Pandora stock gains 9% in first day of trading

Pandora stock gains 9% in first day of tradingInternet radio station Pandora Media's IPO struck the right chord with investors despite the static in the overall stock market. Pandora's stock surged as much 63 percent in their market debut before pulling back later in the session. The shares closed at $17.42, still a decent gain amid the market's broader decline. It marked a 9 percent increase from Pandora's initial public offering price of $16 and a nearly sixfold increase from what Pandora's own board thought the stock was worth just six months ago.

Rising costs to pinch pretax profit at FordFord Motor Co. said pretax profit will be lower in the second half than in the first six months as the company faces rising structural and commodities costs. Second-quarter profit will equal or be "slightly lower" than in the first quarter, when Ford earned $2.78 billion before taxes, Controller Bob Shanks said at an investor conference in Chicago. The housing recession is hurting commercial-truck sales and Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford is constrained in its output of fuel-efficient cars, he said.

Borders said to be near deal to avert closingsBorders Group Inc., the bankrupt bookstore chain, said it may have a deal with lenders and creditors to avoid closing as many as 51 stores, and it canceled an auction scheduled for tomorrow, according to a bankruptcy court filing. Borders has held extensive negotiations with its lenders and the committee of unsecured creditors about an amendment to a debtor-in-possession facility that would alleviate the need to conduct store closing sales at as many as 51 stores, according to filings Wednesday and June 8.

Quest to pay $241M to settle overcharging suitQuest Diagnostics Inc., California's largest provider of medical laboratory testing, agreed to pay $241 million to settle state claims that it overcharged California's medical program for the poor, Attorney General Kamala Harris said. The accord is the largest recovery in the history of California's False Claims Act, Harris said. The settlement resolved a 2005 lawsuit filed by a whistle-blower. Quest, which announced the settlement last month, denied wrongdoing.

Dish Network to buy bankrupt telecom firmDish Network Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, offered to buy TerreStar Networks Inc. for $1.38 billion as it makes acquisitions to move beyond its traditional pay-television business. Dish has agreed to act as the lead bidder at an auction for TerreStar, which uses a satellite network to provide mobile communications service, according to a filing by TerreStar in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. TerreStar filed for bankruptcy last year and put itself up for sale after an earlier restructuring effort fell apart.

Keep rates low, Bank of England chief urgesBank of England Governor Mervyn King said policymakers are right to keep the key interest rate at a record low because weak growth in money and wages signal the current bout of above-target inflation will prove temporary. "Subdued rates of increase in average earnings, as well as remarkably -- some might say disturbingly -- low growth rates of broad money have provided strong signals that inflation will fall back in due course," he said in a speech in London.

FROM NEWS SERVICES