Stock Values

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employment fell for a third straight month in August, but the drop was far less than expected and private payrolls growth surprised on the upside, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to prop up growth.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Data storage provider 3PAR Inc said on Friday that shareholders owning about a third of its shares have agreed to accept Hewlett-Packard Co's proposal to buy the company for $2.4 billion.

HONG KONG/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Chinese officials have ordered state-owned companies to meet with investment bankers to explore potential options to block BHP Billiton's $39 billion bid for Canada's Potash Corp, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised for a strong open on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report lifted investor optimism on the economy.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Walgreen Co posted weaker-than-expected August sales at stores open more than a year, hurt by generic drug introductions and a decrease in customer traffic.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co posted lower-than-expected quarterly sales and forecast sales growth for the new fiscal year would be below its long-term target as the world's largest soup company grapples with a weak economy.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Friday offered a rare glimpse into its foreign exchange reserves, confirming that they are overwhelmingly allocated in dollars, while a central banker said the mountain of cash could face depreciation risks.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will sell up to $64.5 billion in new stock -- one of the largest in capital markets history -- to raise funds for the world's biggest oil exploration investment plan.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Canada's Goldcorp Inc agreed to buy Argentina-focused gold miner Andean Resources Ltd for C$3.6 billion ($3.4 billion), trumping a competing offer from rival Eldorado Gold Corp.

LONDON (Reuters) - BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc for $2.4 billion, as rival Dell Inc bowed out on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said the global economy is still in an uncertain state and the media industry is going through a fundamental transformation that is unpredictable

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on low volume on Thursday as data showed improvement in housing and the job market a day ahead of the critical monthly payrolls figures.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he was partly to blame for leaving the wrong impression that the central bank could have saved Lehman Brothers from failure in 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion, giving the No. 2 U.S. fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , the bankrupt U.S. investment bank, needs at least $550 million to keep its two bank units going as it prepares to sell them or shut them down in 18 months, court documents show.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc is in talks with music labels on plans for a download store and a digital song locker that would allow its mobile users to play songs wherever they are as it steps up its rivalry with Apple Inc, according to people familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators probing the May flash crash are focusing on a trading practice known as "quote stuffing" in which large numbers of rapid-fire orders to buy or sell stocks are placed and canceled almost immediately.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. retailers posted sales that beat modest expectations in August as consumers sought out bargains during the key back-to-school selling season.