IBT Staff Reporter

Billionaire Carlos Slim's America Movil launched a $21 billion offer on Wednesday for Mexican telephone company Telmex and Telmex Internacional to give a boost to his telecom empire.

LaBranche & Co Inc said on Wednesday it agreed to sell its New York Stock Exchange specialist business to Barclays Plc for $25 million in cash, reflecting the difficulties standalone market makers face in a shrinking industry.

Japanese retailer Ministop, South Korea's Lotte Group and U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group will make final bids for South Korean retailer Buy The Way on Friday, two sources said.

Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell in December as consumer spent less on vehicles and an array of other goods during the holiday shopping month, data showed on Thursday, raising concerns about the durability of the economy's recovery.

Stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as investors awaited results from technology bellwether Intel Corp and a report on December U.S. retail sales, a day after the Dow index rose to a fresh 15-month high.

Stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as investors awaited results from technology bellwether Intel Corp and a report on December U.S. retail sales, a day after the Dow index rose to a fresh 15-month high.

Google Inc says it may be forced to leave China, but the search giant has room to compromise in its battle with Beijing, and both sides have reason to do so.

The top U.S. futures regulator will unveil long-awaited proposals on Thursday aimed at barring manipulators from high-flying energy markets, but the agency is expected to tread lightly with its new regulations, at least initially.

The risk that deteriorating government finances could push economies into full-fledged debt crises tops a list of threats facing the world in 2010, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

Rio Tinto , the world's second-biggest iron ore miner, beat its forecast for iron ore output, reflecting surging demand from Chinese steelmakers and setting the stage for tough contract price talks.

Stock index futures dipped on Thursday as investors awaited quarterly results from technology bellwether Intel, a day after the Dow industrials rose to a fresh 15-month high.

Senior U.S. regulators, including outspoken Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair, will tell their side of the story on Thursday to a commission examining the origins of the 2008 financial crisis.

TSMC, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, said it will recruit more than 3,000 employees, or about 13 percent of its total workforce, in 2010 as it expands capacity to meet future demand.

Japan's core machinery orders tumbled to a record low in November, adding to government fears of a return to recession that could heighten the need for yet more fiscal stimulus spending.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.11 percent, Dow Jones futures unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.11 percent at 4 a.m. EST.

A Japan Airlines Corp bankruptcy will have a wide-spread impact on small businesses that account for half of the nearly 3,000 Japanese companies that do business directly with the carrier, a research firm said.

The Treasury Department will own billions of dollars worth of financial assets when a taxpayer-financed bailout program is over and has not set clear principles for disposing them, a government watchdog agency said on Thursday.

Asian shares rebounded on Thursday as fears receded that China's policy tightening would slow its demand, while strong Australian jobs data raised the chances of a February interest rate hike and boosted the Aussie dollar.

China told companies to back state control of the Internet on Thursday, showing no sign of giving ground on censorship after U.S. Internet giant Google threatened to quit the country.

U.S. Internet giant Google's threat to withdraw from China is generating an outpouring of nationalist fervor from the country's online community, with some cheering it as a victory for the Chinese.

Share markets in Asia rebounded on Thursday as worries that China's policy tightening would slow its demand receded, while strong Australian jobs data raised the chances of a February interest rate hike and boosted the Aussie dollar.

World oil prices remained below $80 a barrel in Asian trade Thursday after reports of increase in US stockpiles. Light sweet crude for February delivery was seen trading at $79.80 a barrel at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $78.49 a barrel at the same time.

Gold prices advanced for the second successive day in Asian trade Thursday as the dollar remained under pressure. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1143.45 an ounce at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were up 0.6 percent at $1,143.30 per ounce at the same time.

The gold price boom in the last one year has turned several commodities analysts into bullion experts. But when it comes to consistent forecast of gold price, everyone loves to listen to what Jim Sinclair utters. A seasoned gold bull, Sinclair has been arguing all these years that gold is real money and thus gold price is headed for a boom.

A law firm representing a U.S. software maker that is suing China for code theft said it has been targeted by Chinese hackers, a day after Google Inc. threatened to withdraw from the country following similar attacks.

* WHAT: China's Q4 GDP growth* WHEN: Jan 21

The chairman of a U.S. congressional panel said he wants to see all of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's communications about the Federal Reserve's payouts to counterparties of insurer AIG Inc at 100 cents on the dollar after a government bailout.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average gained 1 percent on Thursday, with tech shares up after their U.S. rivals gained and exporters also higher as worries about the negative impact of China's monetary tightening on its economy faded.

Two top Federal Reserve policy-makers said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank will need to be certain the economic recovery is firmly in place before tightening its monetary policy stance.