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Investors showed a greater appetite for risk Thursday, putting money back into banking and industrial stocks as well as commodities.

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff will not appeal his 150-year sentence for a fraud that unraveled overnight last December when Madoff confessed to his sons that nearly $65 billion he promised investors was safe was actually only worth a few hundred million dollars.

The recipients of billions of dollars in IOUs being issued by California soon may have a regulated market where they could sell them.

Rain and escalating job worries dampened shoppers' appetite for summer staples like shorts and dresses more than expected in June, increasing concerns about the back-to-school shopping season.

The number of newly laid-off workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits last week fell to lowest level since early January, largely due to changes in the timing of auto industry layoffs.

Citigroup Inc. shuffled its top management again Thursday, naming its third chief financial officer of the year and bringing in a new head of its Citibank division as it returns its focus to traditional banking.

The path is now clear for General Motors Corp. to leave bankruptcy protection in record time as a leaner company that is better equipped to compete in a brutal global auto market.

Sprint Nextel Corp. on Thursday announced it will transfer operation of its wireless and wireline networks to Swedish telecommunications equipment maker LM Ericsson.

Oil prices wavered around $60 per barrel Thursday with new consumer and employment data casting a pall over energy markets, but still rose slightly at the close for the first time in more than a week.

General Motors and Chrysler are urging lawmakers to stop legislation that would prevent automakers from closing car dealerships that the dealers want to keep open, saying it would complicate their emergence from government-led bankruptcies.

The Dow slipped into negative territory while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pared gains on Thursday, as drugmaker Merck fell on concerns over its cholesterol drug.

Citigroup announced on Thursday its biggest management shake-up since the financial crisis began, replacing its chief financial officer and installing a new banking chief as it prepares to give the government a 34 percent equity stake.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since January, but the seasonally adjusted data was distorted by an unusual pattern of layoffs in the automotive industry.

A U.S. District Court judge on Thursday denied a request by a committee of asbestos personal injury claimants to delay the sale of General Motors Corp pending its appeal.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett said in an interview aired on Thursday unemployment could hit 11 percent and a second stimulus package might be needed as the economy struggles to recover from recession.

Media executives at the exclusive Sun Valley conference in Idaho see the depressed economy taking years to turn around, News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday.

Sprint Nextel Corp said on Thursday that Ericsson would manage its network as part of a seven-year deal worth $4.5 billion to $5 billion under which 6,000 Sprint workers would move to Ericsson.

Shares of American International Group Inc plummeted 22 percent on Thursday after a Citigroup analyst said the value of the troubled insurer's equity may fall to zero.

Shares of casino stocks rose on Thursday after the Nevada Gaming Control Board released gaming revenues for May that showed a moderating decline.

Oil prices rose Thursday after a six-day slide as a drop in U.S. jobless claims fueled optimism about the economy.