IBT Staff Reporter

Exelon Corp raised its hostile takeover bid for independent power producer NRG Energy Inc by more than 12 percent to $7.45 billion on Thursday to sway investors ahead of NRG's annual meeting.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open on Thursday after payrolls data showed more Americans than expected lost their jobs in June, dampening hopes that the economy may be heading out of recession quickly.

Dear Sam: I was just let go from an administrative assistant position I held for 14 years. I loved my job until about 5 years ago when the company hired a new supervisor.

U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the government said on Thursday in a report that showed a labor market continuing to struggle with a deep recession.

Bangladesh's state-run oil and gas authority said on Thursday it had approved a plan by U.S. energy firm Chevron to invest $52 million to augment natural gas supply in the country.

Have you been fired? If so, you know all the negative feelings that assault you immediately. You feel:

Swelling gasoline stocks and a much bigger than expected rise in U.S. unemployment drove oil markets down more than a dollar on Thursday to below $68 a barrel.

It is only a matter of time before a controversial scheme to install Internet filtering software on all computers begins in China, a state newspaper said on Thursday, after the plan was abruptly delayed this week.

U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the government said on Thursday in a report that showed a labor market continuing to struggle with a deep recession.

For a teacher who never sees his students and instructs only online, South Korean Woo Hyeong-cheol makes a lot of money, $4 million a year to be exact.

Spanish oil major Repsol said on Thursday it had received several offers for a stake in its Argentine unit, YPF, after a newspaper said Chinese state oil companies were mulling bids.

President Barack Obama, buoyed by a domestic victory on climate policy, faces his first foreign test on the issue next week at a forum that could boost the chances of reaching a U.N. global warming pact this year.

Johnson & Johnson is take over most of Elan Corp Alzheimer's research and invest $1 billion in new Elan equity in exchange for an 18.4 percent stake in the Irish drugmaker, the companies said on Thursday.

The European Central Bank kept euro zone interest rates at 1.0 percent on Thursday, and markets expect it to hold them at the all-time low for much of next year to help repair the region's economy.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors readied for data expected to show more Americans lost their jobs in June than in the previous month, in another sign the economic recovery may be slower than hoped.

The U.S. economy likely shed 363,000 non-farm jobs in June, a steeper estimate than originally forecast, while the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high, but for a nation mired deep in recession that may be good news.

California's Issues IOUs, Recycling burdens, Clean tech rising

Main news for July 2

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors braced for all-important monthly jobs data for insight into the state of the economy.

A bigger than expected rise in U.S. gasoline stocks and a fresh focus on global financial weakness pushed oil markets down a dollar on Thursday to around $68 a barrel.

The U.S. economy likely shed a further 355,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high, but for a nation mired in its deepest recession since at least World War Two that may be good news.

World stocks slipped from the previous day's two-week high while the dollar rose broadly on Thursday as investors looked to a closely-watched U.S. employment report to gauge the state of economic recovery.

Rio Tinto Ltd sold virtually all of the UK part of its $15.2 billion rights offer, the world's fifth-biggest, easing its huge debt burden and putting the world's top iron ore miner back in growth mode.

Oil prices were little changed just above $69 a barrel on Thursday, after falling in the previous session on data showing a larger-than-expected increase in U.S. gasoline stocks, which dented hopes of a demand recovery.

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co plans to present a detailed bid for General Motors Corp's Opel unit in Europe within the next few days, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Justice Department delayed again the release of an internal CIA report on the agency's secret detention and interrogation program during the Bush Administration.

Stocks in Hong Kong and Taiwan rose on Thursday, bolstered by bets China's recovery will continue, while the U.S. dollar recovered from a three-week low against the euro ahead of the latest U.S. labor market report.

The sole survivor of the crashed Yemeni Airbus, a 14-year-old girl was rescued 10 hours later after the Yemeni Airbus crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday with 153 people on board.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer warned about irregularities at Bernard Madoff's financial management firm as far back as 2004, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation.