(Reuters) - A corporate lawyer and a trader were charged Wednesday with running a 17-year conspiracy to trade on corporate merger secrets stolen from three of the nation's most prominent law firms, in one of the largest U.S. insider trading cases on record. Matthew H. Kluger, who until last month was a lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC, and the trader Garrett D. Bauer were accused of reaping more than $32.2 million of illicit profit by trading on tips about upcoming mergers and acquisitions.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. economy remains too fragile for the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates, the president of the Atlanta Fed, Dennis Lockhart, said on Wednesday. Lockhart reiterated that the Fed will complete its $600 billion bond-buying plan as scheduled at the end of June, adding that he not seen sufficiently compelling evidence to cut the program short.

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(Reuters) - Portugal's caretaker government, fighting to avoid a bailout, said on Wednesday a political crisis had caused "irreparable damage" after borrowing costs rocketed as it sold a billion euros in short-term debt. The sale of 6- and 12-month treasury bills brought some temporary relief for a country grappling with soaring rates, political uncertainty, rating downgrades and a warning by local banks they may no longer be able to buy government debt.

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(Reuters) - American Superconductor's (AMSC.O) shares plunged 44 percent on Wednesday, a day after the maker of electrical systems for wind farms said its largest customer refused to accept shipments, a move that could trigger a series of problems for the U.S. company. The loss of business from China's Sinovel (601558.SS), which accounts for nearly three quarters of AMSC's revenue, could prompt the company to slow down production, raise more capital to complete a recently announced acquisition and push the company back to losses.

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(Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC became the latest automaker affected by the Japan earthquake and its aftermath, as it said it would cancel overtime work at some of its North American assembly plants due to parts shortages. Chrysler, which is managed by Italy' Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), said it cut overtime at plants in Toluca, Mexico, and Brampton, Ontario, in what it called the first impact of the Japan crisis.

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(Reuters) - Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) is close to securing a majority of Riversdale Mining (RIV.AX), after receiving acceptances ahead of its target level, just before a key deadline on its A$3.9 billion ($4 billion) bid. The global mining giant said on Wednesday it now holds 49.49 percent of Riversdale, a Mozambique-focused coal miner, clearing the 47 percent target it had set itself and raising the price of the deal to A$16.50 a share.

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(Reuters) - Oil prices hit fresh peaks on Wednesday, rising to their highest since August 2008, buoyed by unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and dollar weakness ahead of an expected European Central Bank interest rate rise. Brent crude rose $1 to breach $123 a barrel, its highest since August 2008, and U.S. crude rose to its highest since September 2008 above $109.

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(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Tuesday after China, a main source of global growth, raised interest rates, while Apple shares fell after the stock's weighting in a widely followed index was cut. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) lost 1 percent to $337.65, but other tech giants, including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Cisco Systems (CSCO.O), rose.

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(Reuters) - Nasdaq will rebalance its benchmark Nasdaq 100 index next month, slashing Apple Inc's weighting and causing volatility as investors adjust their portfolios. The rebalancing of the Nasdaq 100, a capitalization-weighted index, is not an unusual event in itself, but the timing of the move was a surprise even though many investors had noted Apple share's outsized influence.

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(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) will sell its Pringles potato chips business to Diamond Foods Inc (DMND.O) for $1.5 billion in stock, creating a new snack foods giant and freeing the consumer products company to focus on cosmetics and healthcare products. P&G will split off the Pringles business and combine it with Diamond Foods, with P&G shareholders owning 57 percent of the new company and Diamond stockholders the rest, the companies said. Diamond, known for its Pop Secret popcorns and Kettle chips,

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