IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. retailers including discounter Costco Wholesale and teen chain Zumiez posted slightly disappointing April same-store sales, and the early report suggested Wall Street's hopes for a consumer rebound may be getting ahead of the pace of recovery.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday as investors looked for buying opportunities after a sell-off that has driven the S&P 500 down 3 percent for the week.

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR said Thursday that an agreement has been reached with Turkey concerning the price of Azerbaijani gas and its transit through Turkish territory. The new agreement will enable the smooth functioning of the Nabucco gas project.

Uganda's third gold refinery named Victoria Gold Star started operations with a capacity to refine 60kg of gold daily. The refinery, built with the help of Russian investors at a cost of around $1.5million, was located at Fifth Industrial area in country's capital Kampala.

This week the world got a taste of the things to come for base metal mining companies in the world. Almost all companies involved in mining have posted lucrative gains in the financial year results. One major aluminium producing company, Vedanta, has posted 187 per cent surge in annual earnings per share on a rebound in metals prices and stronger output.

Swiss Re , the world's second-biggest reinsurer, boosted its capital by around $3 billion, giving it confidence it can repay a costly convertible loan from billionaire Warren Buffett and regain a key credit rating.

CHICAGO - Phillip Leslie needed software coders to develop mobile applications for his fledgling startup, ProOnGo LLC, which offers a solution to keep track of business receipts on a smartphone, using the device's built-in camera.

Oil hovered near $80 a barrel on Thursday, after earlier hitting a six-week low as fears that Greece's economic crisis may spread to other European nations raised uncertainty over future global energy demand. The euro fell to a 14-month low, while the U.S. dollar strengthened as skepticism that Greece could deliver on its promises of strict austerity measures dominated financial markets.

A gauge of online demand for labor in the United States rose in April for a third straight month and posted its largest year-on-year percentage gain since July 2007, a private research group said on Thursday.

The economy is showing signs of improvement but the recovery still has a long way to go and ultra-low interest rates are still needed, a top Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday.

Japan's Nintendo Co posted its first quarterly profit growth in more than a year, helped by the launch of a popular game, but it forecast a second straight year of smaller profits as sales of its Wii console slow.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that banks must be able to engage in some risk-taking to help their customers and it would be a mistake to remove their ability to do so.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rise 0.1 to 0.2 percent, pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street on Thursday, after sharp declines in the previous session.

A Japanese ruling party panel called on the government and the Bank of Japan on Thursday to make utmost efforts to keep the yen at appropriate levels as part of efforts to pull the world's No.2 economy out of deflation.

* Fears of dollar squeeze seen in Thai, Indian markets * Worries grow that Greek debt crisis will spread * New Zealand swaps curve shifts upwards, rate hike seen

India's state owned oil companies would be increasing production from oil fields in Venezuela. India's petroleum minister Minister Murli Deora met the visiting Venezuelan Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Temir Porras Poncelon here and conveyed the decision.

Ukraine said it will press for changes in the natural gas price formula fixed by Russia's Gazprom and its Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said here, We have agreed that we will work on this, since the formula does not satisfy us.

The U.S. Senate made progress on a financial regulation reform bill on Wednesday, approving two amendments aimed at preventing a repeat of the massive taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street in 2008.

LOS ANGELES - Google has taken the rare step of asking a California judge to declare that by linking to copyright-infringing works on Rapidshare, the search giant is not facilitating the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs.

Starting next week Sprint Nextel Corp's Virgin unit will sell a new cellphone service plan to cater for the increasing number of young people who prefer to use their phone for text messaging rather than talking.

Greece's economic crisis sent shivers of fear through global markets on Thursday over concern it could spread like wildfire through Europe and beyond.

* Rosengren argues ultra-low rates still needed * Hoenig urges hard leverage constraints * Plosser says regulators humbled by crisis

Till recently there were reports that if you invest in garlic, turmeric and Nickel you are all set to reap a fortune. Because these commodities had shown record performance in the recent months. In fact garlic had shown a 300 per cent rise at the time of swine flu menace as the Chinese believed that garlic can prevent the epidemic.

World oil prices recovered in Asian trade Thursday and moved past $80 a barrel as the dollar eased amid signs of improvements in US economy. Light sweet crude for June delivery was seen trading at $80.21 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 82.81 a barrel at the same time in London.

CME Group has announced the launch of Cheese futures and options on futures. The cash-settled contracts will be available on CME Globex, the exchange's electronic trading platform, with trading scheduled to begin on June 20, 2010, for trade date June 21. These contracts will be listed by and subject to the rules and regulations of CME.

Gold prices rebounded in Asian trade Thursday as the dollar eased amid concerns over Greek debt crisis remained. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1175.84 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for June delivery was at $1176.9 an ounce at the same time.

The Asian Development Bank launched a $9 billion solar power initiative to develop projects generating 3,000 megawatts by 2012. The announcement, which came at the regional lending agency's annual meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said that Central Asian countries would be prime candidates for siting the projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into disclosures made by billionaire investors Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc as it sought to purchase Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Regulators, whose authority over broadband was put in doubt by a recent court ruling, will announce on Thursday that it will reassert its powers but will refrain from imposing strict burdens on broadband providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.