IBT Staff Reporter

(Corrects analyst's affiliation in last paragraph to ThinkEquity instead of Kaufman Brothers)

Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, who has been treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, said on Thursday he is committing most of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy after his death.

Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen, who has been treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, said on Thursday he is committing most of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy after his death.

Vivus Inc, hoping to bring to market the first new prescription diet drug in more than a decade, told U.S. medical advisers on Thursday that its weight-loss pill gives patients a safe option for shedding pounds and improving their health.

The broadest overhaul of financial rules since the Great Depression was on its way to becoming law on Thursday after it cleared a crucial hurdle in Congress.

U.S. nutritional supplements maker NBTY Inc said it agreed to be bought by Carlyle Group for $3.8 billion in one of the biggest private equity deals so far this year.

A U.S. judge handed a 12-year prison sentence on Thursday to Hassan Nemazee, a former fundraiser for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who admitted to a $292 million fraud of three major banks.

Storied buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co made its long-awaited debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, and its shares were nearly unchanged.

Discovery Communications Inc accused Amazon.com Inc of infringing patents covering electronic book delivery and security with its Kindle e-book reader and said the Internet retailer should be forced to pay royalties.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it will extend warranties on about 235,500 RAV4 vehicles and address steering complaints on as many as 500,000 late model Matrix and Corollas in the United States.

Ford Motor Co has named Jim Farley its first head of global marketing, sales and services and appointed the head of Volvo to run its European operations when it completes the sale of the unit to China's Geely

Dear Sam: In this time of deep unemployment and many folks like myself out of a job for 12 months now, how is it even possible to think we can afford to find hundreds of dollars to cover a résumé service?

A strike has broken out at a south China factory supplying parts for Japan's Honda Motor, the latest in a string of stoppages by Chinese workers demanding a bigger piece of the country's economic wealth.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday on anemic economic data that overshadowed solid earnings results from banking bellwether JPMorgan Chase & Co .

Honda Motor Co, Japan's No.2 automaker, will drop plans to build a new minivehicle factory and focus on its green vehicles business

South Korea is ready to consider creative solutions to open its market to more U.S. beef and auto imports to help win U.S. approval of a bilateral free trade agreement

China's press watchdog has threatened to shut down more than 120 websites offering pornographic fiction, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The death of a parent is always hard, but for Julie Smolyansky it was compounded by having to quickly take over her father's successful food company, which makes a cultured milk product called kefir.

Gold rose on Thursday, benefiting from a retreat in risk appetite after soft U.S. economic data knocked stocks, the dollar and industrial commodities lower. Spot gold was bid at $1,211.70 an ounce at 1528 GMT against $1,207.50 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose $5.40 to $1,212.40.

JPMorgan Chase & Co posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday as it wrote off fewer bad loans, but its shares dropped as investors fretted about management's sober assessment of the economy.

The broadest overhaul of U.S. financial rules since the Great Depression was on its way to becoming law on Thursday after it cleared a crucial hurdle in Congress.

The U.S. dollar fell broadly on Thursday, with the euro soaring to a two-month high above $1.29 as soft inflation and manufacturing data added to concern about the strength of the U.S. economy. Data showing a third straight monthly decline in producer prices came a day after Federal Reserve meeting minutes revealed policymakers think they may need to do more to boost the economy if a sputtering recovery slows any further.

Banks repossessed a record number of U.S. homes in the second quarter, but slowed new foreclosure notices to manage distressed properties on the market, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

ACM's (www.ac-markets.com) latest trading platform integrates new technologies and features not available during the original software development.

Top scorers Germany and winners Spain elicited the most positive reaction from online fans of this year's soccer World Cup, whilst France's player crisis made them the most maligned team of the tournament.

Three straight weeks of record low mortgage interest rates has spurred another refi boom. That's understandable: The idea of locking in 4.5 percent for 30 years is really tempting.

Factory activity growth in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region fell unexpectedly this month, a survey showed on Thursday.

New U.S. claims for jobless aid tumbled to a near two-year low last week, but a modest gain in industrial output and a third monthly drop in wholesale prices in June confirmed a slackening in the economy's recovery.

Oil reversed earlier gains to fall below $76 a barrel on Thursday after falls in U.S. equities and weak macroeconomic data curbed expectations for future demand growth in the world's largest oil consumer. By 1416 GMT front-month U.S. crude was trading down $1.50 at $75.54 a barrel, after earlier jumping to $77.66. ICE Brent was down $1.25 at $75.52 a barrel.