The verdict was delivered on Wednesday in a San Francisco federal court, and confirmed by a Google spokesman. An Oracle attorney declined to comment on the decision.

Because the same jury could not unanimously agree on the copyright allegations earlier in the case, the latest verdict on patents effectively puts an indefinite hold on Oracle’s quest for damages. Oracle at one point was seeking roughly $1 billion in damages.

The jury found earlier that Oracle had proven copyright infringement for parts of Java. But the jury could not unanimously agree on whether Google could fairly use that material.

Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android infringes on its intellectual property rights to the Java programming language. Google says it does not violate Oracle’s patents and that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java, an “open-source” or publicly available software language.

Without a finding against Google on that fair use question, Oracle cannot recover damages on the bulk of its copyright claims.

Gupta is accused of tipping Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam about the deal in an illegal breach of his fiduciary duties.

Separately, a prosecutor told the judge on Wednesday, during a jury break, that a Goldman managing director, David Loeb, provided Rajaratnam with information about Intel Corp., Apple Inc. and Hewlett Packard.

Loeb’s name also came up Tuesday in evidence to the Manhattan federal court jury hearing the Gupta trial. A key defense argument is that Rajaratnam had sources other than Gupta to provide him confidential company information.

Loeb has not been charged. A Goldman spokesman declined to comment.

Former Goldman banker Byron Trott, a long-time Buffett confidant, told the jury that it was policy within a tightly-knit group of executives who negotiated such deals “never to talk about confidential information in public, or elevators. It was grounds for being fired.”

The housing sector has been the Achilles’ heel of the economy ever since the home-price bubble burst.

Data this week, however, have painted a relatively upbeat picture for the market and underscored the economy’s resilience.

“The recent buoyancy in housing market activity has raised hopes that this beleaguered sector may finally be on the verge of a rebound,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.

New home sales increased 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 343,000-unit annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Compared to April last year, sales were up 9.9 percent.

The report came on the heels of news on Tuesday that home resales hit a two-year high, with the sector getting support from investors who are increasingly seeing value.

Even more encouraging, the median price for both new and previously owned homes surged last month, a further sign of life for a market that has struggled to come back from its 2006 collapse.

The improving tone could be a boon for President Barack Obama whose housing policies have been decried for doing too little to help distressed homeowners.

Shares of the company were down about 13 percent at $13.13 in premarket trading.

Dell said it expects its revenue to grow 2 to 4 percent to between $14.7 billion and $15 billion for the current quarter, well short of the $15.4 billion analysts had been expecting on average.

A cautious IT spending environment and challenges in its PC business will keep dogging Dell in fiscal 2013, BMO Capital Markets analyst Jung Pak wrote in a research report and cut the price target on the stock to $16 from $18.

Dell’s first-quarter earnings and revenue were also lower than expected, hurt by weak sales to consumers, large enterprises and government units. Mobile devices like the iPad have hit demand for PCs.

By 2016, MetLife said it expects to increase its return on equity to between 12 percent and 14 percent, and will aim for emerging markets to account for 20 percent or more of total operating earnings.

“We have identified significant opportunities for us to continue our growth in a way that is disciplined, meets consumer needs and will position us to achieve return on equity expansion,” Chief Executive Steven Kandarian said in a statement.

MetLife is one of a number of companies that have submitted first round bids for the Asia life insurance business of ING, sources have told Reuters. The company boosted its presence in international markets in late 2010 when it bought Alico from AIG.

In the United States, the insurer said it would shift its business mix toward protection products, such as accident and health products, and away from more capital intensive products in an effort to generate more predictable cash flows.

MetLife, which will hold an investor conference on Wednesday, also said it expected to achieve $600 million in net pre-tax expense savings by 2016.

The company last month posted a $174 million loss for the first quarter on derivative losses tied to a rise in interest rates, but operating results beat expectations. Its strongest growth came in Asia and Latin America.

It’s a tall order, especially when the new Treasury chief also must deal with a fractious Congress – and all for a salary lower than that paid to many junior Wall Street bankers.

Economists, investors and veterans of past administrations are appraising potential successors to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, either in a new Obama administration, if President Barack Obama is re-elected, or under Mitt Romney.

Geithner has made it clear that he is leaving the post he has held since January 2009 even if Obama, a Democrat, beats Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in the Nov. 6 election.

Lots of names are making the rounds. Among Democrats, they include finance leaders like Larry Fink of asset management firm BlackRock and politically connected Washington insiders like fiscal expert Erskine Bowles.

If the White House goes to the Republicans, Glenn Hubbard, a top Romney adviser, is considered a front-runner, as is Robert Zoellick, the outgoing World Bank chief who boasts Wall Street experience and a contact list that spans the globe.

California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS, has already sued current and former Wal-Mart executives, saying allegations the company paid millions of dollars of bribes in Mexico and a cover-up by Wal-Mart officials raised the question of whether top executives should remain in place.

The allegations “indicate a breakdown of corporate governance and lack of oversight that should have averted this situation,” CalSTRS said in a statement.

CalSTRs added it “does not have confidence the current board has the independence and leadership needed to address these difficult issues.”

CalSTRS plans to vote its 5.3 million Wal-Mart shares against the re-election of all board members and encouraged other shareholders to do the same.

The $153.7 billion pension fund has said as an index investor, it is required to hold shares of the retailer, which is a component of the Dow Jones industrial average and many indexes.

Shares of Wal-Mart were up 0.8 percent at $63.53 in late-morning trading after rising to $63.55, their highest level in more than 10 years, earlier in the session.

Google, which made the deal to gain access to Motorola’s vast trove of technology patents, said on Tuesday that Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha has stepped down and has been succeeded by Dennis Woodside, former president of Google’s Americas region.

Woodside oversaw planning for the Motorola integration, according to Google. Jha will be retained to help manage a transition period.

The deal closing came just days after the companies won approval for the acquisition from the Chinese government. European and U.S. regulators approved the deal in February.

To gain approval in China, Google said the company promised to keep its Android mobile phone software open and free for at least five years and agreed to charge fair and reasonable fees for technology licenses.

Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said Woodside’s “fewer, bigger bets” would mean a simpler strategy: Fewer but bigger phone launches for Motorola Mobility, which will be an independent subsidiary of Google.

Woodside hired a slew of outside executives to run the company, including Vanessa Wittman, former chief financial officer of Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc, as CFO of Motorola Mobility.

The company, which has been facing higher costs of raw materials, will record total restructuring charges of about $109 million pretax, including about $94 million in the fourth quarter ending on May 27.

The remaining costs will be recorded in fiscal 2013, General Mills said.

The maker of Progresso soups, Cheerios cereal and Green Giant vegetables said the job cuts would occur across the company and would largely affect administrative and support positions.

General Mills said in March that third-quarter net income had fallen to $391.5 million, or 58 cents per share, from $392.1 million, or 59 cents per share, a year earlier.

On Tuesday, General Mills said it was backing its earlier forecast of earnings between $2.53 and $2.55 a share for the year.

The company’s shares were down 1 cent at $38.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stronger results eased concerns about the future of the retailer after Chief Executive Brian Dunn resigned abruptly last month amid a probe into allegations of personal misconduct.

Critics are also worried that Best Buy is serving as a showroom for Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers.

“Best Buy is in a turnaround, and the strategic priorities we laid out at the beginning of the year are just the first phase of the changes to come,” Interim CEO Mike Mikan said. “We know we have to better adapt to the new realities of the marketplace.”

Sales rose 2.1 percent to $11.61 billion, beating the analysts’ average estimate of $11.52 billion.

Net earnings fell to $161 million, or 47 cents a share, for the quarter ended May 5, from $255 million, or 64 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, it earned 72 cents a share, beating the average estimate of 59 cents.