(Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week, a government report showed on Thursday, suggesting a labor market recovery was gaining momentum. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 381,000, the Labor Department said, the lowest since late February. Economists had expected a smaller fall, to 395,000.

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(Reuters) - The European Central Bank doused on Thursday hopes it will aggressively ramp up its bond-buying program and allow the euro zone to lend money to IMF so it can help fight the euro zone debt crisis. ECB President Mario Draghi said new forecasts from the central bank showed the currency bloc's GDP could contract by as much as 0.4 percent next year although it could also grow by as much as 1.0 percent.

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(Reuters) - Former MF Global chief Jon Corzine apologized to customers, employees and investors who have suffered because of the brokerage firm's collapse, but said he does not know where missing customer money is. "Their plight weighs on my mind every day -- every hour," Corzine, a former U.S. senator, said in 21 pages of remarks prepared for delivery on Thursday before the House Agriculture Committee.

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(Reuters) - He's wanted for contempt of court in Arizona. He is under investigation by Italian police over his connection with an international bond scandal exposed by Reuters in August and totaling at least $500 million. And he is named as a key player in one of the first criminal indictments following the collapse of Iceland's economy. But last week you could find David Spargo in a holiday resort on the Spanish island of Majorca. He's a regular at La Batucada cocktail bar, where he might be drinking anything from a cocktail to a beer or whisky. Locals say he also enjoys playing on the 95-euro-a-round ($127) Alcanada golf course, which overlooks the sparkling Mediterranean.

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(Reuters) - Stocks extended losses on Wednesday, with the S&P briefly falling 1 percent, as investor optimism waned over euro zone leaders' ability to reach a resolution to the region's debt crisis at an upcoming summit. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 70.65 points, or 0.58 percent, to 12,079.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX.INX dropped 11.92 points, or 0.95 percent, to 1,246.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC dropped 33.50 points, or 1.26 percent, to 2,616.06.

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(Reuters) - Pessimistic comments from EU paymaster Germany and new figures exposing growing stress among Europe's banks took the shine off financial market hopes of a turning point in the euro zone debt crisis at a summit this week. President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel will lay out a plan to amend the EU treaty to anchor stricter budget discipline in the euro area, aiming to restore market trust and prevent the sovereign debt crisis spiraling out of control.

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(Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse AG and NYSE Euronext could spin off parts of their derivatives arms to create a third-party competitor as a way to allay anti-trust concerns about their $9 billion merger, two sources familiar with the Boerse's thinking said. A spin-off would allow Deutsche Boerse and NYSE to argue they are helping to increase competition in derivatives trading, rather than creating a monopoly player, the sources said.

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(Reuters) - France will lose its AAA credit rating early next year regardless of last-ditch efforts by President Nicolas Sarkozy to resolve the euro zone crisis at an EU summit this week, a Reuters poll of economists showed on Wednesday. The snap survey of 13 economists found that 11 of them think France will be downgraded by one of the major ratings agencies within the next three months.

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(Reuters) - Airlines worldwide face over $8 billion in losses next year if Europe's politicians fail to get to grips with the region's debt crisis, the industry's leading trade group warned on Wednesday. A collapse of efforts to shore up the euro and prevent a new shock to the global banking system would hit air transport across the globe and cripple the Asian profit machine which has led the industry's recovery since 2009, Geneva-based IATA said.

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(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed in choppy trading on Tuesday, with cautious investors hoping S&P's downgrade warning for euro zone nations would lead to tighter budget rules at a summit this week. Rating agency Standard & Poor's said Monday it may cut the sovereign credit rating of 15 euro zone countries. The warning was leaked during market hours, and U.S. stocks halved their session's gains.

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