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Money Daily Brief: Jobless claims rise; personal income also up

Jobless claims rose last week; personal income and expenditures increased during August.

Updated 9:45 EDT (13:45 UTC)

•American jobless claims up: After a three week decline, initial jobless claims last week to 551,000. Total insured unemployment dropped by 70,000 to 6,090,000 for the week ending Sept. 19, the last week for which information is available.

•US personal income, outlays rise: by .2 percent ($19.3 billion) and 1.3 percent ($129.6 billion), respectively, in August. Disposable income also increased by .1 percent ($15.5 billion). Personal income has risen in four of the last five months, although only once more than .2 percent.

•Latest acquisitions: Shares of Tandberg ASA on news that Cisco Systems was digging $3 billion out of its deep pockets to buy the . Separately, inside sources said US cable giant Comcast is negotiating to buy up about . In another step in its restructuring, Citigroup completed the $8.7 billion to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. The Japanese bank is the first to buy a major brokerage in Japan, signaling a realignment in Japan's financial sector.

•Factory recovery: Russia's manufacturing sector , while a Chinese government index showed continued and in the People's Republic.

•IMF's crystal ball: The International Monetary Fund's envisions China and India leading the way out of global recession. Their economies next year should grow by 9 and 6.4 percent, respectively, while the United States may top 1.5 percent in one of the most optimistic prognoses yet. The agency is concerned that US government debt

•Fed chairman to Congress: Ben Bernanke called for in prepared remarks for his testimony to Congress Thursday.

•In my backyard: It would have been the world's third-largest cellphone multinational, with huge growth potential as Africa's economies expand, but Merger talks between India's Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN – Africa's largest telecom – collapsed, with Bharti Airtel officials accusing the South African government of interfering on protectionist grounds.

– Drew Hinshaw is a Monitor contributor in Accra, Ghana. For a look at the struggles of America's smallest firms, see Small business posts top job losses again, ADP says.