News Today - May 07

* Bank stress test day arrives at last ,Investors get some much-needed answers about whether the biggest U.S. banks need more capital and how much. full story

* Large financial institutions undergoing stress tests will have one month to develop plans for how they will raise any required new capital, regulators say.

* Meeting of mutual fund industry group kicks off with a pair of notable strategists saying the S&P 500 Index will top 1,000 by year-end.

* In what could be the automaker's last quarterly update before it descends into bankruptcy, General Motors is expected to post a loss Thursday of almost $7 billion for the first three months of the year.

* In yet another report showing the economic downturn is moderating, private-sector employment in the United States fell by an estimated 491,000 jobs in the April ADP employment index, the smallest decline in six months.

* The novel strain of flu virus that’s been stoking fear of a pandemic appears to be acting a lot like regular flu in the U.S., except that it tends to strike young people.

* Australia's jobless rate stuns markets with a surprise decline in April, despite forecasts for a sizeable rise in unemployment.