IBT Staff Reporter

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke argued on Thursday the Fed must retain its regulatory powers, telling lawmakers that supervising banks helps it set monetary policy and will help guide its pullback of extraordinary support for the battered economy.

How much thought do you give to a stock's ticker symbol? One glance at one of these short alphabetical codes can tell an investor a company's name, its financial health, where it trades, and even its nationality. And in the penny stock world, it's not uncommon for tickers to get just a little tricky. Here's everything you need to know to decipher penny stock ticker symbols.

Metal mining giant Alcoa announces earnings today, a release that marks the start of earnings season. And while Alcoa's far from a penny stock with a $17 billion market capitalization, the fact is that the tone this company sets will have a supreme effect on all of the issues we're watching in the small-cap world.

Virtual worlds are the next Internet frontier. And one company is developing the next-generation technology to profit from them. Here's everything you need to know to stay ahead of the curve...

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross on Thursday said he was quite possibly interested in teaming up with Richard Branson's Virgin Money to bid for state-owned British bank Northern Rock.

The European Central Bank chief is cautious about the prospect of European and worldwide economic recovery while the Philadelphia Fed Bank President is more optimistic about the US economy.

The United Nations said on Thursday at least 36 of its personnel were killed in this week's earthquake in Haiti, the worst loss of life the world body has ever suffered in a single incident.

Eastman Kodak Co has taken legal action claiming Apple Inc's iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry camera phones infringe the photography company's patents.

U.S. Internet giant Google has threatened to shut its China operations after cyber attacks emanating from the country, in response to which Beijing defended its censorship policies.

Cadbury fired the final salvo in its defence on Thursday, branding Kraft Foods' bid as more unattractive than a month ago, as Cadbury shares rose on hopes of a rival bid from Hershey.

The European Central Bank kept benchmark interest rates unchanged at a record low of 1.0 percent on Thursday with the ECB expected to remain in a holding pattern given uneven growth and low inflation.

President Barack Obama pledged $100 million for Haiti relief aid on Thursday and enlisted the help of two former U.S. presidents, promising Haitians: You will not be forsaken.

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross on Thursday said he was not considering buying American International Group's mortgage insurance unit United Guaranty.

The Red Cross federation estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people died as a result of the earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

Stocks traded slightly higher on Thursday, led by the technology sector after upbeat brokerage comments on Oracle Corp and ahead of an expected profit report from Intel Corp.

Green technologies posed the investment opportunity of our lifetime said Deutsche Bank's global head of asset management, in a study published on Thursday.

Private equity investors have shortlisted investment banks for an offering of stock in Denmark's leading telecom operator TDC, a $9 billion company, which would be Copenhagen's biggest offering in years.

The heads of Canada's four largest banks said on Thursday they remain focused on capital conservation because of uncertainty over global regulatory changes and the riskiness of making acquisitions.

U.S. regulators admitted to failing to head off the 2008 financial crisis as they appeared before a panel whose chairman said he plans to seek testimony from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Oil and gas company Forest Oil Corp said production results from its third and fourth wells in the Texas Panhandle Granite Wash area exceeded its expectations, sending its shares up 14 percent to a year-high.

Technological advances have led to a sharp fall in the weight of women's handbags, research from British department store chain Debenhams has revealed.

President Barack Obama made Haiti relief efforts a top priority for the U.S. government on Thursday.

U.S. business inventories rose more than expected in November, according to a government report on Thursday, supporting views of a pick-up in the economic growth pace during the fourth quarter.

Hundreds of Bulgarians protested Thursday against planned legal amendments allowing mass monitoring of emails, electronic messages and phone calls to fight crime and corruption.

U.S. stocks traded flat to slightly higher on Thursday as upcoming earnings from Intel Corp spurred interest in technology shares, though gains were limited by an unexpected drop in December retail sales.

The Problem: Steven's original résumé did little to present him for his career of choice-historian or history teacher-and instead simply presented descriptions of tasks performed.

Financial regulators, lulled into inaction by soaring bank and Wall Street profits, failed to protect Americans from the 2008 financial crisis, senior U.S. officials told an investigative panel on Thursday.

A senior Chinese official told companies to support the government's Internet controls on Thursday, suggesting scant room for compromise with Google after the company threatened to quit China over censorship and hacking.

A German judge on Thursday canceled a planned day of hearings in the trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of helping to kill 27,900 Jews in the Holocaust, because the 89-year-old said he was ill.