BUSINESS

Stock index futures rose on Thursday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its third straight day of gains as investors looked to a batch of economic data for signs the economy will continue to slowly improve.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its third straight day of gains as investors awaited a batch of economic data for signs the economy was slowly improving.

China further tightened rules on microblogs on Thursday, requiring new authors on seven websites in southern Guangdong province to register their real names, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, in a move users decried as ineffective.

Financial stocks led a solid recovery on European share markets Thursday in thin trade and bank-to-bank lending rates fell, as signs grew that the nearly half a trillion euros banks borrowed from the region's central bank will ease funding strains.

Financial stocks led European share markets higher on Thursday in thin trade, while the euro rose, on hopes the nearly half a trillion euros in three-year funds that banks have borrowed from the region's central bank will ease current funding strains.

European stocks and the euro rose on Thursday, recovering much of their losses a day earlier when banks borrowed nearly half a trillion euros in three-year funds from the region's central bank, with concerns about the health of Europe's financial system keeping gains in check.

It was a Cinderella story: a pig-rearing and vegetable-growing hamlet in China's eastern Jiangsu province that transformed itself into a village boasting millionaires and expensive cars, all through plywood, ingenuity and the Internet.

NYU is considering a project that would turn the large building at 370 Jay Street, currently owned by the MTA, into the Center for Urban Science and Progress. The new facility would be an attempt to attract top talent from scientists and engineers around the world.

Smoke cigarettes, and you'll pay the price--especially if you're in New York City. Island Smokes, a business that allows patrons to roll their own cigarettes, has two locations in New York (one in Long Island, the other in the Lower East Side), but has agreed to shut down its business in order to avoid a lawsuit from the city. The stores will be closed by February 1.

Heungkuk Life Insurance Co has withdrawn a $47 million lawsuit against Goldman Sachs & Co over the Timberwolf collateralized debt obligation and will arbitrate the case instead.

Bank of America Corp's Countrywide Financial unit agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $335 million to settle civil charges that it discriminated against minority homebuyers, an historic settlement for the Obama administration in the wake of the subprime mortgage morass.

Activist investment fund Starboard Value has taken a 4.5 percent stake in AOL Inc and is pushing for a meeting with the Internet company's chief executive and the board to address what it sees as strategic failings.

Walgreen Co still believes it can succeed even if it stops filling prescriptions for Express Scripts Inc on January 1, and its stance suggests that the odds of the drugstore making up with the pharmacy benefits manager before the end of the year are remote.

Saab Cars North America said it hired a financial adviser to administer its operations, after its Swedish parent was declared bankrupt by a court on Monday.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday reiterated the high and rising U.S. federal and government debt burden was not consistent with keeping its AAA credit rating, but said no decision on whether to cut the top level rating is likely to come before 2013.

Jefferies Group Inc's profit dropped 23 percent during its fiscal fourth quarter as the investment bank took aggressive steps to reduce risk-taking after MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy.

KB Home posted a lower fourth-quarter profit on reduced margins, sending shares down as much as 8.5 percent, but said orders for new homes surged and home prices rose in another sign that the beleaguered housing market was gaining a foothold.

This year was a turning point in the history of Silicon Alley. Investments flooded into many young companies, and Mayor Bloomberg and Cornell University bet big on the future of New York technology.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday warned again that the United States' rising debt burden was not consistent with maintaining the country's top AAA credit rating, but said there would likely be no decision on whether to cut the rating before 2013.

Don't throw your wallet away yet.Many big-name retailers from Gap to Toys R Us are partnering with banks, payment processors and Google to let shoppers tap their mobile phones instead of swiping their credit cards to pay for goods. But the new mode of payment is not expected to take off in earnest for at least another couple of years.

Daniel Mudd, the embattled former chief executive of mortgage financing company Fannie Mae, is taking a leave of absence from him current job as head of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group , the company said on Wednesday.

Kevin Ryan, chief executive of online retailer Gilt Groupe, is keeping close tabs on congressional legislation that might enable him to have more shareholders in his young company.

More than a dozen Italian banks, including top lenders UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, tapped 116 billion euros ($143.52 billion) of new three-year loans offered by the European Central Bank, nearly a quarter of the total, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Stocks declined modestly on Wednesday as equities retreated from recent gains, while weak earnings from Oracle raised concerns about the health of the tech sector, pressuring the group and pushing the Nasdaq down more than 1 percent.

Stocks fell on Wednesday as weak earnings from Oracle raised concerns about the health of the tech sector ahead of the start of fourth-quarter earnings season in January.

Walgreen Co posted an unexpected drop in quarterly profit as the largest drugstore chain's margins were hurt in part by its contract dispute with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Inc .

Daniel Mudd, the embattled former chief executive of mortgage financing company Fannie Mae, is taking a leave of absence from him current job as head of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group , the company said on Wednesday.

Home sales rose in November, adding to hints of recovery, but updated data showed the housing crash was much deeper than previously thought.

New York City's pension funds want three big Wall Street banks to impose tougher compensation-clawback rules for top executives.