Stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as investors awaited results from technology bellwether Intel Corp and a report on December U.S. retail sales, a day after the Dow index rose to a fresh 15-month high.
The risk that deteriorating government finances could push economies into full-fledged debt crises tops a list of threats facing the world in 2010, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.
Stock index futures dipped on Thursday as investors awaited quarterly results from technology bellwether Intel, a day after the Dow industrials rose to a fresh 15-month high.
Senior U.S. regulators, including outspoken Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair, will tell their side of the story on Thursday to a commission examining the origins of the 2008 financial crisis.
Japan's core machinery orders tumbled to a record low in November, adding to government fears of a return to recession that could heighten the need for yet more fiscal stimulus spending.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.11 percent, Dow Jones futures unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.11 percent at 4 a.m. EST.
The Treasury Department will own billions of dollars worth of financial assets when a taxpayer-financed bailout program is over and has not set clear principles for disposing them, a government watchdog agency said on Thursday.
China told companies to back state control of the Internet on Thursday, showing no sign of giving ground on censorship after U.S. Internet giant Google threatened to quit the country.
World oil prices remained below $80 a barrel in Asian trade Thursday after reports of increase in US stockpiles. Light sweet crude for February delivery was seen trading at $79.80 a barrel at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $78.49 a barrel at the same time.
Gold prices advanced for the second successive day in Asian trade Thursday as the dollar remained under pressure. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1143.45 an ounce at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were up 0.6 percent at $1,143.30 per ounce at the same time.
The gold price boom in the last one year has turned several commodities analysts into bullion experts. But when it comes to consistent forecast of gold price, everyone loves to listen to what Jim Sinclair utters. A seasoned gold bull, Sinclair has been arguing all these years that gold is real money and thus gold price is headed for a boom.
* WHAT: China's Q4 GDP growth* WHEN: Jan 21
The chairman of a U.S. congressional panel said he wants to see all of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's communications about the Federal Reserve's payouts to counterparties of insurer AIG Inc at 100 cents on the dollar after a government bailout.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average gained 1 percent on Thursday, with tech shares up after their U.S. rivals gained and exporters also higher as worries about the negative impact of China's monetary tightening on its economy faded.
Two top Federal Reserve policy-makers said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank will need to be certain the economic recovery is firmly in place before tightening its monetary policy stance.
The chairman of a U.S. congressional panel said on Wednesday he wants all of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's communications about the Federal Reserve's payouts to counterparties of insurer AIG Inc at 100 cents on the dollar after a government bailout.
It took only a few weeks of research for Romanian entrepreneur Emi Gal to decide where to base his digital media firm, and his choice confounds a fairly enduring set of stereotypes about Britain's global appeal.
As the economic downturn persists, lawmakers are increasing tobacco product taxes. This is changing the tobacco market, says 7 Leaf Trading Post CEO Ric Gardiner, and Native American and all-natural cigarettes may be a big beneficiary.
A plan by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to join a consortium advocating revenue transparency earned the praise of those watching its emerging oil sector. Maliki during the weekend announced plans to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative by becoming an EITI candidate country in February.
Cyber attacks on Google Inc's China operations could scare businesses and consumers into spending more on protection, benefiting security companies like McAfee Inc, Symantec Corp and Trend Micro.
Wall Street's chiefs acknowledged taking on too much risk and having choked on their own cooking, but stopped short of an apology as they sparred with a commission looking into the origins of the financial crisis.
Time Warner Inc, Lions Gate Entertainment and private equity firms are among those weighing potential offers for the debt-ridden MGM studio, but no bids have come in yet, several sources familiar with the matter said
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urged China on Wednesday to ensure a secure commercial environment for Google and other U.S. companies after the world's top search engine said it may shut its Chinese-language website because of cyber attacks.
The Obama administration is broadening the standards for how the U.S. government funds public transportation projects in order to disburse money quickly and improve the environment.
The devastating earthquake in Haiti is the biggest natural disaster so far in the Twitter era, and response on the micro-blogging site has been accordingly momentous.
Commercial real estate was still soft across the United States, according to a compilation of reports from Federal Reserve Bank districts known as the Beige Book.
U.S. chocolate maker Hershey Co is still working on a bid for Cadbury Plc that would top Kraft's hostile $17 billion takeover offer, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
U.S. economic activity remained at a low level as 2010 began but was improving modestly and beginning to broaden out to include wider swaths of the country, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.
U.S. securities regulators proposed rules on Wednesday that would require more supervision of unlicensed high-frequency traders who gain unfettered, or naked, access to public markets.
The Australian Dollar opens marginally higher today at 0.9230 after the greenback weakened against several major currencies during overnight trade.
