IBT Staff Reporter

The trade deficit narrowed marginally in August, but the trade gap with China widened to a record high, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

New claims for unemployment benefits edged down last week, according to a government report on Thursday that pointed to a modest improvement in the labor market at the start of the fourth quarter.

An employment report that was better than market expectations helped to lift long-term Treasury bond yields and mortgage rates as well, Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, said in a statement.

Carrefour, Europe's biggest retailer, issued its fourth profit warning in as many months on Thursday, adding to signs cash-strapped shoppers are cutting back and increasing doubts about its turnaround plan.

An Amtrak train crashed into another train late Wednesday injuring 17 people aboard the two trains in California.

Stocks fell on Thursday as earnings from JPMorgan and soft economic data in China reinforced worries about a slowing global economy, giving investors reason to pause after the recent run-up.

BlackBerry outages spread all over the world on Wednesday, prompting people to think whether RIM is in its death throes already. BlackBerry encountered an outage of email, messaging and Internet services since Monday in India, Europe and the Middle East. On Wednesday, it spread to Canada and the U.S.

Apple's latest iPhone, iPhone 4S, which was unveiled on Oct. 4 along with iOS 5, iCloud and Siri Voice Assistant and is set to hit the shelves of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint on Friday, Oct. 14, has smashed previous pre-order records by registering 1 million preorders on the very first day. One of iPhone 4S' most important features is iOS 5 delivered on Oct. 12, which has over 200 new features, including Notification Center, iMessage, reminders, Safari and Twitter.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s third-quarter earnings fell 4 percent as the European debt crisis pushed investment banking clients to the sidelines, but results were helped by an accounting gain the bank can take when markets are in turmoil.

Best reasons to switch to an iPhone 4S from Android smartphone

Apple on Wednesday released iOS 5, its most advanced operating system for mobile Apple devices, along with its iCloud service. After waiting a relatively a long time for an updated mobile operating system, users of devices that run on previous versions of iOS can upgrade their operating systems and gain access to more than new 200 features, many of which have been rumored since July. The devices that are compatible with iOS 5 include the iPad and iPad 2, the iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generation mod...

215 million years ago, a 100-foot long sea monster was believed to be ruler of the seas. On Monday, paleontologist Mark McMenamin of Mount Holyoke College claims he has discovered its lair in the Nevada desert.

Stocks were set to open lower on Thursday as earnings from JPMorgan and soft economic data in China highlighted worries about a slowing global economy, giving investors reason to pause after the recent run-up.

All this week, BlackBerry owners in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India have been without service for the third day in a row. Today, there's news that it's spreading to North American users.

The European Central Bank reiterated a broad warning on Thursday that any form of government debt writedown that forces the private sector to take losses could damage the euro and the bloc's banks.

Popular shooter GoldenEye 007 returns on modern gaming console with incentives to pre-order.

Microsoft buys developer behind 'Splosion Man' and 'The Gunstringer.'

According to CNET, the two men caught for stealing and selling an iPhone 4 prototype will now be sentenced to a year of probation, a $500 fine, and 40 hours of community service. It took a year, but the lost prototype case has finally been settled.

JPMorgan Chase & Co's third-quarter earnings fell 4 percent as the European debt crisis pushed investment banking clients to the sidelines, but results were helped by an accounting gain the bank can take when markets are in turmoil.

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported lower third-quarter net income as the European debt crisis set back corporate dealmaking.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry services have improved significantly across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, the company said on Thursday, after a three-day global service outage hit millions of its customers.

China has the scope to respond if global economic risks materialize, and the country's response could partially but not entirely offset the impact of a global crisis, the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific director said on Thursday.

The euro zone could fall back into recession and the European Central Bank will discuss cutting interest rates at its policy meeting next month, ECB policymakers said on Thursday.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday after earnings from JPMorgan Chase and weaker-than-expected economic data in China reawakened worry about a slowing global economy.

Roche Holding AG expects the strong Swiss franc to shave 14 percent off its full-year earnings, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday after the red-hot currency took a hefty chunk out of its third-quarter sales.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday after weaker-than-expected economic data in China reawakened global economic worry and earnings from JPMorgan Chase.

Women in India's capital, New Delhi, will soon be able to fight off potential attackers with a push of a phone button that will alert not only friends, family and police but also sound an alarm on their social networking websites.

Italy's sale of 6.2 billion euros in bonds on Thursday eased investors' immediate concerns about its funding in the euro zone debt crisis, but stock markets were hit by weaker Chinese trade data.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion faced the prospect of a compensation bill from network providers on Thursday as the world's dominant provider of mobile email struggled for a fourth day with service glitches.