NEW YORK — Denied a federal bailout, CIT Group Inc. saw its shares plunge 75 percent yesterday as bondholders scrambled to find an 11th-hour solution that would keep the commercial lender out of bankruptcy protection.

But there is no guarantee they will be able to save the ailing company, which teeters on the brink after failing to get emergency government funding. CIT said late Wednesday that talks with regulators about a possible rescue had broken off after days of round-the-clock negotiations.

The move marked a defining moment for the Obama administration and showed it's drawing a line in the sand on federal rescues for troubled financial firms.

NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS LOWEST SINCE JANUARY

WASHINGTON — The number of newly laid-off Americans signing up for unemployment benefits last week, and those using this safety net over a longer period, both fell. But the government figures released yesterday were clouded by difficulties adjusting for temporary shutdowns at auto plants.

The Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 47,000 to 522,000, the lowest level since early January. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected claims to rise to around 575,000.

JPMORGAN REPORTS 36% JUMP IN PROFITS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The banking industry has another winner.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported a 36 percent jump in second quarter profits yesterday, easily surpassing analysts' forecasts as huge gains in its investment banking business outweighed higher losses from bad loans.

The results came two days after rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also posted surprisingly good results, solidifying the companies' position as the strongest players in the industry. Many other banks are still struggling to emerge from the worst of a credit crisis that peaked last fall.

GOOGLE POSTS PROFIT BUT SHARES FALL 3%

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. showed off its moneymaking prowess again with a second-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates, shaking off its slowest revenue growth yet as the recession caused Web surfers to click on fewer ads.

The performance disappointed investors as shares in the Internet search leader fell by nearly 3 percent in yesterday's extended trading after the results were released.

Google is the most profitable company on the Internet, thanks to its dominance of the online advertising market. That means its lackluster revenue growth could foreshadow even more significant sluggishness among other Internet companies that rely on advertising and e-commerce when they report their second quarter results in the next couple of weeks.