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U.S. stocks slipped on Wednesday, as both the Dow and S&P 500 held near their most recent record highs after a flurry of economic data did little to upset investor expectations for central bank policies.   Data showed activity in New York state's manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted to its lowest level in four months, falling to minus 1.43 from 3.05 in April, and below expectations for an increase to 4. In addition, industrial production fell 0.5 percent in April, more than the expected 0.2 percent decline for the month. But a separate report showed producer prices recorded their largest drop in three years in April, falling by a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent, the biggest decline since February 2010, which should enable the Federal Reserve to maintain its accommodative monetary policy. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 had rallied to fresh record highs in the prior session as investor expectations central bank stimulus measures will conti

Delta Air Lines Inc on Wednesday said it expects improved profit in the second quarter, aided by lower fuel prices. Stable revenues and declining fuel prices "should couple to make for some very nice margin expansion in the quarter," Delta President Edward Bastian told a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference that was broadcast over the Internet.   He said unit revenue, an important measure also known as passenger revenue per available seat mile, was stabilizing in May after weakening in April. For May, he said that metric was expected to be flat or to improve modestly. "Our summer bookings look solid," Bastian told the conference. "While corporate demand across the industry appears to be flat in terms of overall corporate spend, our corporate revenues this year to date are up 4 percent as we continue to grow share." Declining oil prices can help airlines, whose biggest costs are fuel and labor. On Wednesday, U.S. oil was down 1.7 percent to $92.57

Oil exports from Libya's eastern port of Zueitina have been halted by protesters who stormed the terminal, forcing workers to leave their positions, three industry sources on Wednesday. _0"> Oil exports from the port have previously been disrupted by protests and, last month, flows were halted by a pipeline explosion. The terminal can export 60,000-70,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). (Reporting by Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati; Editing by Anthony Barker)  

JANA Partners, a leading activist hedge fund firm run by Barry Rosenstein, has taken a liking to two of the most beaten-up technology stocks. JANA, which oversees more than $4 billion in U.S. stock holdings, disclosed stakes of 24.6 million Zynga Inc class A shares and 21.9 million Groupon Inc class A shares in regulatory filings on Wednesday.   The positions represent just over 3 percent of the companies' outstanding shares. The Groupon stake was worth $134 million as of the end of March, while the Zynga holding was valued at $86 million, according to the filings. Zynga shares rose 1.6 percent to $3.39 in afternoon trading, after gaining more than 7 percent earlier in the day. Groupon edged up 1.2 percent to $6.97, after achieving a nine-month high of $7.38 earlier on Wednesday. Groupon, the world's largest daily deal company, and Zynga, a leading social game developer, went public in 2011 at lofty valuations, but their share prices have slumped since then amid concern

A second U.S. House of Representatives committee announced on Wednesday it will hold a hearing on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny. _0"> The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on May 22, an aide to Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican committee chairman, said.   U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neil Wolin; former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman; Lois Lerner, chief of the IRS tax exempt unit; and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George are being asked to testify. On Friday, a separate House committee will hold the first hearing on the matter since it erupted last week. George and acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller will testify there. (Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Vicki Allen; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh)

Oil exports from Libya's eastern port of Zueitina have been halted for the second time this year after protesters stormed the terminal and forced workers from their positions, three industry sources on Wednesday. Protests halted shipments at the start of January for around six weeks and flows were hit last month by a pipeline explosion. The terminal can export 60,000-70,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). "Some people in the area are asking for employment and the resolution agreed with the company has not yet been implemented," one of the industry sources said. "They say the management is not really interested in taking the necessary action." The company could not immediately be reached for comment. Investigators are unsure whether April's explosion was caused by sabotage or a technical failure. (Reporting by Jessica Donati and Ghaith Shennib; Editing by Anthony Barker and David Cowell)

Moon explosion: NASA says Huge explosion on the Moon visible to Earth. Meteoroid has smashed into the Moon, causing the biggest explosion ever seen on the lunar surface which was visible from Earth with the naked-eye, NASA said. "On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before," said Cooke. Anyone looking at the Moon at the moment of impact could have seen the explosion - no telescope was required. For about one second, the impact site was glowing like a 4th magnitude star, researchers said. Ron Suggs, an analyst at the Marshall Space Flight Center, was the first to notice the impact in a digital video recorded by one of the monitoring program's 14-inch telescopes, said NASA. "It jumped right out at me, it was so bright," he said.