UNITED STATES

Nintendo Co Ltd reported a 42 percent fall in quarterly operating profit as the yen's strength outweighed robust game sales, and the Japanese video game maker forecast a bigger-than-expected 12 percent profit decline this year, pressuring its shares.

A trio of top European banks showed bad debts are ratcheting up as economies worsen and unemployment rises, although investor optimism ahead of U.S. bank stress test results drove shares to year highs.

Anheuser-Busch InBev beat forecasts with stronger first-quarter earnings and clinched the sale of its Korean brewer on Thursday, sending its shares higher, though it warned profit growth would slow.

U.S. car maker General Motors Corp is eyeing a stake in Fiat SpA's car business in exchange for its European and Latin American operations, the New York Times reported on its website.

Shares are set for a mostly higher open on Thursday, ahead of the results of the stress tests for banks.

U.S. carmaker General Motors Corp is eyeing a stake in Italian peer Fiat SpA in exchange for the American automaker's European and Latin American operations, the New York Times reported on its website.

British bank Barclays Plc said first-quarter profit rose 15 percent as strong growth at its investment banking arm made up for a big jump in bad debts as economies worsen, sending its shares to a seven-month high.

Barclays Plc said its first quarter profit rose 15 percent from a year ago as strong growth at its investment bank arm made up for a big jump in bad debts.

Asian shares extended their rally Thursday as encouraging signs about the health of U.S. banks and the global economy bolstered riskier assets such as oil and hurt safe-havens such as the yen.

Regulators are ordering some of the largest U.S. banks to find tens of billions of dollars of capital to cushion themselves in the event of a deep economic downturn.

A rally in Asian shares continued on Thursday as encouraging signs about the health of U.S. banks and the state of the global economy bolstered riskier assets such as oil and hurt safe-havens such as the yen.

Some of the U.S. banking giants have been ordered to find additional capital by regulators to protect themselves in the event of a severe economic downturn.

Bank of America Corp's chief executive and top federal officials will be asked by a Congressional panel to testify next month about claims that the bank was pressured by the government to complete its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

Bank of America Corp's chief executive and top federal officials will be asked by a Congressional panel to testify about claims that the bank was pressured by the government to complete its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

Fixes headline to say BofA CEO will be asked to testify: report, instead of will testify

Bank of America Corp's chief executive and top federal officials will be asked by a Congressional panel to testify about claims that the bank was pressured by the government to complete its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

Regulators are ordering some of the largest U.S. banks to find tens of billions of dollars of capital to cushion themselves in the event of a deep economic downturn.

The Boston Globe's biggest union reached a tentative accord on Wednesday with owner New York Times Co to secure the money-losing newspaper's survival after a month of intense negotiations.

The U.S. government could provide tax breaks for newspapers or allow them to operate as nonprofits to help the struggling business survive, Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday.

Legislation aimed at reversing a 3-year-old ban on Americans placing online bets was introduced on Wednesday by U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

President Barack Obama's Defense Department plans to create 20,000 new government jobs to help revise how it buys more than $100 billion of weapons each year, the Pentagon's No. 2 official told Congress.