U.S. stocks rose on Thursday after a Wall Street analyst said brokerage shares were undervalued and McDonald's Corp raised its annual dividend by 50 percent.
At a Senate hearing on his nomination to head the U.S. central bank, Ben Bernanke pledged to follow the risk-management path of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan: steering policy based not only on the most likely outcome, but on less-probable, but costly, scenarios as well.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he was late to see the storm gathering around U.S. mortgage lending practices and commended his successor Ben Bernanke's handling of the crisis, saying he would likely be responding in a similar fashion.
Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Thursday that it had lined up $12 billion of secured financing to help cope with a housing slowdown that has reduced loan demand and will lead to widespread layoffs.
Chinese shares have reached a dangerously high level because the market is failing to price risks properly, just as investors misjudged the value of U.S. subprime mortgages, an academic economist said on Thursday.
The dollar rebounded against the yen and euro on Thursday as investors resumed buying the U.S. currency after nearly a week of declines, although expectations of a cut in U.S. interest rates capped gains.
Oil rose to an all-time high of $80.20 on Thursday after Hurricane Humberto forced the closure of some U.S. Gulf refiners and stoked concerns of fuel shortages this winter.
The Nissan concept car Mixim turned heads at the Frankfurt International Motor Show -- a futuristic three-seater that looks more like a video game centre than a car and was designed with the help of teenagers who hate cars from around the world.
Japan's finance minister became the first to launch a bid to lead the country on Thursday as the ruling party scrambled to avoid a policy vacuum after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's shock resignation.
Apple Inc is calling a London news conference next Tuesday as speculation mounts that the consumer electronics guru will unveil long-awaited plans to bring its iconic iPhone cell phones to Europe.
LG Electronics' shares surged 4 percent on Thursday, boosted in part by a U.S. court decision to stay an import ban on mobile phones containing Qualcomm chips, but analysts warned the impact would be limited.
First Horizon National Corp, the largest bank in Tennessee, said on Wednesday it plans to eliminate at least 1,500 jobs by the middle of next year as it slashes its mortgage sales force and closes branches.
Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Thursday its mortgage fundings slid 17 percent in August from a year earlier to $34 billion on the housing slowdown and credit tightening in the mortgage market.
Most Asian stocks rose on Thursday with energy stocks higher as oil held near a record peak above $80, while expectations of an U.S. rate cut next week pinned the dollar near an all-time low versus the euro.
European shares fell on Thursday, led by France's Alcatel-Lucent, which cut its full-year revenue forecasts, while record-high oil prices made oil and gas producers the top gainers in early trade.
Foreign companies that have poured billions of dollars into Chinese stocks are not looking to bail out, despite a decision by two major U.S. firms to cash in and realize huge profits from their investments.
Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent cut its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday, sending its shares down by nearly 10 percent and adding further pressures to the recently merged group.
Sprint Nextel Corp customers can now use mobile phones to shop for everything from shoes to televisions in a new service the No. 3 U.S. wireless company has launched to boost revenue.
The U.S. economy will be penalized by the current crisis in credit markets but the overall outlook was still benign, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.
Risks to global expansion have recently increased due to tensions in the U.S. subprime mortgage market and there are fears of growing spillovers to other segments, the European Central Bank said on Thursday. Global economic activity remained robust, however, supported mainly by buoyant activity in emerging economies, the bank said.
Crude oil prices reached a record high to surpass $80 per barrel on Wednesday after a government report said oil inventories dropped sharply.
The euro surged to a lifetime high against the dollar on Wednesday, weighing on European shares as investors remained nervous over the health of the U.S. economy even with an expected interest rate cut there next week.
