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But the company's shares fell in after-hours trading, as Visa failed to beat expectations by the wide margins investors were once used to.

The world's largest card processing network on Thursday reported net income of $881 million, or $1.23 per share for its fiscal second quarter ended March 31. That compared to $713 million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected Visa to earn $1.20 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company also said its board had authorized a $1 billion share buyback program, which will be in place through April 20, 2012.

Like smaller rival MasterCard Inc (MA.N), which reported a better-than-expected profit on Tuesday, Visa is benefiting from a rebound in consumer confidence after the financial crisis. But it is facing the prospect of increased regulations from the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which will restrict the fees merchants pay banks and networks every time a customer buys something with a debit card.

Visa shares closed down 1.3 percent at $78.70 on Thursday and fell about 1 percent in after-hours trading.

(Reporting by Maria Aspan; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

While the surprise jump in initial claims for unemployment benefits was blamed on factors ranging from spring break layoffs to the introduction of an emergency benefits program, economists said it corroborated reports this week indicating a loss of momentum in job creation.

New claims for state jobless benefits rose 43,000 to 474,000, the highest since mid-August, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists had expected claims to fall.

One factor that likely helped push claims up and that could prove lingering were auto layoffs brought about by supply disruptions from Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

A second report showed nonfarm productivity increased at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, braking from a 2.9 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

"We do not think that the entire rise in claims over the last month can be explained by special factors alone," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York. "It seems instead as if the improvement in the labor market slowed a bit."

The data was the latest to suggest a softening in the jobs market. Other reports this week showed weaker employment growth in the manufacturing and services sectors in April, and a step back in private hiring.

ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS IN FIRST QUARTER

Boosting employment is critical to reinvigorating a recovery weighed down by high food and energy pries. Growth slowed to a 1.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter after a 3.1 percent expansion in the final three months of 2010.

Economist anticipate a pick-up in growth but the prediction could be in jeopardy if the stream of weak data persists.

"The data is not consistent with the type of growth numbers that are anticipated for the economy over the balance of the year," said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities in New York.

The claims data fell outside the survey period for the government's employment report for April, which will be released on Friday and is expected to show the jobless rate holding at a two-year low of 8.8 percent.

A Reuters survey found economists looking for an increase of 186,000 in nonfarm payrolls, which rose by 216,000 in March -- the most in 10 months.

But the odds are high for an even lower number. An industry survey released on Thursday found hiring by U.S. small businesses almost ground to a halt in April.

SPECIAL FACTORS BLAMED

U.S. stocks fell on the claims report, while government debt prices rose for a sixth straight session. The dollar gained against the euro after the European Central Bank offered few clues on the timing of the future interest rate increases.

Reports from retailers showed a late Easter boosted sales of clothing and other holiday-related items in April, but stores warned rising costs and a weak labor market would dampen purchases over the next several months.

A Labor Department official said spring break layoffs in New York added about 25,000 to the jobless benefit rolls last week. He said the start of an emergency benefits program in Oregon also helped lift the number of claims.

Many states in the Northeast allow for non-teaching staff to file for unemployment benefits when schools close for spring and summer breaks. The department tries to adjust its figures to take into account these seasonal fluctuations but New York's spring break occurred at an unusual time this year.

Tornadoes that struck parts of the country could also have accounted for a small number of claims.

"We are hesitant to take too strong of a signal from the recent increase in claims data and will look to upcoming reports before suggesting that the upturn in claims is a sign that the labor market has lost momentum," said Michael Gapen, a senior economist at Barclays Capital in New York.

The slowdown in productivity in the first quarter reflected the softening in growth, but also suggested businesses may soon need to step up hiring.

"It's not unusual at this stage of the cycle to see productivity slowing. We're seeing hiring, it's not very rapid, but companies cannot squeeze more out of their workers anymore," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

The data showed a slight gain in wage-related price pressures, which nevertheless were muted. Unit labor costs, which gauge the cost of labor for any given unit of output, rose at a 1 percent rate after dropping 1 percent in the fourth quarter.

(Editing by Neil Stempleman)

The U.S. automaker also said on Thursday it expects its full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to show "solid improvement" from 2010 helped by better pricing and lower fixed costs in North America.

GM's results follow those of rival Ford Motor Co, which last week posted its best first-quarter profit in 13 years as higher prices for redesigned vehicles offset pressure from spiking commodity and oil prices.

GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009 after being hit by the housing downturn and a spike in gasoline prices the year before that caused consumers to turn away from its high-profit trucks. In 2009, the company was saved by a $52 billion bailout funded by U.S. taxpayers.

Last November, GM sold shares in an initial public offering. The U.S. government still owns 32 percent of common stock.

In addition to its strength in China, GM's U.S. sales have not suffered as consumers have turned more to smaller cars and compact crossovers to offset gas prices now at around $4 a gallon.

Its April sales rose 26 percent and it retook the top spot it lost to Ford the prior month.

GM's net income in the first quarter rose to $3.2 billion, or $1.77 a share, compared with $900 million, or 55 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter. It was GM's fifth consecutive quarterly profit.

Excluding such one-time items as its sales of stakes in parts maker Delphi and Ally Financial, it earned 95 cents a share. That was 4 cents better than what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had expected.

Revenue rose to $36.2 billion from $31.5 billion last year. Analysts had expected $35.59 billion.

GM Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM is set up well to profit from higher gasoline prices with a much more diversified portfolio than three years ago when gas prices were last this high.

"We had a very high, robust April, 19.8 percent market share in April with the lowest incentives we've had as the new company," he told reporters.

Ammann said GM's U.S. sales incentives are currently running slightly below the industry average and that they will be at or slightly below the industry for the rest of the year.

GM was heavily criticized by Wall Street analysts for its lofty incentives in January and February that cut into profit per vehicle. GM cut back incentives in March and April.

GM's North American operations posted adjusted earnings in the quarter before interest and taxes of $1.3 billion, up $100 million from last year.

It expects its North American results to improve on average for the rest of the year as better pricing and lower fixed costs more than offset higher commodity costs and more sales of less-profitable vehicles.

GM's European unit broke even on an adjusted earnings before interest and taxes basis and is targeting break-even before restructuring charges for the entire year.

GM's liquidity at the end of the quarter rose to $36.5 billion after the sales of the Delphi and Ally stakes. Cash and marketing securities grew to $30.6 billion from $27.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

The automaker continues to expect no material impact on full-year results from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but Ammann was not specific in detailing how GM would react to the shortage of Japanese-made vehicles in the coming months.

In fact, due to the struggles of Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese automakers due to the Japan crisis, GM stands in 2011 to gain 1.1 percentage points in market share, and boost this year's profits before interest and taxes by $1 billion, UBS analyst Colin Langan said in a research note.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Derek Caney)

Investors have placed orders for all the shares on offer, including a 10 percent overallotment option, the sources said, adding it was too soon to give guidance on where in the indicated 480-580 pence range the shares would be priced.

That range, announced on Wednesday, values the company at 36.5 billion pounds ($60 billion) at the mid-point, below the price some analysts have valued Glencore at.

Demand for Glencore shares will also have been boosted by the fact it will likely be fast-tracked into the blue-chip FTSE 100 index at the end of its first day of trading.

"The books are covered on the full deal size, including the greenshoe," said one of the sources. "Given the amount of interest we have seen in the transaction, we thought we would be covered pretty early but I think it just reflects ... that the price range was the right price range."

The listing, in which Glencore is looking to raise around $7.9 billion from new shares and $2.1 billion from existing shares, will boost its firepower for deals amid a boom in commodity prices. But it will also push it into the public eye after 37 years as a discreet private company.

Before the start of bookbuilding on Wednesday, Glencore struck agreements with cornerstone investors who will buy around 31 percent of the total offer, one of the largest cornerstone books to date.

The largest investor, Abu Dhabi's IPIC Aabar, which has already committed $850 million to the listing, also plans to invest an additional $150 million in the offering.

Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are the joint global coordinators for the offer, joined by another 20 banks in lower ranking syndicate roles.

Glencore was not available for comment.

(Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by Kirstin Ridley and Dan Lalor)