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Debt and data suggest more losses - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks are likely to face more selling pressure next week as the Tuesday deadline draws near for raising the U.S. debt ceiling and Washington remains paralyzed by political brinkmanship.

Anxiety over the debt crisis sent the S&P 500 lower for five straight days, resulting in the worst week and month for the benchmark index since August. The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's "fear index," rose more than 40 percent for the week, its biggest jump since early May.

With four days before the United States loses its ability to borrow, U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday told Republicans and Democrats to stop bickering and find a way "out of this mess.

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Alibaba, Yahoo, Softbank strike pact on Alipay - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alibaba Group stands to get up to $6 billion in a spin-off of its Alipay e-payment division under a long-awaited deal the Chinese company struck with partners Softbank Corp and Yahoo Inc.

Shares of Yahoo, which owns 43 percent of Alibaba, initially jumped on the deal. But they reversed course and were down 2.5 percent at $13.16 by late morning, as investors grew concerned about the company's ability to control, and wring benefit from, its prized Asian assets.

The pact, announced in a joint statement on Friday, brings some relief to Yahoo investors but does not resolve the issue of how Yahoo can capitalize on its Asian assets, considered on Wall Street the most valuable slice of the struggling U.S. Web company.

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Wall Street set for higher open on jobless claims data - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised to break its three-day losing streak on Thursday after weekly claims for unemployment benefits fell below a key level for the first time since early April, but the session was predicted to be volatile ahead of a key vote later in the day on a bill to cut the U.S. deficit.

New U.S. claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, dropping below 400,000 for the first time since early April.

"What we're seeing is that the claims levels are returning to their more normal level, which is in a positive direction," said Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn in New York.

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Saxophonist Frank Foster dies; played with Basie - Yahoo! News

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Frank Foster, a jazz saxophonist who played with the Count Basie Orchestra and composed the band's hit, "Shiny Stockings," died Tuesday. He was 82.

Foster died Tuesday morning at his home in Chesapeake, Virginia, of complications from kidney failure, according to Cecilia Foster, his wife of 45 years.

Foster was recognized in 2002 by the National Endowment for the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor . In a statement expressing sadness at Foster's death, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman called him "an extraordinary saxophonist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator."

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Winehouse family prepares for singer's funeral - Yahoo! News

LONDON (AP) — The family of Amy Winehouse was preparing to hold a private funeral Tuesday for the singer, who was found dead last week at the age of 27.

Family spokesman Chris Goodman said the private service for family and close friends would be held later in the day at an undisclosed location.

The soul diva, who had battled alcohol and drug addiction, was found dead Saturday at her London home.

An autopsy held Monday failed to determine the cause of the singer's death. Police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests, which will take two to four weeks.

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Family visits Amy Winehouse home, greets mourners - Yahoo! News

LONDON (AP) — Amy Winehouse's father thanked mourners outside her north London home for their support on Monday, and police said a post mortem examination would be held later in the day to determine the cause of the singer's death.

Mitch Winehouse thanked people for coming to lay bouquets, candles and handwritten notes, which lay in growing mounds across the road from the Victorian house where the soul diva died.

"I can't tell you what this means to us — it really is making this a lot easier for us," he said.

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Japan plans $128 bln in reconstruction bonds: Nikkei - Yahoo! News

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government plans to issue 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) in reconstruction bonds and cut spending by 3 trillion yen to pay for more projects to rebuild the devastated northeast, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

Investors are counting on reconstruction spending to help the world's third-largest economy pull out from a slump caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March and to resume moderate growth in the third quarter.

A government source told Reuters last week it was planning additional spending of 13 trillion yen for reconstruction projects, on top of a combined 6 trillion yen already set aside in two extra budgets.

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Feeling the heat on debt, earnings - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City may be frying in near record temperatures but Wall Street has been feeling the heat for months. Wrangling over the debt ceiling and questions marks over corporate earnings mean markets are unlikely to get a break any time soon.

Wall Street is set to close its worst three months in a year as July draws to a close next week after a roller coaster ride for markets. Whacked out fund managers hitting the beach in August may find themselves fiddling with their BlackBerrys more than the little umbrella in their cocktails.

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James Franco says he didn't want to host Oscars - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - Remember that disastrous Academy Awards show back in February?

Well, it wasn't James Franco's fault that he was a lousy host. In fact, he didn't even want the gig and acted dull on purpose.

Four months after a brief Twitter-fueled tiff in which he criticized Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch (and then made up with Vilanch the next day), Franco is in the August issue of Playboy magazine with his first in-depth comments about what was widely seen as a debacle of an Oscar show, with Franco's listless performance drawing near-unanimous scorn.

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Peter Jackson says no "Hobbit" at Comic-Con - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Film director Peter Jackson on Wednesday threw some cold water on the hopes of 'Hobbit' fans heading to Comic-Con International in San Diego this week when he said there will be no surprise presentation of his films at the pop culture gathering.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Jackson said it was too early to show any film clips of the widely-anticipated movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" at Comic-Con, as had been speculated.

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