(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury prices soared on Thursday and benchmark 10-year note yields fell below 2 percent for the first time as global economic fears sent investors scrambling for safe-haven government debt. U.S. bond buying intensified after data showed that factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region plummeted in August while sales of U.S. existing homes unexpectedly dropped in July.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region plummeted in August, falling to the lowest level since March 2009, while existing home sales unexpectedly dropped in July, tempering hopes for a revival of economic recovery. The number of Americans claiming new jobless benefits rose last week also and consumer prices increased at the fastest pace in four months in July, highlighting the challenges facing the Federal Reserve.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Forest Laboratories Inc (FRX.N) won its showdown with activist investor Carl Icahn on Thursday, saying shareholders backed the company's slate of 10 board members over nominees proposed by the billionaire. Forest was in a strong position to garner support for its entire 10-member slate after it won backing last week from influential proxy advisory firm ISS, although some company watchers had said Icahn could secure a seat for one of his four nominees.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp disclosed in a filing that it sold 20 million shares in gambling and resort operator MGM Resorts International (MGM.N) on Wednesday, leaving it with a 22.8 percent interest. MGM shares were down $1.50 or 13 percent, to $10.04 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Bailed-out insurer American International Group (AIG.N) and dozens of banks have filed motions in federal court to block a proposed nationwide class-action suit against them over AIG's 2008 near-collapse. Their argument is that the proposed class is ultimately too large and too diverse to have anything in common, particularly citing the recent Supreme Court decision throwing out a class-action suit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) on similar grounds.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) sued the government to reverse a decision by the Department of the Interior to cancel offshore oil and gas leases estimated to yield tens of billions of dollars of oil. The lawsuit, filed on August 12 in the federal court in Lake Charles, Louisiana, said the decision arbitrarily deprived it of rights under three of five leases for what is called the Julia field. It said this took away Exxon's ability to produce a reservoir believed to hold billions of barrels of oil. Two other leases have yet to expire. The complaint was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday, buoyed by earnings reports from consumer bellwethers like Target. Energy shares gave an extra boost to Wall Street as crude futures jumped more than 2 percent after a drop in gasoline stockpiles and as the euro rose versus the U.S. dollar. The S&P energy sector .GSPE rose 1.6 percent.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Core producer prices rose at their fastest pace in six months in July, pushed up by higher tobacco and light truck costs, but weak domestic demand was seen keeping inflation under control. The Labor Department said on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted index for prices paid at the farm and factory gate, excluding food and energy, rose 0.4 percent -- the largest increase since January -- after rising 0.3 percent in June.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Global brewer SABMiller took its $10 billion bid for Foster's Group direct to shareholders on Wednesday just days before the Australian beer group's annual results are set to show flagging profits. The cash offer, at $A4.90 a share, was unchanged from SABMiller's first abortive approach in June. It will also be reduced by any second-half dividend Foster's pays, forecast at around 15 cents, or 3 percent of the offer price, SABMiller said.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve's recent promise to keep rates low for another two years was "inappropriate policy at an inappropriate time," while its statement on the economy was excessively negative, a top Fed policymaker said on Wednesday. Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser said he dissented from the Fed's statement because policy should be determined by what the economy is doing rather than by a fixed timeline. "It was inappropriate policy at an inappropriate time," Plosser told Bloomberg Radio.

• Read more