ECONOMY & MARKETS

Factory gate inflation rose twice as fast as expected last month, and the cost of raw materials soared, heaping pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates sooner rather than later.

A recession is the decline of a nation's gross domestic product (GDP) over two or more consecutive quarters. It is also referred to as a period of economic decline and reduced economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way. GDP, employment, investment spending, capacity utilization, household incomes; business profits and inflation all fall, while bankruptcies and the unemployment rate rise. Here is a list of recessions that occurred since the Great ...

It is official. Nokia will be adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as its new smartphone operating system (OS), a move that could be the beginning of a new era for the Finnish mobile giant.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: Chipotle Mexican, Cambrex, Emulex, Liz Claiborne and Nexen. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Och-Ziff Capital Management, Leapfrog Enterprises, Regal Entertainment, Trueblue and Ingram Micro.

Consumer prices in Germany fell more than estimated in January, as demand declined due to seasonal factors.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Orthovita, Falconstor Software, Panera Bread, Neurocrine Biosciences, and Stamps.com. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Expedia, Blue Nile, Hoku, MannKind, and Optimer Pharmaceuticals.

Following is the full text of an open letter published by Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Flood and storm-battered northern Australia is likely to suffer more frequent weather extremes, according to a study of coral cores that reveal a centuries-old climate record for the region.

Soaring oil prices will help France's Total (TOTF.PA) produce bumper annual profits on Friday, when investors hope for details on how much Europe's third-largest oil group will invest to revive output.

Stocks finished narrowly mixed, amidst much speculation that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would voluntary resign from his office. (He later announced that will stay on until September elections).

On Thursday, yields on the Portuguese 10-year sovereign debt reached an all-time euro-era high of 7.6 percent.

World stock markets fell hard on Thursday, with Hong Kong shares losing 2% and London's FTSE100 dropping 0.9% by lunchtime. Indian stock markets have lost more than $20 million per minute so far in 2011, the Economic Times reports, with billionaire Anil Ambani blaming vicious and illegal rumors.

A halt to cocoa-buying in Ivory Coast is leaving beans to rot in farm warehouses, while smuggling through Ghana intensifies and some growers switch to other crops, farmers said on Thursday.

Growth in South Africa's manufacturing output slowed to just 0.2 percent on the year in December and was far below analysts forecasts, showing the vital sector still struggling to recover from a recession in 2009.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are warning poor regions that have so far not been hit by rising food prices, like sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, to get ready to face them.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday despite better-than-expected jobs data with tech stocks particularly remaining weak as disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment

Ford Motor Co sued Ferrari for trademark infringement after the Italian sports care maker named its 2011 Formula 1 racing car the F150.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data as disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment.

Analysts have estimated that China’s consumer price index (CPI) went past 5 percent in January on annual basis, Securities Daily reported on Thursday.

Gold eased below $1,360 an ounce in Europe on Thursday as the rising dollar pressured prices, and with Asian buying still light after the Lunar New Year holidays.

Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. fell more than expected for the week ended Feb. 5, marking a drop for the second consecutive week.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Sequenom, Whole Foods Market, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Clearwire, and Xenoport. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Idenix Pharmaceuticals, EZchip Semiconductor, Amkor Technology, TriQuint Semiconductor, Akamai Technologies, and Cisco Systems.

The Brazilian government plans to cut the federal budget by about $30 billion in 2011, which is more than double the budgetary cut last year, said a media report on Thursday.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Whole Foods, Sprint Nextel, FMC Technologies, Akamai Technologies, Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse, Lennar Corp and PepsiCo.

Robert W. Baird upgraded its rating on shares of Diodes Inc. (NASDAQ: DIOD) to outperform from neutral on attractive valuation. The brokerage raised its price target on shares of the supplier of components to chipmakers to $32 from $20.

The number of identity fraud incidents decreased by more than a quarter in the US last year, recording the lowest levels since 2007, said a survey by Javelin Strategy & Research.

Caught between calls to rein in inflation and prop up the fragile economic recovery, BoE's Monetary Policy Committee decided to support the government's fiscal tightening efforts without bumping off the shoots of economic recovery.

Industrial production in the UK rose in December last year, mainly led by a sharp increase in the output of utilities.

In order to phase India into the global Eurofighter Typhoon program as a significant manufacturing and engineering partner, the Eurofighter partners will promote strategic relationship between India and Europe.