The risks that Visa Inc. faces from legislation on debit card swipe fees appear to have eased somewhat, leaving the stock attractively priced after a recent sell-off, a Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst said Tuesday.

THE OPINION: A Senate amendment tightening the fees that merchants pay when customers swipe debit cards at cash registers doesn't appear to have full support from House leaders or the Obama administration, analyst Chris Brendler said. "Although it is still nearly certain to go through, it may be watered down," Brendler wrote. The amendment that cleared the Senate on May 13 is part of a broader financial overhaul being negotiated between House and Senate leaders. Brendler also said Visa's shares are attractively priced after falling nearly 20 percent last month, compared with an 8.2 percent drop for the Standard & Poor's 500, a broad stock index.

THE STOCK: Visa's stock rose 17 cents to $72.63 in midday trading. [Read the full article]

Workers arrive on bikes in front of Hewlett Packard Company headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday, June 1, 2010. HP said Tuesday it will lay off about 9,000 workers in the unit that provides technology services to other businesses as the company consolidates and automates its commercial data centers. The cuts will be made over about three years and amount to some 3 percent of HP's global work force. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest information-technology company, plans to lay off about 9,000 employees as it tries to cut costs in its back-office computing centers and deepens its use of software, rather than people, to do some of the work that those hubs require.

The changes to these data centers, which are clusters of computers that run websites and process information for HP's corporate customers, will be made over about three years, the company said Tuesday. [Read the full article]

U.S. manufacturing remained strong in May while construction spending jumped, according to separate reports Tuesday, suggesting that the world's largest economy remains resilient despite evidence of slowing elsewhere.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index slid 0.7 point to 59.7, just below April's six-year high. Wall Street expected 59.4. It was the 10th straight month over 50, indicating growth.

"Manufacturing activity is expanding at a fairly brisk pace in the early stages of what you would expect is a sustainable economic recovery," said Mike Schenk, vice president of economics and statistics at the Credit Union National Association and Affiliates.

Meanwhile, construction spending rose 2.7% in April, the biggest gain since August 2000, the Commerce Department said. Analysts expected a 0.1% increase.

Stocks, down early on weaker overseas manufacturing data and concerns about Europe's debt crisis, rallied on the U.S. [Read the full article]

Facebook and Twitter aren't only for socializing or getting the word out in 140 characters or fewer. You can do your banking, too, by checking your balance, transferring money, getting customer service help and applying for a loan, all without leaving the social networks.

Efforts are in the early stages, but a handful of financial institutions, including Vantage Credit Union, Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union and Wells Fargo are making it easier for customers to conduct banking wherever they may be, including in a social network. Some are using the online communities to improve customer service while others let customers conduct transactions.

"There've been a couple of examples where we've seen people talking about us, recommending us or complaining about something and we have been able to jump into the conversation and help a member out," says Matt Fagala, online products and communities manager at Vantage Credit Union in St. Louis. [Read the full article]