IBT Staff Reporter

Global oil demand growth will inch higher over the rest of this year and into 2011, but any rise will be wiped out if the economy is weaker than forecast, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

The German government said on Wednesday it will scrutinize Google's promise to respect privacy requests by letting people opt out of its Street View mapping system and that it would be ready to intervene if necessary.

China has been buying record amounts of Japanese government debt because it is less risky than U.S. debt, at least in the short term, a Chinese government economist said on Wednesday.

Macy's Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on strength in its exclusive lines and at its upscale Bloomingdale's chain, and the retailer raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts.

A key element of the U.S. government's investigation of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> electronic throttles and other systems found no defects beyond what is known to explain crashes blamed on unintended acceleration, the Transportation Department said on Tuesday.

The trade deficit widened a surprising 18.8 percent in June on a surge of consumer goods from China and other suppliers, suggesting second-quarter economic growth was much weaker than previously thought.

Technology licensing firm Wi-Lan Inc said on Wednesday it has settled all patent litigation with telecoms equipment maker UTStarcom Inc.

Food groups Nestle and CSM warned of a tougher second half due to rising costs but said price increases and forward buying will mitigate the impact of higher wheat and other commodity prices.

Apple Inc's Japan unit will replace any iPod nano portable music players that overheat, it said in an online statement, improving an earlier offer to replace only their faulty batteries.

Macy's Inc reported better-than-expected earnings as its exclusive lines helped it win market share and its upscale Bloomingdale's chain benefited from a pickup in luxury spending.

The tax investigator thinks she's nearly cracked it. For months the civil servant has pored over storage inventories, confiscated computer files and the bank records of Greek doctors pointing to millions of euros not explained by their pay slips.

India may temporarily shut down BlackBerry services if security concerns are not addressed in a meeting on Thursday, sources said, in a signal the Canadian firm's tussle with authorities around the world is far from over.

General Motors Co is preparing to report second-quarter results that will show a substantial gain over the first quarter in a report it will use to bolster its bid to return to capital markets and pay back taxpayers, two people familiar with the matter said.

Irrespective of the bleak global economic prospects, global oil demand is likely to rise by 2.2 percent for the rest of the year, said the International Energy Agency.

Kazakhstan expected to succumb to Russian pressure for barring wheat exports outside the Commonwealth of Independent states in order to establish monopoly on their grain supplies.

British inflation will fall well below its 2 percent target in two years, even if interest rates remain at record lows, the Bank of England said on Wednesday, leaving scope for further policy easing if the economy worsens.

Corrects level of interest rate to 0.5 percent from 2.0 in 11th paragraph

A New Jersey insurance regulator has concluded that Prudential Financial Inc properly handled life-insurance benefits in a controversial matter involving a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday.

India is on the cusp of a gold boom this week. With the onset of festival season in India on August 24 (Raksha Bandhan), bullion market is set to boom as demand for the yellow metal will shoot up in the country.

The worried and hassled world of bullion investors heaved a sigh of relief following the release of US Federal Reserve report this week following which the gold prices showed signs of gains.

Weak Japanese economic data and a fall in the dollar to an eight-month low against the yen on Wednesday prodded Tokyo closer to fresh action to support an already fragile economic recovery.

Oil fell below $80 on Wednesday, as a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that warned of risks to demand did nothing to dent bearish sentiment caused by economic fears and a sharp fall in equity markets.

Rising grain prices from Russia's drought and fires will pressure populations already hit by the financial crisis and could stoke unrest -- particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe.

Weak Japanese economic data and a fall in the dollar to an eight-month low against the yen on Wednesday prodded Tokyo closer to fresh action to support an already fragile economic recovery.

Gold fell in Europe on Wednesday as a 1 percent rise in the dollar outweighed potentially supportive news that the U.S. Federal Reserve is holding interest rates at record lows and extending quantitative easing.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, as the Federal Reserve's gloomier assessment of the economy rattled investors and the central bank's measures to support the fragile recovery failed to reassure world markets.

British display screen maker Plastic Logic has scrapped the launch of its long-awaited e-reader QUE, which had been seen as a potential challenger to the hugely popular Kindle from Amazon.

Japanese machinery orders and wholesale prices data on Wednesday were weaker than expected, prodding authorities closer to fresh action to support an already fragile economic recovery.

India may temporarily shut down BlackBerry services if New Delhi's concerns about security are not addressed in a meeting between the government and mobile phone operators on Thursday, government sources said.