ECONOMY & MARKETS

The top companies trading higher in NASDAQ stock market during Thursday's early session are: Berkshire Bancorp, WSB Holdings, Bassett Furniture Industries, Arctic Cat, and Netflix. The top companies trading lower in NASDAQ stock market during Thursday's early session are: Hawkins, Princeton National Bancorp, Span-America Medical Systems, ShoreTel, and First Financial Bancorp.

Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. rose unexpectedly for the week ended Jan. 22, following a sharp decline in the previous week.

US stocks modestly rose in early trade on Thursday, following weaker-than-expected reports on initial jobless claims, durable goods orders and mixed corporate earnings.

Gold fell back from its third overnight rally in four days in London trade on Thursday, dropping 1.1% against the Dollar. We don't feel that this downward pressure can persist, given ample global liquidity and low long-term real interest rates, says Standard Bank's commodity team in a client note.

Morgan Keegan upgraded Qualcomm Inc. to outperform from market perform, a day after the CDMA chip maker reported strong quarterly results and boosted its fiscal 2011 outlook.

Gold priced in yen rallied to session highs on Thursday after yen came under broad pressure following a downgrade to Japan' sovereign ratings. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut its rating on Japan's sovereign debt to AA- from AA ...

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Thursday are: AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, Altria, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Motorola Solutions, Colgate-Palmolive, Celgene and Lockheed Martin.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: 1-800-Flowers.com, Netflix, Network Engines, Abington Bancorp, and Qualcomm. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Rex Energy, Starbucks, E*Trade Financial, China Natural Gas, and Research In Motion.

Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to a record low in 2010, as the country’s economy records the fastest growth since 1985.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Netflix, Teradyne, Qualcomm, Symantec, AT&T, Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Procter & Gamble.

Egypt's stock exchange reopened after being suspended on Thursday and the benchmark index .EGX30 extended its decline to 8.2 percent from 6.2 percent before the halt.

Retail sales in debt-stricken Spain fell sharply in December 2010, recording a decline in sales for the sixth consecutive month.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a modestly higher opening on Thursday ahead of economic data including durable goods orders and pending home sales as well as slew of earnings reports.

The U.S. Treasury could sell all of its stock in General Motors Co. within the next year, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing an unidentified Treasury official.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Thursday are: Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, AT&T, Altria Group, Caterpillar, Colgate-Palmolive and Eli Lilly.

U.K. start up Ubiquisys has rolled out a portable cell phone signal - dubbed the attocell - that allows people travelling abroad to make and receive calls as if in their home country.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Wednesday are: AMB Property, Teradyne, ProLogis, Astoria Financial and DCT Industrial Trust. The top after-market NYSE losers on Wednesday are: Quantum Corp, Murphy Oil, Motorola, Robert Half International and LDK Solar.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Netflix, Qualcomm, Tractor Supply, Integrated Silicon Solution, and Abington Bancorp. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Rex Energy, Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Starbucks, E*Trade Financial, and Verigy.

China's annual economic growth is expected to ease to about 9 percent in the first quarter while consumer inflation is projected at 5 percent, according to a government think tank report published in the official Chinese Securities Journal on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs on Thursday downgraded motorcycle maker Hero Honda and utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra to sell, from neutral and buy ratings respectively.

The BSE Sensex erased early gains and was trading down 0.4 percent on Thursday, as the near-term outlook for foreign funds' interest was far from promising due to better prospects elsewhere.

Jack Plunkett, CEO of Plunkett Research, believes the U.S. economy is headed towards a secular boom between now and 2025.

Gold rose on Wednesday, snapping a four-day losing streak, after the Federal Reserve's lukewarm economic assessment and its plan to complete its bond-buying program boosted bullion's safe-haven appeal.

Boeing Co. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. drive Dow to highest point since June 2008.

History has shown that the ratio between the median cost of a new home and the median household income in the U.S. is a key indicator of how the overall economy will perform.

Unless the U.S. addresses [its] fiscal problem, we’re going to see a train wreck, said Nouriel Roubini.

The much-admired Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been rocked by a shocking scandal.

Algeria must urgently create jobs for its young unemployed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report published on Wednesday, highlighting a problem that has fuelled unrest throughout the region.

Dow hits 12,000 as U.S. stocks post moderate gains in mid-morning trading