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Stock prices rallied after yesterday's sharp declines. The Dow gained 67 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,641. The S&P rose nearly 10 points, while the Nasdaq composite added 33 points on the session.
- Members of both parties say congressional bargainers appear to be near an agreement to head off a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal loans affecting more than 7 million college students. Key to the prospective agreement is an answer to the question of how to pay for the measure's $6 billion cost.
- Crude oil prices settled higher. The near-month contract for the benchmark grade rose $1.56, closing at $79.76 a barrel.
- Facebook has become the latest company to agree to give people advance warning that its mobile applications can pull personal information from mobile phones and tablet computers. California's Attorney General says the agreement includes Facebook's own applications, as well as those made by third parties in its recently-launched App Center.
- Billionaire Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway is adding another newspaper to its holdings. It is buying the Waco Tribune-Herald in Texas. Last month, Berkshire announced a deal to buy 63 newspapers from Media General for $142 million.
