NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street advanced for a third day on Friday as the monthly payrolls data showed the U.S. economy may be in better shape than investors had thought and helped whet some investor appetite for risk.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employment fell for a third straight month in August, but the drop was far less than expected and private hiring surprised on the upside, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to prop up economic growth.



CHICAGO (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co posted lower-than-expected quarterly sales and forecast sales growth for the new fiscal year below its long-term target as the world’s largest soup company grapples with a weak economy.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will outline new measures next week to boost the U.S. economy after August data on Friday showed again that jobs — the central issue in November elections — were being created too slowly.



CHICAGO (Reuters) - Walgreen Co posted weaker-than-expected August sales at stores open more than a year, hurt by generic drug introductions and a decrease in customer traffic.



RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will sell up to .5 billion in new stock — one of the largest in capital markets history — to raise funds for the world’s biggest oil exploration investment plan.



DETROIT/SEOUL (Reuters) - Kia Motors said on Friday it had started a recall of some 56,000 Soul and Sorento vehicles sold in the United States and South Korea due to defective wiring harnesses that could cause fires.



HONG KONG/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Chinese officials have ordered state-owned companies to meet with investment bankers to explore potential options to block BHP Billiton’s billion bid for Canada’s Potash Corp, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Data storage provider 3PAR Inc said on Friday that shareholders owning about a third of its shares have agreed to accept Hewlett-Packard Co’s proposal to buy the company for .4 billion.



LONDON (Reuters) - BP Plc said the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to billion as the oil giant prepared to release the findings of an internal probe into the causes of the disaster.


