(Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Thursday following a rise in weekly jobless claims that analysts said had been priced into shares. The claims data, along with a weaker-than-expected reading on first-quarter economic growth, added to the view that demand was slowing globally.

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(Reuters) - Corporate profits contracted in the first quarter for the first time in more than two years and the economy grew at the same pedestrian pace as previously estimated, government data showed on Thursday. Signs of the economy's struggle to regain speed were highlighted by an unexpected rise in the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week.

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(Reuters) - Sony Corp's forecast of its first annual net profit in four years was viewed as optimistic, as the consumer electronics giant struggles with the aftermath of the disastrous March earthquake and a series of network security breaches. Havoc to supply chains and the physical damage caused by Japan's earthquake and tsunami forced Sony earlier this week to take a charge on tax credits that resulted in a $3.2 billion net loss for the business year just ended, its biggest deficit since 1995 and the second worst on record.

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(Reuters) - Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No.4 PC brand, more than tripled its fourth-quarter net profit, beating forecasts on robust demand from commercial customers and making up for a slowdown in the consumer sector. Lenovo reported a net profit of $42.13 million in the January-March quarter, up from $12.8 million a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on full year results.

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(Reuters) - Shares of private equity-owned chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (FSL.N) rose in their stock market debut on Thursday. The shares were at $18.76, 4.2 percent above their $18 IPO price in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

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(Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange faced an increasingly bitter battle for control of Canadian peer TMX Group -- and its own destiny -- after rival bidder Maple Group took its higher offer directly to shareholders. The Maple Group of Canadian banks and pension funds turned hostile on Wednesday with its C$3.6 billion ($3.7 billion) bid after TMX's board rejected the offer although it trumps the LSE's $3 billion agreed all-paper bid.

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(Reuters) - Shipping magnate John Fredriksen said U.S. regulator lawsuits against two of his trading firms for suspected oil price manipulation in 2008 were "rubbish," a Norwegian newspaper reported on Thursday. Dagens Naeringsliv quoted Fredriksen as saying that his traders did not do anything that others were not doing and that suggested that U.S. President Barack Obama was trying to score easy points by going after his companies.

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(Reuters) - Rising inflation, higher commodity prices and lower global economic growth will weigh on margins of S&P 500 .SPX companies, said Goldman Sachs, as it forecast a lower 2012 earnings outlook, and reduced its year-end target on the index. Goldman Sachs, which expects a rebound in U.S. economic growth in the second quarter, lowered its year-end target on the Standard & Poor's 500 index to 1,450 from 1,500.

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(Reuters) - Oil retreated on Thursday, pressured by gloomy U.S. economic data, but dollar weakness and supply concerns sparked by renewed violence in the Middle East helped limit losses. Unrevised first quarter U.S. GDP data disappointed investors who had been expecting an upward revision while corporate profits unexpectedly contracted and jobless claims rose.

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(Reuters) - Influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn has called for Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to step down, saying the world's largest software company's leader is stuck in the past. "His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft's stock," Einhorn said in reference to Ballmer. The comments by outspoken Einhorn, who made his name warning about Lehman Brothers' financial health before the investment bank's collapse, are the most pointed yet from a high-profile investor against Microsoft's leadership.

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