IBT Staff Reporter

GMAC LLC, the General Motors Corp financing affiliate that received a government bailout, said its mortgage unit is hiring 1,000 people to handle a surge in refinancings and jumbo loans.

US Treasuries pulled back for a second session after economic data releases for Thursday demonstrated signs that the US economy may be finding points of stability.

Air China, which posted bigger-than-expected 2008 losses, returned to profit in the first quarter of 2009, helped by an exceptional gain and lower fuel costs.

Nippon Steel Corp and other steelmakers have agreed with Toyota Motor Corp to cut steel prices by more than 10 percent this business year, a newspaper said, a smaller-than-expected price cut.

Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's largest bank, said it will take a charge of roughly $850 million (C$1.03 billion) because the value of its international businesses has declined, reducing second-quarter earnings by an equivalent amount.

Overall U.S. video game sales fell 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.

The new head of Hong Kong's Catholic Church Thursday pledged to defend human rights and urged China to allow greater religious freedom in his influential new role as a bridging figure for Sino-Vatican ties.

Google Inc's YouTube said on Thursday it has reached a deal to post Sony Corp films and TV shows and was talking with other big studios to ramp up content and attract more advertising dollars.

U.S. Vice President Biden detailed on Thursday the Department of Energy's plan to develop the smart-grid by distributing about $4 billion to utility companies and other groups involved into the task.

Senator John Kerry said after talks with senior Sudanese officials on Thursday Khartoum would allow some foreign aid to be restored in its western Darfur region but that it was not sufficient.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon will collaborate in the US-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change, a new association to promote renewable energy and lower carbon output, the White House announced Thursday night.

The Federal Reserve and other regulators will release the results of bank stress-test on the 19 biggest U.S. banks on May 4, a central bank official said.

President Barack Obama opened the door on Thursday to more changes in U.S.-Cuba policy, but based them on Cuban reciprocation that analysts said may be difficult to get.

Google Inc's YouTube video-sharing site has signed content deals with several Hollywood studios, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

There were more electronic security breaches last year than in the previous four years put together and the financial sector suffered the biggest rise in attacks from hackers looking for big stashes of consumer data, according to a report from Verizon Communications.

There were more electronic security breaches last year than in the previous four years put together and the financial sector suffered the biggest rise in attacks from hackers looking for big stashes of consumer data, according to a report from Verizon Communications.

Americans are growing less pessimistic about the recession-hit U.S. economy's prospects, but they remain worried about job security, a Gallup survey showed on Thursday.

The number of Americans claiming jobless aid hit a record in early April and groundbreaking for new homes slumped last month, but a top Federal Reserve official voiced hope the recession was ending.

Waterboarding represented a threat of imminent death to a terrorism suspect but the interrogation technique did not constitute torture because there was no evidence it caused lasting mental harm, according to a 2002 U.S. Justice Department legal memo released on Thursday.

Activist investor Carl Icahn and private equity fund Oaktree Capital Management have amassed hundreds of millions of dollars of MGM Mirage bonds and have told the troubled casino firm it should quickly overhaul its massive debts in bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Nicaraguan government announced it had given a diplomatic passport to Thailand's former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Investment funds are battling with large banks over the fine print of a U.S. housing rescue plan that will determine many of the final winners and losers in the recent housing bust.

General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.

Overall U.S. video game sales fell 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.

Rosetta Stone Inc shares finished their first day of trading up nearly 40 percent Thursday, following the company's initial public offering, making it the strongest start of a new stock in nearly a year.

General Growth Properties Inc, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, declared bankruptcy on Thursday in the biggest real estate failure in U.S. history.

President Obama unveiled a plan Thursday on a system of high-speed railway service, hoping to stimulate the economy and help the environment.

U.S. regulators on Thursday released some details about their bank stress tests, moving to bolster the credibility of a process some investors worry might not reveal the financial sector's true health.

On Tuesday an activist Bank of America Corp investor said he expects shareholders to demand that Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis give up his job as chairman.