IBT Staff Reporter

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc laid out a plan on Wednesday to repay creditors a portion of some $1 trillion in expected claims, under a proposal that could resolve the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history.

Good morning dear traders, I had yesterday some trading break. With no questions. One reason was that I had not really much time for trading. The second reason was that the markets where too choppy in my eyes.

LAS VEGAS - As Dreamworks Animation prepares for the May 21 release of Shrek Forever After, the studio is converting the first three movies in the hit franchise to the stereo format for a 3D Blu-ray Disc release.

China chalked up unexpectedly strong annual growth of 11.9 percent in the first quarter, prompting renewed calls for tighter policies to prevent the economy from overheating and stoking speculation on when it will loosen its tight grip on the yuan.

Kuwait's Agility , the Gulf's biggest logistics firm, has been replaced by a new company as the main supplier to the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Toyota Motor said on Thursday it would conduct safety tests on all its sport utility models after a report claiming that a handling problem in a new version Lexus put drivers at risk of rollover accidents.

Global miner Rio Tinto slightly raised its production guidance for iron ore after posting a 39 percent jump in first-quarter output on Thursday, driven by Chinese demand and recovery in the West.

Billionaire financier George Soros thinks the euro and the European Union itself are at risk of breaking up if Germany refuses to play its traditional role and make concessions, he told a newspaper.

Malaysia's Petronas has stopped supplying gasoline to Iran, a company spokesman said on Thursday, as the threat of U.S. sanctions on oil firms with supply ties to the Islamic Republic looms large.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.21 percent at 5:12 a.m. EDT.

The Greek aid deal is a turning point in the crisis that shows suggestions of a euro zone break up and Greek default are absurd, a top European Central Bank policymaker said on Thursday.

Nippon Sheet Glass Co Ltd named former DuPont executive Craig Naylor as its new president and CEO on Thursday, making him the second non-Japanese to head the Tokyo-based glass maker.

Strong growth in China and upbeat corporate earnings lifted world stocks on Thursday to a new high for the year, putting them at levels last seen around the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

AIG remains a long-term investor in China's top non-life insurer PICC , the Chinese insurer said on Thursday, even as the embattled U.S. firm unwinds its holdings in other assets to repay the U.S. government.

The European Union may have to establish a mechanism to help out countries with financing difficulties after a 30 billion euro aid package agreed for Greece last weekend, Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said in a newspaper interview on Thursday.

Occupancy rates in hotels in Bangkok, the Thai capital that has been the scene of violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces, are at about one-thirds of expectations, a spokesman for Federation of Thai Tourism Associations said on Thursday. We were expecting 80-90 percent room occupancy rate in Bangkok, but I don't think we can make it to 30 percent, Charoen Wangan...

There is no possibility that Greece will default on its debts and no reason to doubt Germany's commitment to an EU pledge to help Greece, the European Union's monetary chief said on Thursday.

Syngenta AG , the world's largest agro-chemicals company, undershot analyst expectations with $3.5 billion sales in the first quarter and said cheaper raw materials should buoy its 2010 results.

Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas has stopped supplying gasoline to Iran, a spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.

Occupancy rates in hotels in Bangkok, the Thai capital that has been the scene of violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces, stand at below 30 percent, a spokesman for Federation of Thai Tourism Associations said on Thursday. We were expecting 80-90 pct room occupancy rate in BKK, but I don't think we can make it to 30 pct, Charoen Wangananont, a spokesman for the...

Asian stocks rose and neared 22-month highs on Thursday after U.S. tech and financial firms beat earnings forecasts and China's accelerating economic growth underpinned hopes of a broad, global economic recovery.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday as China's economic growth accelerated and bellwether U.S. tech and financial firms reported strong results, boosting appetite for riskier assets and putting the U.S. dollar on the defensive.

The recent unrest in Kyrgyzstan has largely been portrayed as an epic clash between U.S. and Russian interests. That said, interest in events in Bishkek extend far beyond Kyrgyzstan throughout the regional and one should expect the following voices to add their concerns as the situation evolves. While largely overlooked by media coverage, their influence could be a significant factor in both interim and long-term solutions that emerge to Kyrgyzstan's recent upheavals.

Dollar General Corp on Wednesday priced 26 million shares at $27 each in a secondary public offering that allowed certain shareholders to sell their stock, the company said in a statement.

In spring 2008, Lehman Brothers didn't have too many friends on Wall Street.

United Parcel Service Inc said its first quarter earnings per share would be much higher than it had expected and raised its outlook for the year, sending its shares up 4 percent in after-hours trading.

Microblogging sensation Twitter. which has now signed up more than 100 million users, outlined on Wednesday several revenue-generating initiatives, declaring that making money was now a primary goal.

Toshiba Corp's personal computer sales in the United States jumped 50 percent in the first quarter, and the company said it was preparing to roll out tablet-style computing devices later this year to compete with Apple Inc's iPad.

A U.S. business group on Wednesday said it welcomed China's plans to ease restrictions on foreign investment, in a sign that tensions over currency have not blocked progress on all other trade issues.