IBT Staff Reporter

Brazil's economy will grow solidly in 2010, but a slowdown from the first quarter will allow the government to bring inflation back to target by year-end, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Thursday.

New claims for jobless aid rose last week while consumer prices notched their largest decline in nearly 1-1/2 years in May, suggesting interest rates will remain ultra low to nurse the fragile economic recovery.

Oil recovered from earlier losses and rose toward $78 a barrel on Thursday, as concern over Spain's public finances eased in global markets following the results of its well-covered bond auction.

Web.com Group Inc said it agreed to acquire privately-held domain name registration provider Register.com for $135 million, in a deal that will immediately add to the online marketing company's adjusted earnings.

New claims for jobless aid rose last week while consumer prices notched their largest decline in nearly 1-1/2 years in May, suggesting interest rates will remain ultra low to nurse the fragile economic recovery.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is close to granting AT&T Inc approval for its $2.35 billion purchase of rural U.S. wireless licenses from rival Verizon Communications Inc affiliate Verizon Wireless, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

European Union leaders moved toward agreement on Thursday on ways to strengthen budget discipline and economic policy coordination among the 27 member states to contain a euro zone debt crisis.

Finger-pointing at the G20 will be self-defeating for an international forum that should be focused on coordination, not criticism, of economic policies, a senior Chinese government official said.

Spain may use as much as 30 billion euros of its Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring to cover the financing needs of its banks, the Economy Minister Elena Salgado said on Thursday. The FROB, created to help the banking sector, can issue up to 99 billion euros to aid credit institutions.

Yields on Brazilian interest rate futures contracts rose in early trading on Thursday, after the central bank said that the country's economic growth is putting a benign inflation outlook at risk.

The euro hit a three-week high versus the dollar on Thursday as worries about Spain's public finances were eased by a well covered bond auction, triggering stop-losses on stale short positions in the single currency.

Oil trimmed earlier losses and was trading above $77 a barrel on Thursday, as anxiety over Spain's public finances eased in global markets following the results of its well covered bond auction.

Consumer prices recorded their biggest decline in nearly 1-1/2 years in May as energy costs dropped, according to a government report on Thursday that pointed to tame inflation pressures and low interest rates.

The recent gold surge has increased the prospects of gold financers to get outside funding in the form of private equities to carry forward their expansion plans.

It looks rising price of gold is leading to a decline in the export of gold jewellery exports from India. Gold jewellery exports plunged 36.44 percent (40 percent rupee term) over the comparative figure of US$ 732.11 million (rupees 3,552.92 crores) for May 2009.

Controversial documentary film The Cove, which deals with the grizzly business of dolphin hunting, will be made available to Japanese viewers online via a popular video sharing website.

Stock index futures rose on Thursday as anxiety eased over Spain's sovereign debt and investors awaited key jobs and economic activity data expected to show the recovery is slowly on track.

European Union leaders hope to agree on ways to strengthen budget discipline and economic policy coordination on Thursday to show financial markets they can prevent a repeat of the euro zone debt crisis.

World stocks fell from this week's one-month high on Thursday and the euro and oil prices dropped as worries about Spain's public finances encouraged investors to cut back on risky assets.

David Cameron was all smiles when he began his first European Union summit as Britain's prime minister on Thursday but was quick to say he would defend national interests firmly.

Finger-pointing at the G20 will be self-defeating for an international forum that should be focused on coordination, not criticism, of economic policies, a senior Chinese government official said.

Japan's Fujitsu Ltd and Toshiba Corp unveiled plans on Thursday to merge their mobile phone businesses in October to create Japan's second-biggest cellphone maker in a rapidly shrinking market.

(Corrects amount of safety net in 3rd para to 500-billion-euros ($617.2 billion))

Oil retreated by 0.8 percent toward $77 on Thursday, slipping from its highest since early May, as the pace of demand growth was questioned following mixed economic and inventory data from top consumer the United States.

Asian shares fell and the euro slipped on Thursday as short covering rallies ran out of steam, but some analysts said global markets may have finally found support after a heavy selloff in May.

I believe markets and investors in particular are uncertain and have doubts or questions about European banks and that has been a wave in the last 4-6 weeks. The sooner European banks can on a coordinated basis ... publish results -- and I'm talking results of stress tests -- the better.

The euro slipped against the dollar on Thursday as worries about Spain's public finances and banking system hit sentiment, with results of a Spanish bond auction awaited.

Dollar borrowing rates inched up on Thursday, nearing highs seen earlier this month, and bellwether U.S. 2-year swap spreads widened as investors remained concerned about funding problems faced by some Spanish banks.

Gold firmed to near a one-week high on Thursday as the euro struggled to sustain gains and shares slipped on uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery in the United States.