UNITED STATES

China's imports surged in October as exports grew at their slowest rate in months, suggesting efforts to tilt the economy toward domestic demand may be offsetting the external weakness that has dragged on economic growth this year.

UBS is shutting its asset-backed securities business in the United States, Swiss newspaper HandelsZeitung reported on Thursday without citing sources.

UBS is shutting its asset-backed securities business in the United States, Swiss newspaper HandelsZeitung reported on Thursday without citing sources.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 60 percent of respondents -- a group that included both self-identified Democrats and Republicans -- say the federal government should have a hand in reducing income inequality in the U.S.

The head of the International Monetary Fund called on Thursday for political clarity in efforts to tackle the debt crisis that has gripped Italy, saying uncertainty around who would succeed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was fuelling market volatility.

The head of the International Monetary Fund called on Thursday for political clarity in efforts to tackle the debt crisis that has gripped Italy, saying uncertainty around who would succeed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was fuelling market volatility.

Stock index futures pointed to a rebound on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 1.1 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.9 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 1 percent at 4:47 a.m. ET.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's departure was inevitable, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

Following are some of the stocks that declined in the extended trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik Thursday said that Ajmal Amir Kasab, who has been sentenced to death for the 2008 Mumbai attack, should be hanged. This could be a new strategy from the side of Pakistan which is trying to change the image it appears to have of a nation following double standards while dealing with the global concern about terrorism.

Tokyo's stock exchange warned scandal-hit Olympus Corp on Thursday it will be delisted after 62 years as a publicly traded company if it fails to report earnings by December 14, another blow to the Japanese camera-maker's chances of survival.

Olympus Corp's use of accounting tricks to hide big losses has raised questions about whether its auditors, the Japanese arms of global giants KPMG and Ernst & Young, should have done more to follow up on red flags.

Black Friday, the beginning of the Christmas shopping season has almost arrived in the U.S. where the retailers will offer products at a very cheap and discounted rate to kick off the the shopping season and hope to go into the Black (profitable) for the year.

As expected, Tehran is annoyed with the International Atomic Energy Agency's Tuesday report stating serious concerns about Iran's clandestine program aimed at developing nuclear warheads.

A key gauge of Japan's corporate capital spending fell more than expected in September and manufacturers expect a further drop this quarter as business confidence sags in the face of the strong yen and slowing global growth.

A key gauge of Japan's corporate capital spending fell more than expected in September and manufacturers expect a further drop this quarter as business confidence sags in the face of the strong yen and slowing global growth.

Asian stocks fell around 3 percent on Thursday after soaring Italian borrowing costs stoked fears that the debt crisis in the euro zone's third biggest economy will overwhelm its financial defenses, raising the risk of a break-up of the currency area.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a study on a supplemental poverty measure that complements the nation's official poverty evaluation. Under the new guidelines, 49.1 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, are classified as living in poverty. This is 2.9 million more than which are classified under the official measure.

Japan's scandal-hit Olympus Corp is likely to miss a Monday deadline for reporting its first-half earnings, sources with knowledge of the matter said, a failure that would bring the 92-year-old firm a step closer to delisting.

Walt Disney Co will seek to reassure Wall Street that global economic woes have not hurt its nearly $11 billion parks and resorts business or held back an advertising rebound at ESPN and its other cable networks.

Owing to the negative publicity by some conservatives, the US Department of Agriculture is re-assessing a 15 percent tax on purchase of Christmas trees.