General Motors Co’s Indian unit is partnering local firm Reva Electric Car Co. to develop electric vehicles for the Indian auto market, with the plan to sell battery-operated small cars within a year. U.S. and global automakers are betting that battery technology will make electric cars the environmentally friendly transportation of the future accompanied by higher gasoline prices and stricter emission rules. –Reuters

The numbers of U.S. citizens filing first-time claims for jobless benefits dipped unexpectedly last week to the lowest level in two months, another sign firings are slowing. Applications fell by 21,000 to 530,000 in the week ending Sept. 19, from a revised 551,000 the week before, Labor Department statistics showed. The total number of individuals collecting unemployment insurance fell in the prior week to 6.14 million. –Bloomberg

Shares of Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) surged more than 14% in early trading today after the software company reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results. Red Hat shows net income for the quarter ended Aug. 31 of $28.9 million, or 15 cents a share. This figure was up from $21.1 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. Additionally, revenue climbed 12% to $183.6 million. -Marketwatch

Citigroup (NYSE: C) plans to reduce the number of brick and mortar branches and strengthen its online-banking presence. The new focus will be presented to Citi board members in next month. Citi will maintain branches concentrated in New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Currently, Citi has roughly 1,000 branches here in the U.S. compared to 5,000 each for Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). Citi lagged its peers when JP Morgan purchased Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo snapped up Wachovia. Roughly 75 percent of Citi branches are outside the U.S. and the company plans to focus more on corporate clients and its non-U.S. operations. –AOL Daily Finance

Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD), stated that it expected a wider fiscal-year loss than previously forecasted as sales continue to fall, sending shares down about 7 percent. Rite Aid also posted its ninth consecutive quarterly net loss today. While this loss was not as steep as many analysts had expected, the company’s outlook suggests fiscal-year results that could fall well below Wall Street’s estimate. –Reuters

by Jutia Group