(Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange's (LSE.L) aborted bid for Canada's TMX (X.TO) Group has raised the tally of failed cross-border exchange deals to three in four as the sector faces an uphill battle to secure longed-for consolidation. The LSE's failure to win shareholder support for its $3.5 billion bid to create the world's premier trading venue for natural resources and mining firms sent its stock to year highs on Thursday and fueled hopes it would attract a predator.

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(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) may boost research spending through 2014, even as company sales and earnings tumble due to expected generic competition for its biggest-selling medicines. The U.S. drugmaker, which detailed its strategy at a meeting on Thursday for Wall Street, pointed to promising new and experimental medicines in diabetes -- where it aims to be the global market leader by the end of the decade -- as well as for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Alzheimer's disease.

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(Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday after the Greek parliament passed an austerity plan and a mildly encouraging report on pending home sales. Equities have rallied for two days in a row on optimism the Greece program would pass, with the S&P up more than 2 percent so far this week.

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(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) said it expects to take more than $20 billion in charges after settling with mortgage bond investors, resulting in a second-quarter loss. The sum, which includes an $8.5 billion settlement, removes a question mark that had been hovering over the bank since October, and Bank of America's shares rallied.

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(Reuters) - One of the biggest oil market manipulation cases undertaken by U.S. regulators is entering a new phase in which a judge will mediate settlement talks, three years after the case was launched. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission case against the U.S. unit of Optiver Holding BV, a Netherlands-based hedge fund, has been referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz for settlement, according to a filing in the U.S. district court in Manhattan.

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(Reuters) - Failure by U.S. lawmakers to agree soon on a deal to raise the government's borrowing limit could deliver a "severe shock" to a still fragile recovery and global markets, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday. In an annual review of U.S. economic conditions, the IMF said the key challenge the country faces is finding a way to stabilize its debts by mid-decade without derailing growth, which is likely to remain modest for some time.

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(Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) and NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) formally sought EU approval for their planned $9 billion tie-up on Wednesday, triggering a lengthy review expected to focus on the derivatives and clearing businesses. The two exchanges struck a deal in February to create the world's No. 1 exchange operator, trading in almost every asset class and with operations on both sides of the Atlantic.

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(Reuters) - Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose more than expected in May, a trade group said on Wednesday, but a glut of unsold properties remains a drag on the housing market. The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index increased 8.2 percent to 88.8, bouncing back from April's seven-month low. Pending homes sales lead existing homes sales by a month or two.

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(Reuters) - General Mills Inc (GIS.N) forecast weaker fiscal-year earnings than Wall Street expected as the food company gets hammered by higher costs for ingredients and fuel. The maker of Cheerios cereal and Progresso soups, whose shares fell nearly 2 percent in premarket trading, said it expects costs to rise 10 percent to 11 percent in its fiscal year 2012, which began May 30. That is more than double the inflation it had forecast for the previous year.

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(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said it has received a wider base of support from creditors for its reorganization, and filed a new plan it hopes will help it emerge from bankruptcy and pay creditors faster. The company said it believes it has an "agreement in principle" with major creditor groups on an amended reorganization plan filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. This includes support from a committee of unsecured creditors, Lehman said.

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