(Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in November as exports climbed to the highest level in more than two years, government data showed on Thursday. The trade gap dipped to $38.3 billion from $38.4 billion in October, the Commerce Department reported. Analysts surveyed before the report had expected the November trade deficit to widen slightly to $40.5 billion from October's originally reported $38.7 billion. November's deficit was the lowest since January 2010.

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(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) said it will take longer than expected to win approval of a bankruptcy plan, and projects paying out $60.1 billion as it tries to settle differences with creditors owed six times that amount. Harvey Miller, a lawyer for Lehman, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck at a hearing in Manhattan on Thursday that the company hopes to file a revised Chapter 11 plan in seven to 10 days, and win court approval "well before the end of the year."

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(Reuters) - Spain and Italy staged successful bond sales on Thursday, easing concerns about an escalation of euro zone debt strife and buying the bloc's leaders more time to come up with a new package of anti-crisis measures. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet renewed a call for euro zone governments to boost the size and scope of their 440 billion euro ($578.2 billion) rescue fund and warned of short-term inflation pressures in the euro area.

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(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after a healthy bond sale in Portugal helped ease concern over the latest sovereign debt crisis to crop up in Europe and signs of strength in the U.S. banking sector. European shares rallied, led by banks, on hopes euro-zone finance ministers would beef up the European Union's rescue fund and after Portugal sold 1.25 billion euros ($1.62 billion) to strong demand.

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(Reuters) - U.S. bank stocks rose as a broker upgrade and a successful bond sale by debt-ridden Portugal added to a mood of optimism. Separately, J.P. Morgan Securities said it prefers European investment banks to their U.S. peers, as it sees them benefiting from a new rule banning proprietary trading by banks.

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(Reuters) - China's yuan currency remains "substantially undervalued" and it is in Beijing's own interest to let it appreciate more rapidly to ward off inflation risks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday. In a speech ahead of Chinese president Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington next week, Geithner held out the prospect of more cooperation on China's bid for high-tech goods if Beijing was willing to let its currency rise in value more swiftly.

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(Reuters) - U.S. import prices jumped in December as energy costs surged, a sign that while inflation may be tame domestically there are plenty of price pressures coming from overseas. Import prices rose 1.1 percent, just beneath economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll, following a revised 1.5 percent increase in November. Prices were up 4.8 percent for 2010 as a whole, according to the Labor Department data released on Wednesday.

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(Reuters) - U.S. manufacturer ITT Corp (ITT.N) plans to split itself into three companies that it says will be better able to react to changing market demands such as U.S. defense budget cuts. Its shares rose 18 percent on Wednesday, reaching their highest point since the fall of 2008. Analysts saw the move as clearing the way for its water and industrial control businesses to grow more quickly.

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(Reuters) - American International Group Inc accepted a $2.16 billion cash offer for its Taiwan Nan Shan Life unit from a group led by local conglomerate Ruentex, marking the beginning of the end of a drawn-out process fraught with political wrangling. AIG has been trying to sell the unit for some 15 months as part of its plans to help pay back the U.S. government for its $180 billion bailout, but regulatory issues have dogged the sale process and might yet delay it further.

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(Reuters) - The European Union's top economic official called on Wednesday for a stronger European financial safety net as Portugal, seen as the next candidate for a bailout, comfortably sold its first debt of the year. EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said finance ministers should look next week at reinforcing the effective lending capacity of the euro zone's existing rescue fund and making it more flexible to calm debt markets.

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