IBT Staff Reporter

Investors bet on Thursday the United States would not go as far as shutting down UBS there in a dispute over tax, instead expecting the Swiss bank to be hit by a hefty fine as part of a swift out-of-court settlement.

Man Group , the world's biggest listed hedge fund firm, said investors have continued to withdraw their money although private investor sales have picked up, as flows in the battered industry slowly improve.

Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday reported an in-line 6 percent fall in sales, hit by a slide in demand during the recession for higher ticket items such as cameras and cell phones.

Oil rose by more than $1 on Thursday to edge back above $61 a barrel, halting a six-session losing streak which has seen prices decline by 15 percent on concerns about the timing of any economic recovery.

Japan's top wireless operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc, said it is in talks with some Asian mobile carriers for possible capital investment as it aims to seek growth overseas to counter the maturing cell phone market at home.

Forecast-beating results from U.S. bellwether Alcoa helped lift European stocks and draw global equities out of the red on Thursday, while currency markets reversed some of their recent cautious patterns.

Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday reported a 6 percent fall in sales at stores open at least a year in June, in line with market expectation.

Japan led a fall in Asian stocks on Thursday after the yen spiked to a five-month high against the dollar, with investors seeking to trim riskier bets amid concerns about the health of the global economy.

Oil rebounded toward $61 a barrel on Thursday, correcting from a seven-week low hit on bearish oil data that outlined continued weak demand amid growing concerns about the pace of economic recovery.

CIT Group Inc , a commercial U.S. lender struggling to finance its business, is pressing U.S. regulators to allow it to issue government-backed bonds to allay concerns over its financial health, the Financial Times reported on its website late on Wednesday.

China confirmed on Thursday the arrest of an Australian mining executive and three others on spying allegations, in a case that has rattled currency markets and raised questions about China-Australia relations.

A fresh wave of cyber attacks that slowed U.S. and South Korean websites this week could come later on Thursday, a web security firm said, while the South's spy agency has said the hacking may be linked to North Korea.

Four employees of Australian miner Rio Tinto have been arrested in China on charges of stealing state secrets, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, citing Shanghai state security authorities.

Japanese stocks fell on Thursday after the yen spiked to a five-month high against the dollar overnight, with investors seeking to trim riskier bets amid growing concerns about the health of the global economy.

Some South Korean and U.S. Internet sites were down or slowed to a crawl for a third day on Thursday after attacks by a hacker that Seoul's National Intelligence Service said may be linked to a cyber warfare unit in the North.

The King of Pop's dermatologist denies ever giving the singer dangerous drugs, but said he did sedate Jackson in the past for painful medical procedures.

Oil rebounded toward $61 a barrel on Thursday, correcting from a seven-week low hit on bearish oil data that outlined continued weak demand amid growing concerns about the pace of economic recovery.

More than 31 million Americans watched Michael Jackson's public memorial on television, but mystery surrounded the whereabouts of his body on Wednesday and plans for his burial.

G8 tackles climate change, Google's challenge, Obama IMF Restrictions

Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co are switching some customers who have fixed-rate credit cards to potentially higher variable rates, acting before a new law takes effect that limits what card issuers can charge.

EMC Corp won the bidding war for specialty data storage technology company Data Domain Inc on Wednesday as rival NetApp Inc pulled out, saying it would not match EMC's $2.4 billion bid.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's top inspector, Lori Richards, is leaving the agency after a year in which her office and the enforcement division was accused of failing to spot Bernard Madoff's $65 billion fraud.

Alcoa to withstand, Pepsi beats Street, US Airways won't cut further

News Corp is not interested in buying popular microblogging site Twitter and will not sell its struggling social network MySpace, chief executive Rupert Murdoch said on Wednesday.

Israel said on Wednesday it would allow a crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan to remain open 24 hours a day to help the Palestinian economy.

A U.S. official denied an Israeli newspaper report on Wednesday that Washington had agreed to the continued construction of 2,500 housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, despite its calls for a freeze.

Telecommunications giant AT&T struck back on Wednesday at Sen. Herb Kohl, chair of a congressional antitrust panel, saying the lawmaker's concerns about a lack of competition in the wireless industry were unfounded.

Lengthy legal procedures in Brazil are slowing down a French inquiry into last month's Air France crash and Brazilian autopsy reports are still to be released, a French magistrate said on Wednesday.

Tanzanian police recovered a piece of aircraft wreckage from the Yemeni Airbus that plunged into the sea off the Indian Ocean island of Comoros last week, a Reuters witness said Wednesday.