Business Today: Wall Street ends higher in short session, led by techs

	Click to View in Browser 11/23/2012 Wall Street ends higher in short session, led by techs NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose for a fifth day during a holiday-shortened, thinly traded session on Friday as investors picked up recently beaten-down shares of large technology companies. Early birds grab bigger slice of retail pie NEW YORK/BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota (Reuters) - An early start to the U.S. holiday shopping season boosted retailers as customers came with their families and loaded up carts on Thursday night, while later shoppers seemed more focused on sale items. Analysis: Charges against BP employees test reach of U.S. statute NEW YORK (Reuters) - Not all manslaughter charges are created equal. If they were, the U.S. Justice Department might have filed just 11 charges when it brought a criminal case against two BP Plc employees last week, one for each of the 11 deaths in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Walmart protests draw crowds, shoppers largely unfazed CHICAGO (Reuters) - Protesters demanding higher wages and better healthcare for Walmart hourly workers converged on the retailer's stores across the United States, though there was no evidence they disrupted operations for the start of the crucial holiday shopping season. VW to invest over $60 billion in drive to be top automaker FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG has earmarked 50.2 billion euros ($64.7 billion) of investments over the coming three years as it accelerates plans designed to help it become the world's largest car maker by the end of the decade. EU budget summit ends without deal, retry in 2013 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders failed to reach agreement on Friday on a new seven-year budget for their troubled bloc, calling off talks in less than two days after most countries balked at far deeper spending cuts demanded by Britain and its allies. After Sandy damage, insurance adjusters may bring more bad news (Reuters) - After another day of pumping out their swampy, moldy houses, neighbors in Breezy Point in New York City huddled at the quaint generator-powered firehouse Wednesday night, stamping their feet to stay warm. Neighbors picked at food from tin cans and sipped soups from Styrofoam cups as they lamented the growing holes in a safety net they thought they had: homeowner's insurance. Wal-Mart India unit suspends CFO, others pending probe MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Indian joint venture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc has suspended its chief financial officer and other employees as it investigates alleged violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws, a development that could hamper India's efforts to open its domestic supermarket sector to foreign investment. BP reorganizes oil production unit LONDON (Reuters) - BP unveiled a reorganization of its oil and gas production operations on Friday, reversing a change it enacted after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Autonomy founder says HP allegations don't add up LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, mathematics whiz and former boss of Autonomy, said he can't see how accusations leveled by Hewlett-Packard Co of dodgy accounting add up to a $5 billion writedown on the software business he sold them last year. Related Video Daily Digit: 50% of profits EU summit ends without deal Economic News Factories post rebound, consumer sentiment shaky Economic growth gauge rises to two-week high: ECRI A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today   The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day. Register Today   » MORE NEWSLETTERS - 3 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA © Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters Ensure delivery of Reuters Newsmails, add mail@nl.reuters.com to your address book. Details Subscribe to other Reuters newsletters. Unsubscribe from this newsletter. Follow us on Twitter Friend us on Facebook Forward to a friend