IBT Staff Reporter

Loss-making bank VTB (VTBR.MM) expects to return to the black next year, with full-year 2010 net profit seen at around 50 billion roubles ($1.66 billion), Chief Financial Officer Herbert Moos said on Thursday.

A U.S. court of appeals has stayed a bankruptcy court's decision that approved television station owner ION Media Networks Inc's (IIONQ.PK) reorganization plan, Cyrus Capital, a creditor of the company, said.

Savings and loan companies OceanFirst Financial Corp (OCFC.O) and Central Jersey Bancorp (CJBK.O) said they agreed to end their merger agreement, citing lack of regulatory approval, sending shares of Central Jersey down 26 percent to a new 8-year low.

Jitters in the financial sector prompted by tough new proposed regulations sent banks sliding on Thursday while commodity stocks also retreated on weaker raw material prices, pulling the FTSE 100 down 1.9 percent by close

Factory activity accelerated rapidly in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region in December, a survey showed on Thursday, hitting its highest in 4-1/2 years and assuaging some worries the industrial recovery is slowing.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as a rebound in the dollar dampened appetite for risk, while a FedEx forecast weighed on transportation shares and a prominent analyst cut estimates for two major banks, compounding losses for financials shares.

UAL Corp , parent of United Airlines, on Thursday said it expects its consolidated passenger unit revenue to be down between 6.25 percent and 7.25 percent in the fourth quarter.

Merger & acquisition (M&A) activity is set to pick up in European pharmaceuticals, mining and telecoms with deal volumes to climb in 2010 as balance sheets improve and borrowing costs stay close to long-term lows.

Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) is interested in bidding for commodity trading joint venture RBS Sempra as part of plans to strengthen its commodities business and is one of several suitors remaining, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

A fragile global economic recovery is underway, and a double-dip recession remains unlikely, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

The Conference Board's gauge of future economic conditions rose in November, for its 8th straight monthly increase, boosted by improving financial conditions, employment and housing, the private research group said on Thursday.

For more stories on the Dubai crisisAs Dubai developers reassured the world their ambitious construction projects would go ahead, officials from the emirate were expected in New York to shore up confidence after a debt landslide threatened its top companies.

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said it can pull out of its $30 billion acquisition of XTO Energy (XTO.N) if U.S. lawmakers pass legislation on a controversial drilling technique used to tap oil and gas fields.

Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones turned away potential investors this year, deciding to limit the size of his BVI Global Fund Ltd to better invest the money he already has.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed maintaining the Kyoto Protocol, against the European Union's preferred position, as he warned on Thursday U.N. climate talks were heading for disaster.

Everybody knows social media firms are growing like gangbusters. Facebook, for instance, recently surpassed 350 million users, 16 months after reaching 100 million users.

Dwindling prospects a strong climate deal at a U.N. summit in Copenhagen were likely to knock carbon permits under the European Union emissions trading scheme, traders said, and prices fell to a two-week low on Thursday.

Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry phone, said Thursday that some of its North American customers are experiencing outages with the phone's BIS, or BlackBerry Internet Service which is affecting their email service.

Leaf Clean Energy Co, which invests in clean-energy companies mainly in North America, agreed to merge with closed-end investment company Trading Emissions Plc in an all-share deal, creating the largest carbon-focused company listed in London.

Rite Aid Corp posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday, helped by pharmacy sales, and its shares rose 4.5 percent.

Sony Corp said it struck a deal with News Corp that will make The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and the New York Post available on its electronic reader, the latest shot fired in an intensifying battle with Amazon.com Inc's popular Kindle device.

The Google phone, A.K.A the Nexus One, was so last week, today, it's all about a newly-rumored Google netbook. According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, Google has already submitted a request for proposal to a hardware manufacturer, with a list of detailed technical specifications.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as the dollar rebounded, diminishing the appetite for risky assets, while FedEx forecast profits below estimates and Citigroup got a cool reception for its stock offering.

Three films, Inglorious Basterds, Precious and Up in the Air, earned three nominations apiece from the Screen Actors Guild on Thursday, giving them a boost in the race for Oscars.

French rocker Johnny Hallyday, who has been hospitalized in Los Angeles, has taken legal action to determine whether his Paris surgeon was at fault over a previous operation for back trouble, his publicists said on Thursday.

The idea of brooding, dramatic double-Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis singing and leaping around a stage in a movie musical seemed as improbable to him initially as it might be for audiences.

All nations need to set tougher targets to combat global warming at a U.N. summit and the rich should spell out how much aid they will give the poor by 2020, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

U.S. motorhome maker Winnebago Industries Inc said its quarterly loss narrowed as demand for its biggest and most profitable vehicles showed signs of life, sending Winnebago shares up as much as 15 percent.

Vinny Cerrato announced his resignation from the Washington Redskins' executive Vice Presidency of football operations, the club announced Thursday morning.