(Reuters) - Italy moved closer to a national unity government on Thursday, following Greece's lead in seeking a respected veteran European technocrat to pilot painful economic reforms in an effort to avert a euro zone bond market meltdown. After four days of chaotic haggling, former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos was appointed to head an interim crisis cabinet charged with saving Greece from default, bankruptcy and an exit from the euro zone.

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(Reuters) - New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest since early April and the trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in September, pointing to a slight improvement in the economy. The Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell for the second straight week, down 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000.

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(Reuters) - Tokyo's stock exchange has warned scandal-hit Olympus Corp it will be delisted after 62 years as a publicly traded company if it fails to report earnings by December 14, deepening concerns about the camera-maker's future. Olympus said it was unlikely to issue results by an earlier November 14 filing date, but it aimed to meet the later deadline, averting a delisting that its largest foreign shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, said would have "vast negative ramifications" for foreign investment in Japan.

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(Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) looks set for another bruising collision with the German government and labor unions after the U.S. automaker raised the prospect of further job cuts and plant closures at its ailing Opel subsidiary. GM's Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said on Wednesday no options were being ruled out in restructuring its European operations, catching Opel's combative labor leader Klaus Franz by surprise.

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(Reuters) - Stocks dropped more than 2 percent in early trading on Wednesday as a spike in Italian bond yields prompted fears the region's debt crisis was spiraling. Italian bond yields shot up to 7.502 percent, a new high since the euro was introduced in 1999, as investors dumped the debt after a clearing house increased margin calls. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's promise to resign failed to persuade markets that the country will be able to deliver on economic reforms.

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(Reuters) - Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's promise to resign failed to raise optimism about the country's ability to deliver on long-promised economic reforms. Italian 10-year bond yields shot above the 7 percent level that is widely deemed unsustainable, reflecting investors' concerns that they may not get their money back, prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to issue a call to arms.

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(Reuters) - General Motors Co posted a third-quarter profit that fell 15 percent after a loss in Europe and forecast that operating profit in the current quarter would be flat from a weak fourth quarter in 2010. GM vowed to slash costs and complexity to shore up margins in a sputtering economy but its fourth-quarter outlook disappointed investors and sent shares tumbling 8 percent on Wednesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.

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(Reuters) - Chief marketing officers at U.S. retailers are cautious heading into the holiday season, though those at larger chains are a bit more optimistic about their prospects, according to a survey conducted by BDO USA. Chief marketing officers expect holiday sales to rise 2.9 percent this year, a less rosy view than the 3.5 percent rise a group of CMOs predicted during the firm's 2010 survey.

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(Reuters) - An acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second half of this year is expected to ebb as 2012 gets underway, although the odds of another recession have receded to one-in-four, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. Encouraged by a recent pick-up in economic data, the consensus from more than 60 respondents showed a better view on the final three months of the year and 2011 overall.

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(Reuters) - Stocks were little changed in volatile trade on Tuesday as Italy's government teetered on the brink in the latest turn in the long-simmering euro zone sovereign debt crisis. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appeared to lose his parliamentary majority after a key vote, piling further pressure on him to resign.

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