NEW YORK

Wholesale-market Gold Investment bullion-bar prices slipped back to an overnight low beneath $1380 per ounce Thursday lunchtime in London, trading 0.5% down for the week as world equities crept higher and the US Dollar eased back on the forex market.

Applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. fell unexpectedly for the week ended Dec. 11, posting a decline for two consecutive weeks.

Australian dollar has been trending higher against the US dollar since early Wednesday in New York and the pair seems to be up for a fall within the trending channel, study on AUD/USD 10-minute chart shows.

AOL Inc. announced its acquisition of New York-based content marketing platform startup Pictela to bolster its advertising offering. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pictela is a platform for distributing videos, photos and applications across the Web in real time.

The companies which are expected to see active trade in Thursday are Oracle, Accenture, Research In Motion, Danaher, FedEx and General Mills.

The duo collaborate for the ninth time for the upcoming movie

Marrakech, a city in the North African country of Morocco, occupies the top slot of British Airways’ top 10 destinations of 2011, along with other popular places in the US, Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.

The war in Afghanistan is unlikely to be won, US Intelligence reports suggest. Even as President Barack Obama is all set to announce policy review on the war in Afghanistan, two classified reports state that it could be improbable to end Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgency in the Tribal regions of the country. The reports however, have fueled a bitter row between the intelligence agencies and the military over who has a better perspective and proximity in the war zone.

General Motors has paid $2.1 billion to complete the repurchase of preferred shares issued under a federal government bailout, the U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday. With this the auto maker has brought the total sum recouped by taxpayers to more than 23 billion dollars.

Stocks on Wall Street drifted lower, erasing an early-session rally, as the dollar jumped and traders weighed a credit downgrade warning on Spain and the U.S. Senate’s passage of the $885-billion tax cut extension bill.

A class action suit against AT&T for back wages and damages, filed on behalf of some of its information technology workers, has picked up more plaintiffs.

In spite of a fragile U.S. economy, 2010 could end up the second most profitable year for New York City’s securities industry, with the average Wall Street bonus topping last year’s figure due to fewer workers and high earnings, according to a report by the State Comptroller of New York.

Gain Capital Holdings, which operates retail foreign exchange broker FOREX.COM and other related services like contracts-for-difference trading, will debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday under the symbol GCAP.

Business activity in New York State rebounded in December after contracting sharply in November for the first time since mid-2009.

Swiss drug maker Novartis will pay $12.9 billion to buy the remaining shares of Alcon it doesn't already own to broaden its presence in the booming eye-care market, which is expected to outgrow the pharmaceuticals market in coming years.

Sealed off security zones in major American cities post 9/11 attacks has led to blighted landscapes and create an 'architecture of fear', said a study.

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson have officially confirmed that they have decided to end their two-year-old marriage.

The Australian dollar that rose above parity on Tuesday helped by renewed risk appetite after the US Fed's decision to keep its accommodative policy intact for an extended period of time, but was down across the board in Asian trade on Wednesday as investors booked profit.

Gold and silver fell off day's highs after stronger-than-expected US data released Tuesday morning in New York strengthened the greenback, losses in which had helped the metals rose to 1-week highs earlier in the day, but both metals held on to the SMA support strongly.

Viacom has attracted some high-profile support in its legal battle with YouTube, including software giant Microsoft and artists such as Garth Brooks and Sting.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University has introduced a unique specialization for water business aspirants as part of its Executive MBA program, in association with Wetsus, the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology