Business digest

STOCK MARKET GAINS MOMENTUM: Wall Street surged higher for the second straight day on the Federal Reserve's positive outlook for the economy. The Dow Jones industrials, sparked by better-than-expected earnings from Procter & Gamble, climbed 157.14 to 9,920.00. That brought the index's two-day advance to more than 300 points.

WEEKLY JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE: New claims for unemployment benefits rose by a seasonally adjusted 30,000 last week to 390,000, following three straight weeks of declines, the Labor Department said. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise to 380,000 last week. The more stable four-week moving average of claims fell from 401,250 the previous week to 386,000, the lowest since Aug. 18.

KMART REVEALS CLOSING DATE: Kmart Corp. said it expects to announce store closings on March 20 and to emerge from bankruptcy protection 16 months later. A Kmart bankruptcy attorney said the company is conducting an intense review of its stores and leases. Kmart aims to shut the unprofitable stores by the end of the year, and estimates savings of $250-million. Kmart filed for bankruptcy protection last week.

7-ELEVEN TO CUT BACK STORES: 7-Eleven Inc. said it would close 115 to 120 convenience stores. It did not identify which stores would be closed. 7-Eleven operates or franchises 5,800 stores in the United States and Canada and licenses 17,000 stores elsewhere around the world. The chain also reported fourth-quarter earnings of $17.1-million. Its results narrowly beat Wall Street expectations once one-time items were excluded.

EBAY, SOTHEBY'S FORM VENTURE: EBay Inc. and Sotheby's Holdings Inc. agreed to create a new Sothebys.com Web site to increase their sales of collectibles such as fine art, antiques, jewelry and rare books. The new auction site will open within EBay's online marketplace in the second quarter. EBay and Sotheby's also will introduce online bidding for traditional auctions at Sotheby's New York and London facilities. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

MICROSOFT REIMBURSES STATES: Microsoft Corp. is paying about $10-million to reimburse the legal bills of nine states that have settled the antitrust case against the software giant. Under federal law, a company found liable for antitrust violations, such as Microsoft, has to reimburse taxpayers for the cost of the prosecution. The federal government will not be reimbursed. Florida is among the nine states that opted to continue the case against Microsoft.

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