IBT Staff Reporter

Bank of America Corp's top Merrill Lynch brokerage boss, John Thiel, shook up the leadership ranks in a move that eliminated more than a half of the firm's regional manager jobs.

Bob King, the president of the United Auto Workers, has a problem: the labor union that credits itself with creating the American middle class has glimpsed the end of the line.

UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel is fighting to keep the Swiss bank's investment arm -- the scene of a $2.3 billion rogue trading scandal -- despite pressure to scale it back or split it off, as he seeks to save his own position.

Stock index futures tumbled on Thursday as a grim outlook from the Federal Reserve and downbeat data on private sector business activity in Europe and China stoked fears the global economy could sink back into recession.

Oil prices fell over $3 a barrel on Thursday, with U.S. futures touching $82.75 a barrel as a combination of signals heightened worries about global economic growth and a rallying U.S. dollar added to downward momentum.

FedEx Corp reported a higher quarterly profit than a year ago, but pared its outlook for the full year, citing fuel prices and moderate global economic growth.

Stock index futures tumbled on Thursday as a grim outlook from the Federal Reserve and downbeat data on private sector business activity in Europe and China stoked fears the global economy could sink back into recession.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures down between 1.4 to 1.8 percent at 0923 GMT (5:23 a.m. ET).

A grim outlook for the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve and signs of a slowing China and Germany drove world stocks sharply lower on Thursday and pushed investors into safer currencies and government bonds.

Angry Birds will migrate from cellphone screens to the Formula One racetrack this weekend in Singapore, as the firm behind the mobile gaming sensation rolls out a crowd game to be played by live audiences.

Europe's debt crisis is the biggest threat to the global economy, the Treasury said on Wednesday, and it called on European policymakers to provide unequivocal support to banks and governments under stress.

Hackers attacked the website of Zambia's Election Commission on Thursday, posting a string of false results showing opposition leader Michael Sata in the lead and causing delays to the release of the official tally.

Bones star Emily Deschanel and her husband David Hornsby from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia welcomed their first child - a baby boy named Henry Hornsby.

Apple's iPhone 5, the most anticipated smartphone of the year, is expected to arrive sometime in October, while Samsung Galaxy S2 has hit the United States last week, after becoming the best selling Samsung phone ever.

Facebook is seeking an executive to help it cultivate ties to the film and music industry.

MoD Finally Ready to Compensate Bloody Sunday Massacre Victims. Britain’s Ministry of Defence is finally ready to pay compensation to the families of those killed or injured in the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Northern Ireland in 1972

Global Economic Crisis: Are we Better or Worse off than 2008? The Greek economic crisis is at the heart of the problems of the world economic crisis and for as long as France and Germany continue to ignore the realities that Greece must be allowed default on its debts, the European and world economies will suffer the consequences.

The Federal Reserve's 'Operation Twist' to bring down bond yields and stimulate the economy is likely to cause pain for the nation's largest pension funds, already struggling with funding shortfalls from the recent stock market decline.

A meeting of emerging economies on Thursday will consider a Brazilian proposal to buy European bonds to help crisis-hit euro zone countries, South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

Nokia said on Thursday it had promoted Henry Tirri to chief technology officer after his predecessor Richard Green left the mobile phone company.

Greece adopted yet more austerity measures on Wednesday to secure a bailout installment crucial to avoid running out of money next month, as the IMF warned that Europe's sovereign debt crisis risks tearing a giant hole in banks' capital.

UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel will ask the board of the Swiss financial giant to back his leadership and keep its investment bank after a $2.3 billion loss blamed on a rogue trader piled pressure on him to scale back or even split off the division.

UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel will ask the board of the Swiss financial giant to back his leadership and keep its investment bank after a $2.3 billion loss blamed on a rogue trader piled pressure on him to scale back or even split off the division.

Samsung Electronics, the world's No.1 memory chip maker, said it started mass production at a new $10 billion chip line, as it seeks to raise its share in the booming flash memory chip market fueled by robust demand growth in mobile products.

World stocks hit a fresh one-year low on Thursday and investors poured money into safer currencies and government bonds after the Federal Reserve gave a grim outlook for the U.S. economy and China's manufacturing slowed.

World stocks hit a fresh one-year low on Thursday and investors poured money into safer currencies and government bonds after the Federal Reserve gave a grim outlook for the U.S. economy and China's manufacturing slowed.

Stocks tumbled and the dollar surged on Thursday after a warning from the Federal Reserve that the United States faced a grim economic outlook with significant downside risks and data offered more evidence of a slowdown in China.

Shares of Softbank Corp <9984.T>, Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, tumbled more than 10 percent on Thursday after a report said the company was set to lose its position as the sole vendor of Apple's iPhone in Japan.

FedEx Corp is seen reporting higher quarterly results than a year ago on Thursday, but analysts are more keen to see if the No. 2 package delivery company cuts its full-year guidance because stalled global economic growth has stifled volume.