IBT Staff Reporter

Jobless claims hit a 10-week high last week while producer prices shot up in December, pointing to headwinds for an economy that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said was showing fresh vigor.

Gold fell on Thursday, snapping three sessions of gains as safe-haven buying subsided after successful European bond sales and a more positive economic outlook from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

On Thursday IBM demonstrated Watson, a computer consisting of a roomful of the company's Power7 processors -- sophisticated enough that it can understand language well enough to figure out the wordplay that makes up a Jeopardy! question.

Stocks edged lower on Thursday, hurt by a slide in drugmaker Merck and as falling commodities prices hit shares of natural resource companies.

Intel Corp cheered investors with a strong quarterly revenue forecast and better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings as sales to corporations grew.

AT&T Inc plans to report a $2.7 billion non-cash charge for the fourth quarter due to a pension-related accounting change aimed at making its numbers more transparent for investors.

The outlook for the U.S. economy has brightened, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday, though he warned that growth this year won't be strong enough to bring down the jobless rate as speedily as policy makers would like.

A number of states are altering electricity prices to make people use less, but that may have the effect of discouraging people from buying plug-in vehicles, according to a study from Purdue University.

Ultimate Software Group Inc said it has no current plans to sell itself, following a Reuters report that the cloud-computing company had hired an investment bank to consider a sale.

U.S. regulators are putting together a possible antitrust challenge to Google Inc's planned $700 million acquisition of airline ticketing software company ITA Software, sources knowledgeable about the deal said on Thursday.

Global competitiveness in the U.S. telecom and media sector will hinge on making more airwaves available to keep pace with the booming wireless market, government and industry officials agreed on Wednesday.

The euro zone faces short-term price pressures which could linger, the European Central Bank said on Thursday, showing it is ready to raise interest rates if needed although it expects inflation should be contained.

A U.S. judge approved a $7.2 billion settlement on Thursday to pay former customers of the Madoff firm, the largest yet in the worldwide search for money lost in Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

SAP said software sales jumped by about a third in the fourth quarter, boosting operating margins and sending its shares higher despite uncertainty over U.S. litigation. Europe's biggest software maker said on Thursday it expected operating income of more than 3.9 billion euros ($1.98 billion) for 2010, which would push its operating margin to 31.5 percent from 27.4 percent in 2009, when not usin...

Jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October last week while food and energy costs lifted producer prices in December, pointing to headwinds for an economy that has shown fresh vigor.

The Dow industrials fell on Thursday, hurt by a slide in Merck shares, but the market was near 28-month highs as investors saw stocks' upward trend continuing despite disappointing jobless claims data.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in November as exports climbed to the highest level in more than two years, government data showed on Thursday.

The U.S. economy should grow around 3 percent to 4 percent this year, a healthier clip than in 2010, but not enough to bring down unemployment as much as policymakers would like, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

U.S. regulators are putting together a possible antitrust challenge to Google Inc's planned $700 million acquisition of airline ticketing software company ITA Software, sources knowledgeable about the deal said on Thursday.

Russian prosecutors requested an inquiry into a telecom website that gives visitors a chance to shoot a cartoon likeness of President Dmitry Medvedev, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The risk of deflation, a damaging downward spiral of falling prices and lower wages, has declined in recent months, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

The Kenyan shilling KES= edged up against the dollar on the back of higher coffee and tea prices at auctions this week, but signs of a drought in the country could limit the currency's gains, traders said on Thursday.

SAP said software sales jumped by about a third in the fourth quarter, boosting operating margins and sending its share higher, despite continued uncertainty over U.S. litigation.

The U.S. economy should grow around 3 percent to 4 percent this year, a healthier clip than 2010, but not enough to bring down unemployment as much as policymakers would like, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

China is providing a $350 million concessionary loan to build a multi-lane toll road linking Uganda's capital with the country's Entebbe airport, 54 km (34 miles) away, Ugandan officials said on Thursday.

South African blue-chip stocks booked another 2-1/2-year closing high on Thursday, rising 0.6 percent as shares of Anglo Platinum and other resource companies continued their recent run.

Ethiopia has penalised retailers and suppliers in the capital who raised the prices of consumer goods such as bread by amounts higher than caps set in January, authorities said on Thursday.

Oil prices at $100 a barrel would not harm the world economy and there is no need for OPEC to hold an emergency meeting or add supplies, Libya's top oil official said on Thursday.

Sales of mobile handsets in Russia are estimated to have risen by 25 percent in units last year, but the market value lagged as the average selling price declined, Russia's top mobile operator MTS said.