IBT Staff Reporter

Sony Corp said Thursday that its net profit for the second quarter soared on turnaround in its electronics operations.

Stocks were little changed on Thursday as a batch of weak economic data offset positive earnings from tech companies, including Motorola Inc. Data showed orders for durable goods declined unexpectedly in September. Another report showed a fall in initial jobless claims was smaller than expected. Finally, sales of new homes in September were below expectations.

Investors looking to gauge economic sentiment drew upon several government reports on Thursday indicating the state of home sales, durable goods investments and jobless claims.

The pace of new home sales rose in September from a weaker August number, and orders for long-lasting manufactured goods dropped, according to data released on Thursday that showed a slow-growing economy. Stocks rose after the home sales data suggested that the stumbling housing market was no worse than feared.

U.S. Treasuries eased on Thursday, after data on new housing sales came in just short of expectations and added little to existing chances of a modest Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.

Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd nearly tripled its first-half profit and boosted its annual earnings outlook on Thursday as its popular Wii and DS game machines outsell rival Sony Corp's PlayStation.

Strong corporate earnings and speculation about another cut in U.S. interest rates boosted stocks on Thursday but the Bank of England issued a stark warning that all is not over in the credit crisis.

The dollar fell closer to a record low versus the euro on Thursday after a report showed an unexpected fall in September durable good orders, bolstering the view a slowing U.S. economy will prompt a cut in U.S. interest rates next week.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion will target multinational corporations in the first phase of its new push into the huge Chinese market, its co-chief executive said on Wednesday.

Google Inc has hit its stride with a strategy that focuses on Web search, advertising and applications, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday, as he downplayed possible threats.

Sony Corp swung to a quarterly operating profit thanks to strong sales of personal computers and digital cameras and a weaker yen, and it raised its full-year forecast by 2 percent.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc posted a narrower third-quarter loss, helped by sales of its key drug Soliris, sending its shares up nearly 8 percent in early electronic trade.

Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, which stunned Wall Street with $8.4 billion in write-downs in the third quarter, could have to write down another $4.5 billion in the current quarter, a Goldman Sachs analyst's report said on Thursday.

Travelers Cos Inc, the top writer of commercial auto and business insurance policies, said on Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 15 percent, helped by strong underwriting results.

British insurer Standard Life has made a mostly cash takeover bid for rival Resolution, valuing it at around 4.9 billion pounds ($10 billion), the two sides said on Thursday, confirming an earlier report.

China's biggest lender ICBC is to buy 20 percent of South Africa's Standard Bank for 36.67 billion rand ($5.6 billion) in cash, in the biggest foreign investment yet in Africa.

Motorola Inc on Thursday posted third-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates and forecast a profit for the fourth quarter, raising expectations the mobile handset maker had begun to turn its business around. Shares of Motorola, which had fallen in the first two quarters of this year, rose 4.6 percent in premarket trading.

Stock futures rose on Thursday as results from mobile phone maker Motorola Inc and fellow tech leader EMC Corp helped ease worries about third-quarter earnings.

Honda Motor Co posted a forecast-beating 63 percent jump in quarterly earnings as strong sales of its new CR-V crossover made up for higher raw material costs, and it raised its full-year net profit forecast on a lower tax rate. Honda's factories are running at full capacity around the world -- including in Japan despite weak sales at home -- thanks to brisk demand for exports to North America and Europe.

Brent crude hit an all-time high and U.S. oil surged more than $1 towards $89 on Thursday, after a slide in U.S. oil stocks renewed fears of an energy crunch during the northern hemisphere's winter heating season.

The world's biggest jumbo jet landed safely in Sydney on Thursday, completing its long-delayed first commercial flight from Singapore.

The Bushehr nuclear power plant Russia is building for Iran will operate under the strict control of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, a senior Russian official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Turkish forces said they repelled a Kurdish rebel attack near the Iraqi border and President Abdullah Gul warned the PKK on Thursday that Turkey's patience was running out.

California wildfires that have destroyed 1,300 homes and forced the evacuation of 500,000 people raged into a fifth day on Thursday but firefighters seized on a break in the weather to largely halt the march of destruction.

Asian indexes were mixed Thursday, with financials dropping in Japan after Mizuho Financial Group reported losses related to U.S. subprime markets, while South Korean shares jumped on Samsung Securities a day after the brokerage firm announced strong earnings.

Countrywide Financial Corp. said on Wednesday that Henry Cisneros, a former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Development, resigned from its board of directors.

Wal-mart, the world's largest retailer is considering concentrating more on its international stores as well as opening up more stores in other countries for its business growth.

Hewlett-Packard unveiled an experimental data centre in Bangalore that boasts a 20 per cent reduction in power and cooling costs. The data centre uses thousands of heat sensors scattered throughout to direct cool air to where it is needed.

The semiconductor industry may be slowing down according to a new report released by the Fabless Semiconductor Association.