IBT Staff Reporter

No. 1 U.S. warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp saw June sales at stores open at least a year rise 4 percent, marginally missing market expectations, as it was hurt by the Memorial Day holiday shift.

China bought a record $7.9 billion in short-term Japanese debt in May, a surge widely viewed as temporary while sovereign debt concerns buffet the euro, rather than a shift in China's long-term investment stance.

CNN has fired a senior editor for Middle East news after she published a Twitter message that said she respected a Lebanese Shi'ite cleric branded a terrorist by the United States, U.S. and British media said on Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund upgraded its 2010 global growth forecast on Thursday on the back of robust expansion in Asia and renewed U.S. private demand, but warned the euro area's debt crisis posed a big risk to recovery.

Apple Inc will open its second flagship store in China, in the heart of Shanghai's financial district on Saturday, the company said on Thursday.

World's largest gold producer, China witnessed record surge in gold trading during the first half of this year. According to Shanghai Gold Exchange, domestic investors' gold frenzy pushed trading volume of the yellow metal to an historic high in the first half of the year, with gold imports also surging to a record.

Gold prices extended gains in Asian trade Thursday mainly on increased physical buying, a firmer euro against the dollar and also on rising stocks. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $ 1204.48 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time after dropped as low as $1185 on Wednesday.

Oil jumped to a one-week high above $75 on Thursday after earnings euphoria injected positive sentiment into Asian equities, reinforcing overnight gains triggered by an industry report showing U.S. crude inventories plunged last week.

Gold rose to hold above $1,200 an ounce on Thursday on steady purchases from jewelers and other physical buyers after a recent drop to a six-week low, while sentiment was also lifted by gains in equities markets.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks were set for their best gains in over two weeks on Thursday after a bullish company forecast fuelled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned a slow return by investors to riskier assets.

The euro pushed to a two-month high against the dollar on Thursday as short-covering kicked in after strong Australian jobs data sent the Aussie dollar up and helped gains in other currencies against the greenback and yen.

BP is aiming to plug its leaking Gulf of Mexico well by July 27, weeks sooner than forecast, according to a newspaper report on Thursday, while a battle between the U.S. government and the oil industry over a deepwater drilling ban heads to court.

The Obama administration heads to court on Thursday with a single goal -- to reinstate a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling imposed in response to the BP Plc oil spill but blocked by a federal judge.

BP boss Tony Hayward met with an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday, part of a quest for cash to ward off takeovers and help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Besieged energy giant BP Plc aims to fix its leaking Gulf oil well by July 27, ahead of its earlier target of mid-August, to show investors it has limited its burgeoning oil spill liabilities, the Wall Street Journal said, citing company officials.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks were set for their best gains in over two weeks on Thursday after a bullish company forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned a slow return by investors to riskier assets.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks climbed to their highest in more than a week on Thursday after a bullish forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned growing tolerance for risk.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks climbed to their highest in more than a week on Thursday after a bullish forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned growing tolerance for risk.

BP boss Tony Hayward met with an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday, part of a quest for cash to ward off takeovers and help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Obama administration will keep tax rates at levels that benefit job-creating businesses and limit taxes on capital gains and dividends, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

The government is launching a program nicknamed Perfect Citizen to detect cyber assaults on private U.S. companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear power plants, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition, citing people familiar with the program.

The oil drilling industry goes head-to-head with the Obama administration in court on Thursday over the White House effort to suspend deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for six months in the wake of the catastrophic BP Plc well blowout.

The Australian dollar has received another boost overnight after an improvement in investor risk appetite.

American scientists have stumbled on a technique to restore the motor skills of Parkinson's sufferers by lighting genetically created pathways in the brain that control body movement.

An eye expert from the University of Sydney's Vision Centre said Wednesday that watching 3D TV for a few hours each day will not damage the eyes nor affect one's depth of perception.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co is suing a former financial adviser who defected to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and has already transferred $30 million of client assets to his new company, according to documents filed in the New York Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Traders were content to play the ranges between 0.8470 and 0.8510 during yesterday's domestic session in light of the sharp rally above US85 cents the previous day.

Asset management and custody firm State Street Corp said on Tuesday that quarterly operating earnings would easily top Wall Street forecasts, sending its shares up nearly 10 percent and boosting the broader market.

Europe listed 91 banks taking part in financial stress tests -- including many regional banks where markets suspect most of the sore spots are -- as it seeks to restore confidence in the sector.