IBT Staff Reporter

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that banks must be able to engage in some risk-taking to help their customers and it would be a mistake to remove their ability to do so.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rise 0.1 to 0.2 percent, pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street on Thursday, after sharp declines in the previous session.

A Japanese ruling party panel called on the government and the Bank of Japan on Thursday to make utmost efforts to keep the yen at appropriate levels as part of efforts to pull the world's No.2 economy out of deflation.

* Fears of dollar squeeze seen in Thai, Indian markets * Worries grow that Greek debt crisis will spread * New Zealand swaps curve shifts upwards, rate hike seen

India's state owned oil companies would be increasing production from oil fields in Venezuela. India's petroleum minister Minister Murli Deora met the visiting Venezuelan Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Temir Porras Poncelon here and conveyed the decision.

Ukraine said it will press for changes in the natural gas price formula fixed by Russia's Gazprom and its Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said here, We have agreed that we will work on this, since the formula does not satisfy us.

The U.S. Senate made progress on a financial regulation reform bill on Wednesday, approving two amendments aimed at preventing a repeat of the massive taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street in 2008.

LOS ANGELES - Google has taken the rare step of asking a California judge to declare that by linking to copyright-infringing works on Rapidshare, the search giant is not facilitating the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs.

Starting next week Sprint Nextel Corp's Virgin unit will sell a new cellphone service plan to cater for the increasing number of young people who prefer to use their phone for text messaging rather than talking.

Greece's economic crisis sent shivers of fear through global markets on Thursday over concern it could spread like wildfire through Europe and beyond.

* Rosengren argues ultra-low rates still needed * Hoenig urges hard leverage constraints * Plosser says regulators humbled by crisis

Till recently there were reports that if you invest in garlic, turmeric and Nickel you are all set to reap a fortune. Because these commodities had shown record performance in the recent months. In fact garlic had shown a 300 per cent rise at the time of swine flu menace as the Chinese believed that garlic can prevent the epidemic.

World oil prices recovered in Asian trade Thursday and moved past $80 a barrel as the dollar eased amid signs of improvements in US economy. Light sweet crude for June delivery was seen trading at $80.21 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 82.81 a barrel at the same time in London.

CME Group has announced the launch of Cheese futures and options on futures. The cash-settled contracts will be available on CME Globex, the exchange's electronic trading platform, with trading scheduled to begin on June 20, 2010, for trade date June 21. These contracts will be listed by and subject to the rules and regulations of CME.

Gold prices rebounded in Asian trade Thursday as the dollar eased amid concerns over Greek debt crisis remained. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1175.84 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for June delivery was at $1176.9 an ounce at the same time.

The Asian Development Bank launched a $9 billion solar power initiative to develop projects generating 3,000 megawatts by 2012. The announcement, which came at the regional lending agency's annual meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, said that Central Asian countries would be prime candidates for siting the projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into disclosures made by billionaire investors Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc as it sought to purchase Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Regulators, whose authority over broadband was put in doubt by a recent court ruling, will announce on Thursday that it will reassert its powers but will refrain from imposing strict burdens on broadband providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.

The Federal Communications Commission will announce on Thursday that it will reassert regulation of broadband and continue an open Internet policy, but also refrain from imposing strict regulatory burdens on broadband providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.

Caterpillar Inc said on Wednesday that its Chief Financial Officer Dave Burritt will retire next month as part a major management restructuring that will also lead to the departure of four other top executives.

The Australian Dollar fell again overnight, trading to a low of USD0.9025 due to ongoing risk aversion.

The former chairman and chief executive of Bear Stearns conceded on Wednesday that the failed investment bank had taken on too much risk.

By one measure, Warren Buffett is the most unpopular director on the board of the company he has built since 1965, Berkshire Hathaway Inc .

Nike Inc expects its revenue to rise more than 40 percent to $27 billion by 2015, helped by new stores and demand for its namesake brand and smaller brands like Converse, the athletic giant said on Wednesday.

Freddie Mac , the second-largest provider of residential mortgage funds, on Wednesday said it lost $8.0 billion in the first quarter and warned that it would continue to need government funds because the housing market remains fragile.

Researchers have come to the conclusion from their study that patients taking antidepressants carry the same suicidal risk irrespective of the kinds of pills prescribed to them.

European leaders warned on Wednesday that the euro zone debt crisis could spread like a bushfire beyond Greece, and investors sold stocks and the euro as Greek anti-austerity unrest claimed its first lives.

Washington Post Co said on Wednesday it is considering the sale of its money-losing Newsweek magazine, which it has owned since 1963.

Australian Dollar: Despite the release of stronger than expected Australian economic data yesterday the Aussie dollar hovered around the 91 cent handle in Asia before resuming its recent downward trend in offshore trade overnight.