's consumers are cooling towards discretionary spending, preferring to salt money into savings or education for their children, according to a Nielsen survey of Chinese consumer confidence published on Thursday. Although Nielsen found that Chinese consumer confidence rose in the first three months of 2012 to its highest since 2005, making China the world's fourth most optimistic nation, willingness to spend remained flat. Savings and education were the only areas in which survey respondents were more willing to allocate additional cash. ...

(Reuters) - Social networking site Pinterest has raised $100 million from a group of investors led by Japanese online retailing giant Rakuten Inc in a deal that reportedly values the three-year-old U.S. company at $1.5 billion. Rakuten said it was joined in the capital-raising by existing shareholders Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital and a number of angel investors. The new round of financing values Pinterest — one of Silicon Valley's fastest growing startups — at $1.5 billion, up sharply from $200 million late last year, Wall Street Journal said. ...

A recently nationalized Spanish bank's shares plummeted Thursday after a newspaper said depositors were rushing to withdraw money, while the country paid sharply higher interest rates in a debt auction, reflecting concerns the country will be caught up in the fallout of the Greek crisis.

Stocks are slipping in early trading as unease over Europe overshadows an encouraging U.S. employment report and good results from big retailers including Wal-Mart Stores.

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, suggesting modest but steady gains in the job market.