Reuters – Wall Street was set to open flat on Thursday, with investors eyeing retail sales and weekly jobless data for fresh insight into the state of the recession-hit economy.

* Investors will watch a 30-year treasury note auction for direction on interest rates, one day after a weak 10-year auction sent yields on the benchmark note to a eight-month high. The latest results are due at 1 p.m. EDT.

* Stock investors have been concerned that rates may dampen an economic recovery by increasing borrowing costs for consumers and businesses and are drawing money away from the stock market.

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Bloomberg – MBIA’s split of its bond- insurance business was challenged by hedge funds alleging the move hurts owners of about $240 billion of debt while benefiting stock investors, executives and some policyholders.

The reorganization, in which MBIA stripped $5.4 billion of assets and its U.S. municipal business from a unit that now mainly insures only structured-finance bonds, “represents the height of insidious greed,” the Aurelius Capital Management and Fir Tree Partners funds said in a lawsuit filed today.

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Tags: assets, aurelius capital, bloomberg, bond insurance, bonds, capital-management, finance, fir tree partners, greed, insurance, insurance business, mbia, municipal business, partners funds, policyholders, reorganization, stock investors