IBT Staff Reporter

Dear Sam: In this time of deep unemployment and many folks like myself out of a job for 12 months now, how is it even possible to think we can afford to find hundreds of dollars to cover a résumé service?

A strike has broken out at a south China factory supplying parts for Japan's Honda Motor, the latest in a string of stoppages by Chinese workers demanding a bigger piece of the country's economic wealth.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday on anemic economic data that overshadowed solid earnings results from banking bellwether JPMorgan Chase & Co .

Honda Motor Co, Japan's No.2 automaker, will drop plans to build a new minivehicle factory and focus on its green vehicles business

South Korea is ready to consider creative solutions to open its market to more U.S. beef and auto imports to help win U.S. approval of a bilateral free trade agreement

China's press watchdog has threatened to shut down more than 120 websites offering pornographic fiction, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The death of a parent is always hard, but for Julie Smolyansky it was compounded by having to quickly take over her father's successful food company, which makes a cultured milk product called kefir.

Gold rose on Thursday, benefiting from a retreat in risk appetite after soft U.S. economic data knocked stocks, the dollar and industrial commodities lower. Spot gold was bid at $1,211.70 an ounce at 1528 GMT against $1,207.50 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose $5.40 to $1,212.40.

JPMorgan Chase & Co posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday as it wrote off fewer bad loans, but its shares dropped as investors fretted about management's sober assessment of the economy.

The broadest overhaul of U.S. financial rules since the Great Depression was on its way to becoming law on Thursday after it cleared a crucial hurdle in Congress.

The U.S. dollar fell broadly on Thursday, with the euro soaring to a two-month high above $1.29 as soft inflation and manufacturing data added to concern about the strength of the U.S. economy. Data showing a third straight monthly decline in producer prices came a day after Federal Reserve meeting minutes revealed policymakers think they may need to do more to boost the economy if a sputtering recovery slows any further.

Banks repossessed a record number of U.S. homes in the second quarter, but slowed new foreclosure notices to manage distressed properties on the market, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

ACM's (www.ac-markets.com) latest trading platform integrates new technologies and features not available during the original software development.

Top scorers Germany and winners Spain elicited the most positive reaction from online fans of this year's soccer World Cup, whilst France's player crisis made them the most maligned team of the tournament.

Three straight weeks of record low mortgage interest rates has spurred another refi boom. That's understandable: The idea of locking in 4.5 percent for 30 years is really tempting.

Factory activity growth in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region fell unexpectedly this month, a survey showed on Thursday.

New U.S. claims for jobless aid tumbled to a near two-year low last week, but a modest gain in industrial output and a third monthly drop in wholesale prices in June confirmed a slackening in the economy's recovery.

Oil reversed earlier gains to fall below $76 a barrel on Thursday after falls in U.S. equities and weak macroeconomic data curbed expectations for future demand growth in the world's largest oil consumer. By 1416 GMT front-month U.S. crude was trading down $1.50 at $75.54 a barrel, after earlier jumping to $77.66. ICE Brent was down $1.25 at $75.52 a barrel.

Gold rose in Europe on Thursday as the dollar slipped to a two-month low against the euro, under pressure after minutes from the June Federal Reserve meeting heightened concerns over the U.S. economy. Spot gold was bid at $1,213.20 an ounce at 1144 GMT, against $1,207.50 late in New York on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose $6.60 to $1,213.60.

Stocks fell 1 percent on Thursday, with Dow and Nasdaq seven-day winning streaks on the line, as anemic economic data overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly profits from JPMorgan Chase & Co .

The dollar hit a two-month low against the euro and a basket of major currencies on Thursday as soft inflation and manufacturing data added to concern about the strength of the U.S. economy. Data showing third straight monthly decline in producer prices came a day after Federal Reserve meeting minutes revealed policymakers think they may need to do more to boost the economy if a sputtering recovery slows any further.

New weekly claims for jobless benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly two years while industrial production eked out a small gain in June, but producer prices fell for a third month providing more evidence that economic growth is slugglish.

U.S. producer prices fell for a third straight month in June, pulled down by weak food and energy costs, according to a government report on Thursday that supported views the Federal Reserve would maintain its low interest rate policy well into 2011.

The broadest overhaul of U.S. financial rules since the Great Depression is likely to clear a crucial hurdle in Congress on Thursday morning, paving the way for President Barack Obama to sign the measure into law.

The dollar hit a two-month low against the euro and a basket of major currencies on Thursday after soft inflation and manufacturing data sparked concern about the strength of the U.S. economy. Data showing a third straight monthly decline in producer prices came a day after Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed policymakers think they may need to do more to boost the economy if a sputtering recovery slows any further.

The Slovak government approved the euro zone's emergency loan facility on Thursday, yielding to pressure from its European partners to drop its resistance. The euro area's poorest member, led by the new centre-right cabinet of Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, had been holding up the 750-billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) after objections to bailouts became a campaign issue in the country's June election.

GlaxoSmithKline expects to record a legal charge of 1.57 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) for the second quarter after settling the substantial majority of claims relating to its controversial diabetes pill Avandia.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday as JPMorgan Chase & Co reported better-than-expected earnings and initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in nearly two years.

New claims for jobless benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly two years, but a sharp pullback in manufacturing activity in New York state added to evidence of a slowing economic recovery.