IBT Staff Reporter

Oil rose toward $76 a barrel on Thursday, its sixth straight session of gains in spite of a brief midsession stumble as the euro fell on disappointing Q3 earnings reports, traders said.

Investors holding 24 percent of shares in videoconferencing firm Tandberg snubbed a $3 billion bid from Cisco Systems Inc, raising prospects of a higher offer from the U.S. network equipment maker.

Banking group OCBC clinched a deal to buy Dutch-based ING Group NV's private banking unit in Asia for $1.5 billion in a deal which would elevate it to Singapore's second-ranked bank by assets.

RHJ International is to buy UK wealth management unit Kleinwort Benson from Commerzbank for 225 million pounds ($359.5 million), the latest in a flurry of private banking sales.

Stocks fell on Thursday after a survey showed regional factory activity grew less than expected in October, and quarterly results from Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup Inc underwhelmed investors.

Miner Xstrata Plc has given up its pursuit of rival Anglo American, it announced on Thursday, leaving Anglo to push ahead with its own restructuring plan and raising questions about whether Xstrata will revisit former target Lonmin.

Supermarket chain Safeway Inc posted quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations as it cut costs to help counteract declining food prices, sending its shares up nearly 8 percent on Thursday.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday he was investigating last month's deadly crackdown on opponents of Guinea's military ruler, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

The long-term goal for the biofuels industry will be to use nonfood sources for raw materials rather than grains, but to reach that goal industry must build on and not abandon current technology, biofuels giant Archer Daniels Midland said on Wednesday.

Militants launched a string of attacks in the Pakistani heartland and in the troubled northwest on Thursday, killing 31 people after a week of violence in which more than 100 people died.

The Kremlin on Thursday said President Dmitry Medvedev backed the ruling party's landslide victory in disputed regional elections, snubbing opposition parties who walked out of parliament alleging vote-rigging.

A Chinese court on Thursday handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region in July in which almost 200 people died.

A woman pleaded to people around the world to stop violence after her 15-year old son was set on fire by teenagers his age in Florida.

The war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic, who led Bosnian Serbs into a 1992-1995 war that killed 100,000 people, will start on October 26 in The Hague, judges ordered on Thursday.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is launching a new version of its touchscreen Storm smartphone, marking its latest move in the fight with Apple's iPhone.

Lockheed Martin Corp on Thursday said its board had elected Christopher Kubasik as the company's president and chief operating officer, a reorganization aimed at strengthening program oversight in an increasingly difficult environment for U.S. defense spending.

Thailand's stock market tumbled more than 8 percent and its currency hit a two-week low on Thursday as investors dumped Thai assets in a panic over the health of the country's revered and long-ruling king.

NATO's top defense officials will examine proposals Saturday for a big troop surge to contain Afghanistan's escalating insurgency but any such move hinges on a decision by the U.S. president, NATO military officials said.

Southwest Airlines reported a third-quarter net loss on Thursday on charges for its employee buyout program and the shrinking value of its fuel hedge portfolio.

U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings fell for a second straight month in September, but remained near a record high, amid ongoing and sweeping efforts to keep borrowers in their homes, a report released on Thursday showed.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia shocked investors by taking a major writedown at its struggling networks unit and revealing a fall in its smartphone sales from the previous quarter.

Citigroup Inc posted a quarterly per-share loss as it suffered $8 billion of credit losses, raising questions about when the bank can return to sustained profitability.

U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings fell for a second straight month in September, but remained near a record high, amid ongoing and sweeping efforts to keep borrowers in their homes, a report released on Thursday showed.

Goldman's Gold; Opel Deal Nearly Done; Housing Boost

Google plans to launch an online store for electronic books in the first half of next year, offering about half a million books initially in partnership with publishers with whom it already cooperates.

Wall Street was set for a lower open on Thursday after quarterly results from Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup Inc failed to live up to expectations some investors had for financial sector shares.

Oil fell back from a year high on Thursday but stayed above $75 a barrel, reversing its sixth straight positive session after European shares pared gains and the euro fell on disappointing Q3 earnings reports, traders said.

One American industry is booming amid the slump and job losses: mortgage rescue scams that prey on homeowners in financial straits.

American International Group Inc's jet-leasing unit International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC) is going to pay back $2 billion in short-term debt which is due Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said, citing company officials.