MARKETS / FINANCE

An e-mail scam featuring someone purporting to be BP Plc's Chief Executive Tony Hayward is targeting victims of the company's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Florida's attorney general said on Thursday.

U.S. economic growth is looking far less robust than the U.S. central bank would like, but bumps in the road are unlikely to derail the recovery, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday.

Regional banks, including SunTrust Banks Inc and PNC Financial Services Group Inc , reported improved quarterly results and said credit losses and funding costs are dropping, triggering hopes that banks are stabilizing after years of pain.

The Federal Reserve will try to push borrowing costs even lower if the job market continues to languish, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday, offering his clearest blueprint yet for possible additional monetary easing.

Stocks jumped on Thursday after major economically sensitive companies, including UPS and 3M, reported strong revenues, easing investor concerns about future growth.

Gold rose briefly back above $1,200 an ounce on Thursday as financial markets rallied broadly, with U.S. stocks jumping 1 percent at the open, European shares higher and oil prices climbing 2.3 percent. The precious metal quickly slipped back below that level, however, as it struggled to break out of the relatively tight range it has kept to ahead of the results of European bank stress tests on Friday.

Shipper United Parcel Service Inc and U.S. railroad Union Pacific Corp topped Wall Street's expectations when they reported quarterly results as both captured increases in domestic shipping volume, sending their shares sharply higher.

The euro rose more than 1 percent against the dollar on Thursday after data on the U.S. housing market and the euro zone manufacturing and services sectors revived investors' appetite for risk. The yen erased most early gains versus the dollar and dropped sharply against other currencies as U.S. stocks rallied, helping improve sentiment a day after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy.

Hungary's prime minister signaled on Thursday that he would not renew a safety net with the IMF and would row back on a commitment to cut the budget deficit to European Union-prescribed levels next year.

Global stocks rose on Thursday and the euro strengthened, backed by upbeat corporate results, better-than-expected U.S. housing data, and an improvement in European manufacturing and services activity. Expectations before the release of European banks' stress test results appeared to show an easing of concerns as the region's bank stocks ranked among the best performers.

Dollar funding costs eased for the seventh consecutive day on Thursday and the U.S. commercial paper market grew for a second straight week. For the week ended July 21, the size of the U.S. commercial paper market, a vital source of short-term funding for corporate day-to-day operations, rose by $2.4 billion to $1.100 trillion outstanding from $1.097 trillion the previous week, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

It was a miserable winter day in January 2007, the kind that makes auto executives in the Motor City wonder why they hold the Detroit Auto Show at the most inhospitable time of the year.

The euro rallied more than 1 percent against the dollar on Thursday after U.S. housing data and better-than-expected euro zone manufacturing and services activity revived appetite for risk. The yen surrendered early gains versus the dollar and dropped sharply against other currencies as U.S. stocks gained, helping improve sentiment a day after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy.

U.S. regional banks including SunTrust Banks Inc , BB&T Corp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc are paying less for deposits, which helped fuel higher profits in the second quarter.

United Parcel Service Inc , the world's largest package delivery company, raised its outlook on Thursday on higher ground and export volume, sending shares up 3.5 percent in premarket trading.

Stocks jumped on Thursday as companies across a wide swath of the economy reported strong earnings and existing home sales fell less sharply than forecast, easing fears of a double-dip recession.

The Bank of Canada cut its growth forecasts for each quarter of 2010, warning global economic uncertainty and cooling domestic consumption will dampen the recovery. Noting that the global economic recovery was proceeding but is not yet self-sustaining, the central bank cut its second-quarter annualized growth forecast to 3 percent from 3.8 percent in estimates released on Thursday.

Hershey Co reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, as increased advertising helped drive the U.S. chocolate maker's sales even as a joint venture in India struggled.

Dubai World DBWLD.UL warned that lenders, aside from the government's own support fund, would face a significantly worse deal if its debt plan fails and it is forced to seek liquidation, according to the debt restructuring plan outlined to bankers on Thursday.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer 3M Co reported earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations and raised its forecast for the year, boosted by strong demand in key emerging markets.

The recent decision of KP scheme to partially allow Zimbabwe to sell its diamonds has come as a respite for Surat, the biggest diamond processing centre in the world. In fact, now diamantaires in Surat can officially import rough diamonds from the troubled Marange diamond mines in Zimbabwe with the Kimberley Process allowing supervised exports of diamonds from Zimbabwe.

U.S. regional banks reported improved results on Thursday as credit woes began to ease, but they cautioned that loan demand is still soft among their so-called Main Street borrowers.

Xerox Corp posted a higher-than-expected second quarter profit on Thursday, fueled by solid demand for printing and outsourcing services, and the company boosted its full-year outlook.

Struggling state firm Dubai Worldis ready to use a special tribunal to force rebel lenders into line on plans to delay repayment of $14.4 billion in debts, according to a source familiar with the matter.

It was a miserable winter day in January 2007, the kind that makes auto executives in the Motor City wonder why they hold the Detroit Auto Show at the most inhospitable time of the year.

Continental Airlines , which is being bought by United Airlines, posted a second-quarter profit that handily beat Wall Street expectations, helped by higher fares and reduced capacity.

Hungary hopes to reduce its budget deficit below the EU's 3 percent ceiling in the future but seeks equal treatment with other member states on a time frame to achieve that target, the prime minister said. Hungary by the end of the year will bring its deficit to 3.8 percent (of GDP) as it has agreed to, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news conference on Thursday.

Hungary's prime minister signalled on Thursday he would not renew a safety net with the IMF and would row back on a commitment to cut the budget deficit to European Union-prescribed levels next year. In the latest of a series of comments that have confounded markets, Viktor Orban said Hungary would meet this year's budget target under the International Monetary Fund-backed deal but the IMF safety net would end in October and the matter of negotiating a new one was insignificant.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP is close to finalizing the purchase of property loans with a face value of around $1.1 billion owned by Morgan Stanley's Japanese operations, three sources familiar with the situation said.