MARKETS / FINANCE

Facebook Inc is likely to generate 2010 revenue of about $2 billion, more than previously expected for the popular social networking site, Bloomberg reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Stocks were little changed on Thursday as indexes struggled to break through a technical range and economic bellwether FedEx posted results that missed estimates but offered a bullish forecast.

Housing starts rose slightly more than expected in November, but a surprise drop in permits for future home construction to a 1-1/2 year low indicated continued weakness in the housing market even as the economic recovery gains traction.

China has been on a commodity price-control overdrive in the past few months in a bid to tame inflation, allay fears of shortages and crack down on hoarding and price-gouging. However, the Chinese commodity boom may not last forever and the prices could likely fall, an analyst has said.

Wall Street was set to open little changed on Thursday after economic bellwether FedEx reported quarterly results that missed expectations, suggesting an economic recovery remained tentative.

Stock index futures turned flat on Thursday, giving up some gains after economic bellwether FedEx reported quarterly results that missed expectations.

European Union leaders will be warned on Thursday that a rolling debt crisis poses a systemic threat to the euro zone as they seek to paper over divisions at a summit on how to restore confidence.

Global regulators said on Thursday that banks in low debt countries like Australia and Denmark will get more leeway to comply with tough new liquidity rules.

Stock index futures were slightly higher on Thursday as investors awaited data on jobs and housing and corporate earnings from bellwether FedEx for signs of improvement in the economy.

The Basel Committee of global banking regulators published on Thursday the final text of Basel III, which will force banks to triple the amount of capital held to withstand shocks.

A deal that President Barack Obama struck with Republicans to extend tax cuts for nearly every working American and spur job growth moves to the House of Representatives for passage as early as Thursday.

Bank of America Corp has started negotiating with powerful mortgage investors that accused the bank of failing to buy back bad home loans, in an apparent shift in the lender's stance.

European leaders sought to paper over deep divisions on how best to resolve the debt crisis ahead of a summit on Thursday, and Spain and Portugal came under renewed pressure to get their finances in order.

Chinese banks should ensure that the normal demand for loans is satisfied this month, the banking regulator said on Thursday, signaling that the government wants to avoid an over-tightening of credit.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones industrial average and for the Nasdaq flat to up 0.1 percent by 0913 GMT.

European Union leaders meet on Thursday to try to agree the next steps in tackling a year-long debt crisis that has consumed Greece and Ireland and threatens to spread to Portugal and Spain.

A senior executive of China's top search engine, Baidu Inc, forecast its top-line and bottom-line growth rates to moderate over the next year, sending its shares down 6 percent on Wednesday.

Creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, including hedge fund Paulson & Co, may file a competing reorganization plan for distributing the bank's assets, a person familiar with the matter said.

Edward Yardeni thinks copper prices can double in 2011 because there will be a shortage of it.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc bondholders filed a rival plan to parcel out the bank's estimated $58 billion in assets in the largest U.S. bankruptcy reorganization on record.

Google Inc's YouTube is in talks to buy Web show maker Next New Networks in what would be the video sharing site's first foray into content production, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

General Motors Co has bought back the government's holdings of GM preferred stock issued in the automaker's bailout for $2.1 billion, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Twitter has raised $200 million of financing in a deal that values the microblogging company at $3.7 billion, less than a year after it began its first serious efforts to make money.

Bank of America Corp on Wednesday said investors delayed a technical default on the bank over its mortgage servicing unit, allowing more time for talks about alleged contract violations.

Citigroup Inc will officially open a new, high-tech branch in New York City on Thursday, in an effort to woo more business from wealthy, urban customers.

Supporters of WikiLeaks who last week attacked the websites of MasterCard and Visa, say they are tweaking the software used for those assaults in a bid to create more powerful tools for possible future protests.

Contentious Internet traffic rules facing a vote next week are likely to be adopted without radically veering from a proposal unveiled earlier in the month, telecommunications policy analysts said on Wednesday.

Bank of America Corp is in talks with a group of six investors to settle charges that it mishandled $16.5 billion in mortgages packaged into bonds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

A deal that President Barack Obama struck with Republicans to extend tax cuts for nearly every working American and spur job growth sailed through the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.