Greek political leaders agreed to more austerity measures that could pave the way for a new bailout and debt-restructuring deal, but euro-zone finance ministers hadn't signed off on the deal as talks continued late Thursday evening.

Shares drifted up as investors took stock of a Greek refinancing deal and continued improvement in the U.S. labor market.

Lehman Brothers is suing Citigroup in an effort to recover $2.5 billion transferred to Citi in the months before Lehman's September 2008 bankruptcy filing.

LinkedIn's profit jumped 30% and its revenue more than doubled, providing a lift to the young social-networking industry ahead of Facebook's IPO later this year.

Ford said finance chief Lewis Booth and Derrick Kuzak, chief of global product development, would retire April 1, ending the tenure of two important architects of the car maker's turnaround.

Dry weather in South America is putting renewed pressure on U.S. corn supplies, raising the specter inventories could again run low.

Southern Co.'s application for the first new U.S. nuclear reactor in decades received the blessing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday. The agency's chairman was the lone dissenter.

Idled U.S. workers filed a smaller number of new jobless benefit claims last week, an unexpected decrease that gave further indication the jobs market is improving.

Oracle agreed to acquire online-software maker Taleo for $1.9 billion, in the latest sign that the software industry's old guard is embracing a newer model.

Sony's incoming CEO said restructuring will continue at the Japanese electronics giant, and insisted he is prepared to make "hard decisions."