IBT Staff Reporter

Wall Street stock indexes fell for a fourth straight day on Thursday as a massive sell-off in commodities spilled over into other markets, forcing investors out of higher-risk assets and rattling equities markets before Friday's U.S. payrolls data.

In Hebei, China, a teenager named Lui Shi Ching, 16 years old, has carried his friend to school daily for the last 8 years. His friend Lu shao has a congenital disorder which makes it difficult for him to walk.

A tripling of profits by General Motors Co was marred by incentives to lift car sales, raising doubts about the automaker's ability to maintain momentum since emerging from bankruptcy.

General Electric Co and Rolls Royce Group Plc asked the Pentagon on Thursday to let them resume development, at their own expense, of a controversial alternate engine for the multinational F-35 fighter jet.

Oil plunged more than 8 percent on Thursday, heading for the third biggest daily drop in dollar terms on record, as concerns about economic growth and monetary tightening spurred a sell-off in commodities.

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers, cutting back a bloated management bureaucracy he helped build, has kicked off a sweeping overhaul to revive the networking equipment maker's flagging fortunes.

Video conferencing services developed by Huawei and ZTE will shake up the market in coming years in the same way the Chinese vendors changed the telecom gear sector, research firm Ovum said on Thursday.

Oil collapsed into free-fall on Thursday, diving as much as 10 percent and sending U.S. crude back under $100 a barrel as investors staged a nearly unprecedented stampede for the exits.

Visa Inc's quarterly profit rose more than expected as increasingly confident consumers spent more, but doubts remain about the payments network's ability to grow under looming regulation.

The silver price in US dollars experienced a very sharp fall back of over 30 percent within 4 days. The main trigger were extremely rare and aggressive margin hikes for COMEX futures, which helped to eliminate a large chunk of speculative positions on the metal.

Winners of the 15th Annual Webby Awards announced including Justin Beiber, Arcade Fire and Old Spice Guy.

Cablevision Systems Corp posted a higher profit on Thursday, but shares fell as it added fewer Internet and phone subscribers than expected in its core New York area.

A $9 billion, 100-plane order from the leasing arm of U.S. insurance group AIG has lifted Airbus above Boeing Co in new jetliner sales this year, putting pressure on the EADS unit rival to clarify its next plane design.

Stocks fell for a fourth day on Thursday as a massive sell-off in commodities spilled into other markets, forcing investors out of riskier assets and rattling the equities market before Friday's payrolls data.

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose to an eight-month high last week and productivity growth slowed in the first quarter, clouding the outlook for an economy that is struggling to gain speed.

Analysts say Intel has its sights set on the mobile space and ARM Holdings.

Fashion retailer Tommy Hilfiger is set to buy the Clock Tower Building at 5 Madison Avenue for $170 million, according to the WSJ.

The Internet vigilante group Anonymous denied responsibility for a cyber-attack on Sony Corp's networks that exposed the personal data of more than 100 million video gamers.

When Bristol Palin appeared at the Candie's Foundation 2011 benefit gala on Tuesday in New York, people started speculating whether she has had some work done on her face.

Sony's security was not updated and the PlayStation Network had little firewall protection, according to the testimony of a cybersecurity expert before Congress.

Federal prosecutors have narrowed their criminal case against Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

China has found some U.S.-made passenger cars benefited from unfair subsidies, damaging its carmakers, although Beijing side-stepped a potential trade row with the United States by not hitting them with duties.

Research In Motion's decision to open its highly secure Enterprise servers to Apple and Android smartphones is a once-unthinkable concession that could save the BlackBerry maker's skin.

The hacker collective Anonymous has denied that it took part in the attack on Sony's systems, saying that the group or its members have not been known to steal credit card numbers.

The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Thursday after a weak labor market report fueled new fears about the strength of the economic recovery and as energy shares tumbled with the price of oil.

Cisco announced changes to its management structure.

The Made in the USA label may be poised for a comeback, a new study argues.

Cablevision Systems Corp posted a higher first-quarter profit on Thursday as it added more high-speed Internet and phone subscribers, boosted by its acquisition of Bresnan Communications last year.

Less is more at Con-way Inc .