Headline News: Business

• Dems look to health vote without abortion foes (AP)
  

  AP - House Democratic leaders abandoned a long struggle to strike a compromise on abortion in their ranks, gambling Thursday that they can secure the support for President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation with showdown votes looming as early as next week.

  
  
  
• Slowly, Americans are regaining their lost wealth (AP)
  

  AP - Americans are recovering their shrunken wealth — gradually. Household net worth rose last quarter, mainly because the healing economy boosted stock portfolios. But the gain was slight. And it was less than in the previous two quarters.

  
  
  
• Citigroup CEO says bank on path to profitability (AP)
  AP - Citigroup Inc. says it's heading back toward sustained profitability after two years that saw the bank lose billions of dollars and be bailed out by the government.
  
• Gov't may seek more authority on vehicle safety (AP)
  

  AP - Government vehicle safety regulators may seek greater authority to investigate defects in cars and trucks and are weighing a range of new safety requirements in response to Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles over brake and acceleration problems.

  
  
  
• Dollar dips as Greece announces new spending cuts (AP)
  AP - The dollar eased against the euro and the pound Thursday as Greece announced additional salary cuts and tax hikes to deal with its ballooning deficit, while China reported a jump in inflation.
  
• Stocks climb for 3rd day as financial shares rise (AP)
  

  AP - A rally in financial stocks Thursday helped the market extend its grind higher to a third day.

  
  
  
• Summary Box: Stocks rise after inventories fall (AP)
  AP - GOOD NEWS, MODEST MOVES: The Dow Jones industrial average tacked on only 3 points Wednesday after the government said that inventories at wholesalers fell in January while sales rose. That suggests that demand is strengthening.
  
• Fed seen keeping "extended period" low rate vow (Reuters)
  Reuters - Lingering U.S. labor market weakness and nagging doubts about the solidity of the economic recovery are expected to keep the Federal Reserve committed to holding borrowing costs very low for a long time at a monetary policy meeting next week.
  
• Quiksilver narrows loss in 1Q (AP)
  AP - Quiksilver Inc. reported late Thursday that its first-quarter loss narrowed .
  
• Greece hit by strikes, clashes over austerity plan (AP)
  

  AP - Clashes between riot police and rock-throwing, masked youths broke out during a demonstration Thursday in central Athens by tens of thousands of striking workers protesting austerity measures that the Greek government has said it has no choice but to implement.

  
  
  
• Summary Box: Citi CEO sees return to profitability (AP)
  AP - BULLISH OUTLOOK: Citigroup Inc. says its returning to "sustained profitability" after losing billions on bad loans and taking a federal bailout. CEO Vikram Pandit says the bank is shedding risky mortgage assets and shifting focus to emerging markets like Latin America and Asia.
  
• Obama issues new call on China over yuan (AFP)
  

  AFP - US President Barack Obama on Thursday issued a fresh call to China to embrace a "market oriented" exchange rate for the yuan, saying such a move would help rebalance the global economy.

  
  
  
• Kroger declares quarterly dividend of 9.5 cents (AP)
  AP - The Kroger Co., the country's largest grocery retailer, on Thursday declared a quarterly dividend of 9.5 cents per share payable June 1 to shareholders of record as of May 14.
  
• Fannie Mae to offer $6b in notes (AP)
  AP - Fannie Mae on Thursday said it will offer $6 billion of new 3-year notes due May 7, 2013.
  
• Pioneer Drilling closes $250M notes sale (AP)
  AP - Oil and gas driller Pioneer Drilling Co. said Thursday that it closed a $250 million sale of senior unsecured notes.
  
• Toyota discounts boost sales, U.S. mulls "black box" (Reuters)
  

  Reuters - Unprecedented discounts after a series of damaging recalls boosted Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. sales in early March, as U.S. regulators weighed new auto safety measures.

  
  
  
• The Ambitions of Prudential's Tidjane Thiam (BusinessWeek)
  BusinessWeek - According to insiders at Prudential Plc , Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of the insurer which said last week that it was bidding $35.5bn (23.6bn) to buy AIG's Asian insurance business is a firm believer in emotion over analysis.