U.S. markets up slightly at close
NEW YORK, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. markets pulled higher late Thursday after spending most of the day dragged down by weak economic data.
The Department of Labor said initial jobless benefit claims rose by 2,000 in the week ending June 12.
In another indication that employers are not hiring, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said consumer prices dropped for the second consecutive month,
Although a drop in energy prices led the declines, high unemployment does not support consumer price increases.
By close, the Dow Jones industrial average added 24.71 points, 0.24 percent, to 10,434.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.13 percent, 1.43 points, to 1,116.04. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.05 percent, 1.23 points, to 2,307.16.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,489 shares advanced and 1,506 declined on a volume of 4.5 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 20/32 to yield 3.191 percent.
The euro rose to $1.2377 from Wednesday's $1.2303. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 90.97 yen from Wednesday's 91.41 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 67.75 points, 0.67 percent, to 9,999.40.
In London, the FTSE 100 index added 15.97 points, 0.3 percent, to 5,253.89.
EU likely to publish bank test results
BRUSSELS, June 17 (UPI) -- European Union Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso said results of international bank stress tests would likely be made pubic, sources told The New York Times.
"We have to remove unjustified suspicions," an EU official told the newspaper. Spain and Germany this week both indicated they would be willing to publish results of stress tests for cross-border banks.
A draft proposal on publishing the results includes a directive on how banks would be recapitalized, stipulating that the funds would not come from the EU fund meant to bailout debt-burdened countries in Europe. That meant that individual governments would be able to set plans in place to recapitalize banks before the results were published, the Times said.
The draft agreement covers "25 systemically important banks" in Europe, the official said.
Barroso said he was confident a summit of 27 EU leaders would reach an agreement on the issue Thursday, in time for the Group of 20 Nations meeting in Toronto next week.
China's energy policy leans toward supply
BEIJING, June 17 (UPI) -- China's draft energy policy focuses on securing resources for the future more than slowing harmful greenhouse emissions, a Chinese environmental expert said.
"There is a stronger sense of energy security than climate change," said Zou Ji, who retired as China's international climate change negotiator last year, The New York Times reported Thursday.
China is expected to complete a comprehensive energy policy next year. In the meantime, the emphasis is on securing an energy supply "where you can plant your foot on it," said Li Junfeng, an senior Chinese policy maker on energy issues.
That means securing supplies that come from China, which is the third largest coal producer in the world.
While coal, a relatively dirty fuel to burn, is in abundance, China flipped from an oil exporting country to an oil importing country in the early 1990s.
Since then, China's demand for oil has increased sharply, but its production has remained stagnant.
Through the same decades, China has emerged as the world's largest producer of wind turbines and solar panels and invested twice as much in renewable energy in 2009 as the United States, the Times said.
Spirit reaches tentative deal with pilots
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 17 (UPI) -- Florida's Spirit Airlines said Thursday it had reached a tentative deal with pilots that would end a strike that shut down the discount airline for a week.
The airline posted a notice that flights would resume Friday on its Web site, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
After a 26-hour negotiating session, "We have a tentative agreement," said Art Luby, assistant director of representation for the Air Line Pilots Association.
To jump start ticket sales after a Friday-through-Thursday cancellation of flights, Spirit said it would take $50 off ticket prices and toss in 5,000 frequent flier reward miles as a bonus for new tickets purchased before midnight on June 18.
Spirit spokesman Greg Meyer said, "It's a big number," referring to company losses incurred due to the strike.
Pilots struck for higher wages and more accommodating work rules, but details on the tentative settlement were not posted on the Web site.
