UNITED STATES

Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with investors seeing a sliver of hope the U.S. economy has bottomed, while the euro edged up before a European Central Bank meeting at which rates may be cut for the last time in a while.

The U.S. Justice Department has opened about 100 criminal investigations into wealthy American clients of the Swiss bank UBS AG , the New York Times said, citing a person briefed on the matter.

U.S. auto sales fell 37 percent in March, a smaller-than-expected drop that encouraged hope that the world's largest car market is nearing a bottom after a freefall that has pulled the industry into a deepening crisis.

Accounting giant KPMG was hit with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Wednesday over claims its grossly negligent audits helped trigger the collapse of a top subprime mortgage lender at the start of the U.S. housing crisis.

North Korea has begun fuelling a long-range rocket and could launch it by the weekend, CNN said, with the United States and others promising punishment for a move they say violates U.N. resolutions.

World leaders are set to declare an end to unfettered capitalism at a G20 summit on Thursday after France and Germany demanded they act fast on promises to prevent a repeat of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

Although the U.S. economy is expected return to growth later this year, there is a danger of a second recession if monetary easing and a weak dollar leads to increased inflation expectations, a report said on Wednesday.

Accounting giant KPMG was hit with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Wednesday over claims its grossly negligent audits helped trigger the collapse of a top subprime mortgage lender at the start of the U.S. housing crisis.

U.S. auto sales fell 37 percent in March, a smaller-than-expected drop that encouraged hope the world's largest car market is nearing a bottom after a freefall that has pulled the industry into a deepening crisis.

Honda Motor Co. is to cut U.S production in the coming month and will reduce salaries due to economic downturn in auto sales drop.

Changes to General Motors Corp's contract with the United Auto Workers union could save the automaker $1.1 billion or more in hourly labor costs, GM said in a report to the U.S. Treasury released on Wednesday.

US President Barrack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev committed to launch negotiations on a new nuclear arms treaty to reduce nuclear warheads on Wednesday, issuing a broader cooperation pact across a wide range of policy areas.

U.S. regulators have reached the closing phase of stress tests to gauge the health of the nation's top banks, and are bracing for a battle to get those firms to accept tough appraisals.

US President Barack Obama said that all the participating countries at G20 summit should work together to tackle the global financial crisis and should recognize they had to forget their occasional differences on how to promote economic growth and trade.

Stocks climbed on Wednesday as factory and home sales data raised hopes the economic downturn is moderating, sparking a broad advance.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday she expects the U.S. economy to stabilize this year and begin to recover in 2010.

U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co and Intel Corp , the world's largest chip maker, have scheduled a joint press conference for Thursday, and are expected to discuss an alliance in health care, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.

The U.S. auto industry's March sales met or beat Wall Street's dismal expectations, sending a bit of light into a sector struggling to mimic the incentive-driven successes of their European rivals.

GMAC Financial Services said it will resume making car and truck loans to subprime borrowers and will lower inventory financing costs for cash-strapped auto dealers, part of a series of moves intended to spur sales at General Motors Corp .

There was no peering into anyone's soul, and there was no bonding over Colgate toothpaste.

General Motors Corp on Wednesday reported a 45 percent decline in auto sales for March in the U.S. market, but the drop was broadly within expectations for the struggling automaker.