IBT Staff Reporter

A dearth of new products, new technologies and fresh commitments by governments scrambling to protect their populations from pandemic threats have lured U.S. drugmakers back into the flu vaccine business.

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in September, showing further signs that the labor market is improving. Planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell to 66,404 last month, down 13 percent from 76,456 in August, according to a report released on Thursday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors awaited a raft of data, including manufacturing and jobless, that could provide clues on the strength of an economic recovery. The data due out will also include pending home sales, personal income and consumption, and may offer fresh evidence on the strength of the U.S. recovery, ahead of Friday's non-farm payrolls.

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in September, showing further signs that the labor market is improving. Planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell to 66,404 last month, down 13 percent from 76,456 in August, according to a report released on Wednesday by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors awaited a raft of data, including manufacturing and jobless, that could provide clues on the strength of an economic recovery.

Weakness from commodity stocks and banks outweighed gains in insurers by midsession Thursday, leaving European shares 0.3 percent weaker as nervousness about the global economy resurfaced.

Britain's top shares fell 0.7 percent by mid-session on Thursday, as weak banks, miners and energy stocks dragged the index lower, outweighing strength in life insurers.

Cisco has agreed to buy Norwegian videoconferencing company Tandberg for $3 billion, the latest in a series of bets taken on using video to drive demand for its core data transmission gear.

Prosecutors will unveil the result of its long running investigation into allegations of corruption and bribery at defense giant BAE Systems later on Thursday.

* U.S. stock index futures point to a flat to weaker start for Wall Street on Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite futures NDc1 down 0.3 percent after Cisco System (CSCO.O) offered to buy Norwegian Tandberg for $3 billion in cash.

Oil fell below $70 on Thursday, pulling back after the biggest daily jump since April as ballooning distillate stocks doused positive sentiment and revived the view that oil prices may have run ahead of demand.

If struggling U.S. commercial lender CIT Group Inc were to collapse it would be a drastic mistake as the small businesses that rely on it would have few alternate sources of funding, turnaround experts said at the Reuters Restructuring Summit this week.

Manufacturing activity surged across Asia in September as demand picked up, although plans by Japanese manufacturers for record cuts in capital spending cast doubts on the strength of a recovery in the industrialized world.

Oil eased toward $70 on Thursday, pulling back after the sharpest daily jump since April as ballooning distillate stocks doused positive sentiment and revived the view that oil prices may have run ahead of demand.

Stock futures pointed to a flat to weaker start for Wall Street on Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite futures down 0.3 percent after Cisco System offered to buy Norwegian Tandberg for $3 billion in cash.

Japan's Toshiba Corp said on Thursday it has taken over Fujitsu Ltd's loss-making hard drive business as it seeks to eke out growth in notebook PC hard drives in a market dominated by bigger rivals.

World stocks kicked off October on a steady note on Thursday as caution over the state of U.S. recovery tempered anticipation that the global economy would gather momentum in the final three months of 2009.

UBS has redeployed two managing directors to strengthen its team catering to Asia's super-rich.

U.S. network equipment maker Cisco System is to buy Norway's video-conferencing equipment maker Tandberg ASA for an agreed 17.2 billion crowns ($3.0 billion) in cash, the companies said on Thursday, lifting Tandberg shares.

Manufacturing activity surged across Asia in September as demand picked up, although plans by Japanese manufacturers for record cuts in capital spending cast doubts on the strength of a recovery in the industrialized world.

Akamai Technologies is extending its content delivery network to the Apple iPhone as it introduces the Akamai HD Network, a system for streaming high-definition live and on-demand video to a variety of devices.

The more you think about it, the more obvious it is that an Apple tablet would specialize in reviving dead-tree media (i.e., newspapers, magazines and books). All the rumors suggest the device would be a larger iPod Touch/iPhone with a 10-inch screen. Previously Wired.com argued that redefining print would would be a logical purpose for a gadget this size, and Gizmodo today has even more details to prove that this is Apple's goal with the tablet.

Asian shares fell on Thursday after negative news on U.S. jobs and manufacturing pointed to a patchy recovery in the world's largest economy, and as dollar weakness sparked concerns for exporters around the region.

Britain's biggest pizza delivery chain Domino's Pizza UK & IRL said on Thursday it was on track to beat market expectations for the full year following strong trading in the third quarter.

Japan's largest retailer Seven & I Holdings on Thursday posted a 20 percent drop in first-half operating profit as it considers closing 16 percent of its supermarkets to cope with a sharp sales decline, and it kept a recently revised-down forecast.

Redhall Group Plc, a British engineering support services group, said it expected full-year profit to be marginally below market view due to a fall in volumes in the nuclear and chemical markets and rejigged its top executive team.

Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp priced shares in its initial public offering for $19 each, within the expected range, but increased the size of the share issue in the largest IPO by a biopharmaceuticals firm in three years.

ViaSat Inc, which provides satellite and other wireless networking systems, has agreed to buy Wild Blue Communications Inc for more than $565 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sanofi-Aventis has bought French biotechnology company Fovea, specialized in eye diseases, and expanded its cancer portfolio through an exclusive worldwide drug licensing deal with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc.