British Airways and Spain's Iberia announced  a preliminary agreement for a $7 billion merger to create the world's third-largest airline by revenue

Stocks struggled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher, with huge gains in JDS Uniphase and AMD.

Stocks struggled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher, with huge gains in JDS Uniphase and AMD.

A merger between British Airways and Spain's Iberia looked imminent on Thursday as their boards held separate meetings to discuss a deal to create the world's third-largest airline by revenue.

Stocks wobbled Thursday as investors juggled a weak holiday outlook from Wal-Mart and a drop in jobless claims. Techs clawed higher after some big news out of the sector.

U.S. futures remained slightly lower ahead of the open Thursday after Wal-Mart posted a 1.1 percent rise in third-quarter U.S. sales, compared to the same quarter last year, and U.S. mortgage applications pushed higher last week. 

A Royal Bank of Scotland consortium will make a $1.4 billion bid for Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, taking aim at a rival Canadian proposal, the Australian Financial Review said on Thursday.

A 15.2 percent jump in Bank of East Asia shares may have come on speculation that a Malaysian conglomerate was preparing a bid for the Hong Kong bank, local media reported on Thursday.

Hewlett-Packard announced Wednesday that it will acquire 3Com in a deal valued at $7.90 a share, or approximately $2.7 billion in cash.

Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson raised his firm's stake in Cadbury on Wednesday and now holds 2.54 percent of the British confectioner, the subject of a hostile bid by U.S. food group Kraft.

General Motors could be hurt by pay restrictions on senior executives set by the U.S. government, the automaker's chairman said, urging an overhaul of the salary caps.

Comcast and General Electric have agreed to make NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker the head of their proposed joint venture, but the structure of a new board is still being negotiated, sources familiar with the matter said.

When is a good deal too good? That question is being whispered around Wall Street these days, a year after Lehman Brothers went bust in the biggest bankruptcy ever, the NYT reports.

Yahoo is done with its cost-cutting program and now hiring, Chief Executive Carol Bartz told CNBC Tuesday.

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson began his bid to win Germany over to his decision to keep the Opel unit, with government cash for its restructuring, while some said it wasn't budgeting nearly enough for the job.