IBT Staff Reporter

An eBay Inc executive said on Thursday the auction company bought a stake in Craigslist partly to block rival web company Google Inc from acquiring the classified ads business.

Ciena Corp posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss due to rising costs, sending its shares down 4.8 percent in early trade despite revenue that handily beat Wall Street estimates.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday there would be no precipitous drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and cautioned that U.S. troops could still be there for years to come.

Chris Cuomo will leave ABC's Good Morning America to co-host the newsmagazine 20/20 with Elizabeth Vargas, he said on GMA Thursday.

Costco Wholesale Corp said quarterly profit rose slightly on higher international sales and a weaker U.S. dollar that offset the effect of rising gasoline prices.

The Treasury Department said on Thursday that losses from the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund are likely to rise as disbursements to battle mortgage foreclosures increase.

Stocks rose on Thursday as data showed continuing claims for jobless benefits dropped and a separate report revealed the trade gap unexpectedly narrowed for October, a boost to economic growth.

President Barack Obama, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, declined to participate in events normally attended by laureates, including lunch with Norway's King, according to a report.

Eli Lilly and Co forecast 2010 earnings in line with Wall Street expectations but gave no hint of how profit might pan out after its biggest drugs lose patent protection between 2011 and 2014.

General Electric Co said on Thursday it won a $1.4 billion contract from energy producer Caithness Energy LLC to supply wind turbines for what will eventually be the world's biggest wind farm.

NASA has given out a grant to the University of Georgia that will help undergraduate professors to observe and report on the effects of climate change on birds.

Billionaire financier George Soros told Reuters on Thursday he had found a way to unlock a stalemate on climate finance using International Monetary Fund assets.

Germany's Siemens AG is forecasting a resumption of growth in the global onshore wind market in 2010, the CEO of its Wind Power unit Andreas Nauen told Reuters.

Teachers trying to get students interested in molecular biology or space now have a new tool -- video games.

Citigroup Inc's negotiations to repay its government bailout money might not be resolved until after the holidays, CNBC said on Thursday, citing a U.S. Treasury official.

Fraudulent trading in European Union carbon emissions credits in the past 18 months has led to more than 5 billion euros in tax revenue losses for several EU nations, European police agency Europol said in a statement.

California's global warming law, similar in scope to a measure under consideration by the U.S. Congress, will have a negligible effect on the bottom lines of small businesses, a study showed Wednesday.

Jobless Claims' 4-week moving average dropped 7,750 to 473,750, according to the latest weekly Labor Department report released today, another sign that the labor market may be approaching the end of its steep decline.

Dutch sports car maker Spyker Cars NV remains interested in buying Swedish auto brand Saab from General Motors and is not aware of any deadlines imposed on the process, a spokesman for Spyker said.

The dollar fell against the euro for the second straight day on Thursday after a narrower-than-expected U.S. trade deficit for October and some improvement in jobless claims, reducing safe-haven demand for the greenback.

Film box offices were poised on Wednesday to eclipse 2007's record $9.68 billion in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales with Hollywood eyeing more than $10 billion this year as audiences flocked to theaters during the recession.

Gurinder Chadha, the director behind the hit Bend it Like Beckham, is one of a trio of Indian-origin women directors wowing the world with their unique style. But unlike Deepa Mehta or Mira Nair, Chadha makes films with a distinctly earthy feel.

Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream held on to the No. 1 slot on the U.S. album chart Wednesday.

In the tradition of Oprah Winfrey's famous book club, the talk show host's cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, will launch a documentary film club, with a focus on films with inspirational themes.

The Bank of England left its asset purchase programme intact at 200 billion pounds ($325 billion) and held interest rates at 0.5 percent on Thursday, as widely expected.

Bruce Springsteen has come out in support of gay marriage in his home state of New Jersey, where a marriage equality bill will go to vote this week. The rocker released a statement via his official Web site Wednesday backing the legislation.

Citigroup Inc's negotiations to exit TARP are uncertain, but headed in the right direction, a U.S. Treasury official told television network CNBC.

Twelve major banks, including Citigroup Inc , Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co , will participate in a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday, an administration official said on Thursday.

Meet Will Schuester's new rival.