A published report says federal regulators are preparing to issue subpoenas to Google and other companies as authorities gather information for a broad antitrust probe into the Internet search leader's business practices.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission will issue subpoenas "within days," which would signal that it has opened a formal investigation.

The FTC is looking into whether Google abuses its dominance of Internet search to extend its influence into other lucrative online markets, such as mapping, comparison shopping and travel. Rivals complain that Google Inc., which handles two out of every three Internet searches in the U.S., manipulates its results to steer users to its own sites and services and bury links to competitors.

Google and the Federal Trade Commission refused to comment Thursday.

The European Commission and the Texas attorney general have already opened investigations into whether Google uses its enormous clout as a major gateway to the Internet to stifle competition online. The EU launched its investigation after competitors -- U.K.-based price comparison site Foundem, French legal search engine ejustice.fr and Microsoft-owned shopping site Ciao -- complained that their services were being buried in Google search results.

Oracle Corp.'s latest quarterly results Thursday underscore the critical role its software business plays despite its push to become a more well-rounded technology vendor by selling computer servers.

Oracle's net income increased 36 percent as new sales of business software were at the high end of its expectations. Revenue rose 13 percent.

But the company's stock fell as its hardware division stumbled.

Oracle bought fallen Silicon Valley star Sun Microsystems last year for $7.3 billion. That thrust Oracle into the computer server business.

The transformation has made CEO Larry Ellison one of the world's richest men. It also made an enemy of longtime partner Hewlett-Packard Co.

Ellison has repeatedly said that he wanted to focus Sun's business only on higher-profit deals. As a result, he warned, some lower-margin deals may fall off.

Now that Oracle has had Sun for a full year, the effect of Ellison's strategy is coming into focus.

Oracle said net income was $3.21 billion, or 62 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended May 31. That compares with $2.36 billion, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.

What began with a steep drop in the stock market ended with a modest decline Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost just 60 points after being down nearly 240 points earlier in the day.

A jump in the number of people applying for jobless benefits and plummeting oil prices drove stocks lower at the market open. By 11 a.m., the Dow was down 234 points. Then came late afternoon reports that Greece may have reached a deal for a new austerity plan. The Dow made up nearly 100 points between 2:45 and 3 p.m. alone.

The Dow finished with a loss of 59.67 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,050. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, down as many as 24 points, closed down just 3.64, or 0.3 percent, to 1,283.50.

Since late April, reports on manufacturing, retail sales, home sales and other economic indicators have come in weaker than economists anticipated. Europe's debt problems and a slowing growth rate in China have also raised concerns about the global economy. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said problems plaguing the economy may last longer than previously thought.

H&R Block Inc. on Thursday said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 5 percent, as revenue declined and a series of unusual charges weighed down results.

The nation's largest tax preparation company said it earned $658.6 million, or $2.15 per share, in the quarter ended April 30. That compared with net income of $690.8 million, or $2.11 per share, in the year-earlier period.

The number of outstanding shares dropped 6 percent from last year, which helped lift per-share earnings for the recent quarter.

The results were affected by several charges, including costs equal to 6 cents per share related to the legal fight over the loss of its refund-anticipation loan program at the end of 2010 and severance costs for departed employees.

Revenue slipped one half percent to $2.33 billion from $2.34 billion last year. Revenue in its tax services division edged down in the quarter. Business services revenue -- its RSM McGladrey consulting unit -- fell 6 percent.

Analysts on average expected adjusted profit of $2.14 per share on revenue of $2.32 billion, according to data provided by FactSet.

Block prepared 21.4 million tax returns this year, up 6.5 percent from 2010. Growth came in both its retail stores, which added 500,000 customers, and through its digital products, which added 800,000 customers, with online do-it-yourself preparation leaping 29 percent. That was a significant gain, because Block's digital products lag rival Intuit's TurboTax.

The Williams Cos. Inc. announced an unsolicited takeover bid of about $4.9 billion Thursday for pipeline company Southern Union Co., which agreed last week to a sale to Energy Transfer Equity LP.

Williams, which also operates gas pipelines, said it would offer $39 per share in cash and top Energy Transfer's bid of $33 per share, or $4.2 billion.

The announcement came after the markets closed and sent Southern Union shares higher after hours.

Southern Union rose 34 cents to $34.15 in regular trading, then jumped $5, or 14.6 percent, to $39.19 in about a half-hour of late trading. Williams shares closed at $29.23, down 9 cents, and fell another 89 cents, or 3 percent, to $28.34 in late trading.

Williams said Southern Union would complement its own business, create a network of nearly 30,000 miles of regulated pipelines and save $50 million a year for the combined companies.