IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. claims for unemployment aid fell sharply last week but slightly less than analysts expected after a surprisingly big rise the prior week, a government report showed on Thursday.

Tyrone L. Gilliams Jr., a commodities trader, part-time online preacher and hip hop event promoter, is not one for understatement.

While many are heralding the entry of Chromebooks as the next game changer cynics have a question or two about Google's strategy behind its light-weight, browser-based Chrome OS.

Sales at U.S. retailers posted their smallest gain in nine months in April as high food and gasoline prices drew spending away from other areas, but upward revisions to March's data suggested consumer spending in the first quarter might have been stronger than initially thought.

U.S. regulators should impose even higher capital requirements on large financial firms until they prove they can be wound down if they became insolvent, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair said on Thursday.

China's Sina Corp plans to ramp up investment in its hot Twitter-like product, Weibo, for the rest of the year in order to fend off competition from Tencent Holdings and attract a wider user base.

According to the reports, Jennifer Aniston has finally sealed her first deal on New York real estatea – a West Village penthouse formerly owned by celebrity stylist Sally Hershberger.

Japan's largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical is in talks to buy privately held Swiss rival Nycomed for more than $12 billion to extend its global reach into Europe and emerging markets, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

U.S. stocks recovered from initial declines on Thursday in a choppy session as commodity prices kept the market in flux while a downgrade of Goldman Sachs dragged down financial shares.

Osama bin Laden's journal found by U.S. sources who raided his northern Pakistan mansion last week reveals the deceased al-Qaeda leader urged followers make a single attack that would kill thousands of Americans, look beyond New York to other U.S. cities, and strike on significant days, according to a report.

It seemed like the perfect China play, a way for investors to cash in on the world's fastest growing economy.

The head of Exxon Mobil stopped short of blaming speculators for the run-up in oil prices, but he told Congress on Thursday that based only on the fundamentals of supply and demand, the price of oil should be in the range of $60 to $70 a barrel.

Jennifer Aniston has reportedly closed on a penthouse in Manhattan for $4.95 million in the name of her beloved pet dog.

People.com is reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio and his girlfriend Bar Refaeli have officially ended their relationship.

A report from a British based gaming site says with the PSN outage, more people are trading in their PS3s.

Cisco Systems Inc warned that it will fare worse this quarter than Wall Street had feared, and laid out plans for global job cuts as it struggles to revive growth.

If you want a degree in the arts, here are three degrees that are wise choices.

China's central bank increased the reserve requirement ratio for its commercial banks by another 50 basis points on Thursday, extending its campaign to calm prices despite initial signs of slowing in the economy.

U.S. core producer prices rose 0.3 percent in April for the second consecutive month, while the increase from a year ago was the largest since August 2009, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

A spokesperson from PR firm Burson-Marsteller admitted to working for Facebook in a PR campaign against Google, questioning their tactics in privacy.

U.S. stocks slid on Thursday as falling commodity prices prompted an unwinding of bets on risky assets and raised questions about the strength of the economic recovery, while a sour outlook from Cisco hurt technology stocks.

Allstate Corp said it suffered $1.4 billion in catastrophe losses from April tornadoes, and the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer said it will now make a regular practice of releasing such loss figures.

Despite bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, Europe's debt crisis could still spread to core euro zone countries and the emerging economies of eastern Europe, the International Monetary Fund warned on Thursday.

Facebook allegedly hires a PR firm to slander Google.

The economy struggled to gain momentum early in the second quarter, with retail sales posting their smallest rise in nine months in April and wholesale prices increasing more than expected.

Thursday's London Silver Fix set the white metal's price at $32.50 per ounce, nearly $7 lower than a day earlier and 33% below the 31-year high of $48.70 set on April 28. [Silver] is still in an uptrend, despite the sharp sell-off reckons Mary Ann Bartels, head of US technical and market analysis at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who said yesterday silver could hit $50 per ounce by the end of the year.

Goldman Sachs plans to raise up to 5 billion yuan ($770 million) for a private equity fund in China, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Facebook enables tagging Pages for users.

The economy struggled to gain momentum early in the second quarter, with retail sales posting their smallest rise in nine months in April and wholesale prices increasing more than expected.