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News In Brief

MID-DAY UPDATE: Jobless claims, Suez Canal workers’ strike, NYSE merger

Katharine Crnko Feb 10, 2011

The U.S. Labor Department this morning announced weekly jobless claims fell to 383,000, the lowest level in nearly three years.

As trouble continues to brew in the Middle East, we heard from Stephen Beard in Amman, Jordan. Business Insider is reporting that 6,000 workers at the Suez Canal are on strike in protest of weak pay and poor working conditions. The strike has not caused disruptions to the Canal, which is good news for Jordan — one of the most oil-dependent countries in the Middle East. Jordanians are concerned that their already-expensive energy costs could rise as the unrest continues in Egypt.

More merger news today from the stock markets. Just one day after the London Stock Exchange announced a merger with the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange announced it is considering a merger with Deutsche Borse of Germany.

Marketplace’s economics correspondent Chris Farrell sums up the corporate earnings season with Jeremy Hobson. Every quarter public companies report earnings and how they expect to perform in the coming year. Farrell says the companies to watch are UPS, Wells Fargo and Emerson Electric.

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