Stocks Off Lows on Greek Deal

Stocks pared losses to end mixed on Thurday on reports Greek authorities have agreed to a new 5-year austerity plan to avoid a sovereign default. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.67 points, or 0.49%, to end at 12,050.00. The S&P 500 index ended down 3.64 points, or 0.28%, at 1,283.50.The NASDAQ Composite Index ended up 17.56 points, adding 0.66% to close at 2,686.75.

Greece has secured the approval of E.U. and IMF inspectors for its latest five-year austerity plan after agreeing to additional tax hikes and spending cuts, Reuters reported on its website Thursday.

Sour reports Thursday on the number of people who sought unemployment benefits and buyers of new homes illustrate what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged Wednesday: Many factors weighing on the economy are proving to be more chronic than first imagined. Applications for unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. New-home sales fell in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 319,000, the Commerce Department said.

Oil tumbled Thursday after the International Energy Agency, which includes the U.S., said it will release some of its emergency oil supplies to stave off a possible spike in energy prices that could strain the global economic recovery.  The benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell $4.39, or 4.6 percent, to settle at $91.02 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Google Inc is about to receive the civil equivalent of a subpoena from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as part of a probe into the giant Web company’s Internet search business, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Oracle Corp. on Thursday posted a quarterly profit gain that topped Wall Street estimates, as the business software and hardware maker saw overall revenue rise 13% compared with the same period last year. Oracle said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose to $3.2 billion, or 62 cents a share, from $2.4 billion or 46 cents a share in the same period last year. Revenue for the period ended May 31 rose to $10.8 billion. Excluding one-time items, Oracle said earnings for the quarter were 75 cents a share.

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