Wall Street

Tech stocks get boost

Investors resumed buying stocks Wednesday, sending prices moderately higher after a bout of profit-taking ran its course. Technology was the session’s biggest winner, giving the Nasdaq composite index its first close above 1,400 in six weeks.

“The market is a little stretched, so you’re going to see some backing and filling,” said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist with Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn. “Today, after pulling back, you’re seeing no signs of exhaustion.”

The Nasdaq composite index closed up 32.66, or 2.4 percent, to 1,409.25, having last finished above 1,400 on July 8. Wednesday’s finish was the Nasdaq’s best since July 5 when it stood at 1,448.36.

Internet

Music industry drops lawsuit over Web site

The U.S. recording industry has dropped efforts to compel four Internet service providers to block a Chinese Web site accused of distributing pirated music.

Thirteen record companies had filed a lawsuit Friday after failing to persuade the site, Listen4ever.com, to shut down on its own.

But in a surprise move, the companies dropped the lawsuit Wednesday, saying the site is now offline.

The Recording Industry Association of America said it might revive the lawsuit if the site reappears with a new name or location.

Finances

German firms object to SEC requirements

A growing number of Germany’s biggest companies are joining the government in opposing U.S. rules that make executives personally responsible for their corporate bookkeeping.

After heavyweights such as automaker DaimlerChrysler AG signed a letter to U.S. regulators asking for exemptions, luxury car maker Porsche AG said Wednesday it had delayed a decision on listing its shares in New York because of the requirement.

Aviation

US Airways to cut flights

US Airways plans to reduce its flight schedule by about 13 percent, from 1,550 daily departures to 1,350, as part of a restructuring plan designed to allow the airline to emerge from bankruptcy as a profitable carrier.

Most flights will be eliminated next month, with the rest to be eliminated by the end of the year, the airline said in a recorded message to employees.

US Airways, the nation’s seventh-largest carrier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month.

Labor

Boeing talks souring

The Machinists union denounced pensions and work place proposals from Boeing Co. on Wednesday, claiming the company was trying to provoke a strike by the union’s 25,000 members.

Contract talks between Chicago-based Boeing and its largest union are souring with less than a week before Boeing’s Tuesday deadline to deliver its contract proposal.

“Boeing is proposing takeaways in every important area of the contract, job security, pensions and health care,” said Machinists union chief negotiator Dick Shneider. “These proposals are certain to anger our members and trigger a strike, and Boeing knows it.”

But Boeing spokesman Chuck Cadena called the accusations “absurd.”

The union represents workers in Wichita, Washington state and Portland, Ore.