(Reuters) - The United States could hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow as soon as March 31 and faces serious consequences unless Congress acts by then to raise it, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday. "Even a short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades," Geithner said in a letter to U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid that was issued by Treasury

• Read more

(Reuters) - Shares in BP and Transocean rose on Thursday as investors bet a new U.S. Presidential panel report that spreads the blame for the country's worst-ever oil spill means the companies will avoid a highly costly gross negligence charge.

• Read more

(Reuters) - LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, plans to go public in 2011 and has selected its financial underwriters, three sources familiar with the process told Reuters. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan are among the book runners, these sources said. Bankers made their pitches to the privately-held company in November, one of the sources said.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang has said his country is willing to buy about 6 billion euros ($7.9 billion) of Spain's public debt, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Thursday, citing government sources. Li said at a meeting that China was willing to buy as much Spanish public debt as its Greek and Portuguese debt holdings combined, the sources told El Pais. They said that added up to about 6 billion euros in Spanish government bonds.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) delivered 116 commercial airplanes in the fourth quarter, down from 122 a year earlier, the company said on Thursday. The world's second-largest commercial planemaker after Airbus (EAD.PA) said 95 of those deliveries were of its 737 Next Generation, compared with 92 a year earlier.

• Read more

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday renominated economist and Nobel laureate Peter Diamond to the Federal Reserve Board, sticking with a pick that has already been thwarted by Senate Republicans twice. Diamond, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in October, together with two other economists for their analysis of labor markets, has been backed twice by the Senate Banking Committee but both times was denied a full Senate vote.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday with materials shares looking weak on falling commodity prices, but losses were capped after a report showed a big jump in new private-sector jobs. U.S. private employers added 297,000 jobs in December, according to the report, nearly triple forecasts.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The non-manufacturing sector grew in December at its fastest pace in more than 4 years, according to an industry report released on Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national services activity rose to 57.1 in December from 55.0 in November, The median forecast of 51 economists surveyed by Reuters was for a reading of 55.6.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) plans to buy Atheros Communications Inc (ATHR.O) for roughly $3.2 billion in cash, showing its determination to become a major player in supplying chips for smartphones and tablet computers. Qualcomm is clearly betting the deal -- at a 21.6 premium to Atheros' share price before talk of the takeover began to circulate this week -- will beef up its position in mobile devices, a market expected to explode in 2011 with new tablet computer offerings to compete against Apple's (AAPL.O) iPad.

• Read more

(Reuters) - A surprise surge in private-sector employment last month for its biggest-ever rise in a private payrolls report provided the most bullish signal in months that the economy is on the mend. Private employers added 297,000 jobs in December, triple the median estimate by economists and up from the gain of 92,000 in November, an ADP Employer Services report, whose data goes back to 2000, showed on Wednesday.

• Read more