IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, following the previous session's sell-off, while investors braced for monthly sales data from retailers.

UAL Corp's United Airlines has asked Boeing Co and Airbus to propose competing bids to supply up to 150 new airliners, the Wall Street Journal said on its website on Thursday.

Asian equities fell from eight-month highs on Thursday, led by commodity-related shares, after disappointing U.S. private employment and services sector data led investors to trim over extended bets.

Cellphone maker Sony Ericsson unveiled on Thursday two handset models it said are more eco-friendly, adding that the company will push greener features across its product line in the next two years.

Germany's public broadcasters will drastically reduce the programing they put online in response to attacks from commercial channels and newspapers that the online offerings represent unfair competition.

Discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc says it will add more than 22,000 jobs in its U.S. namesake stores in 2009.

Asian equities and metals prices slipped on Thursday, after disappointing U.S. private employment and services sector data led investors to trim over extended bets and look for better points to buy again.

Game publishers, in a rare moment of solidarity, joined forces on Wednesday to convey optimism for the future of their $30 billion industry despite spiraling consumer spending and a global economic downturn.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating possible pacts by big tech businesses not to poach one another's talent, a tech industry source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

A U.S. District Court on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits against telecommunications companies in a warrantless wiretap case, ruling that former President George W. Bush's administration had properly requested the cases closed for national security reasons.

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday stayed a Texas court's order forcing set-top box maker EchoStar Corp and satellite pay TV provider DISH Network Corp to disable millions of digital video recorders that infringe on a patent held by TiVo Inc.

It's no iPhone-killer, but the launch this weekend of Palm Inc's Pre could well become the brightest event this year for a gloomy industry.

The long-awaited Pre has nice new touches, but Palm Inc has a lot of work to do if the device is to be a serious competitor to the iPhone.

Apple Inc plans to invest up to $1 billion over the next nine years to build a data center in North Carolina.

Pilots at Southwest Airlines Co. narrowly rejected a contract offer Wednesday with 51 percent of its pilots voting against the contract offer proposed by management.

Search crews flying over the Atlantic found debris from a crashed Air France jet spread over more than 90 km (55 miles) of ocean on Wednesday, reinforcing the possibility it broke up in the air.

An Air France flight carrying 228 passengers and crew crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

President Barack Obama told Congress on Wednesday that any requirement for mandatory health insurance in a proposed overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system should allow exemptions for the poor and for small businesses.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd has issued a security patch for the popular device, whose users include U.S. President Barack Obama, warning that it is vulnerable to attacks by hackers.

U.S. President Barack Obama will urge Arabs and Israelis to say publicly what they acknowledge in private about Middle East peace moves and Iran when he speaks to the Muslim world on Thursday.

Top executives of General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC were pressed by angry U.S. senators on Wednesday to rethink plans to slash more than 2,300 dealerships as a key part of their restructuring.

Stocks tumbled on Wednesday, halting a four-day winning streak, as falling oil prices hit energy shares, while less upbeat economic reports rekindled worries about recovery prospects.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp named DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey as his top lieutenant on Wednesday, marking the return of one of the media conglomerate's most trusted veterans.

Automaker Coda Automotive announced today it has an all-electric sedan ready to enter the U.S. market by 2010.

Industrial-scale production of bioenergy from algae, or seaweeds, can be expected in 10 to 15 years, helping Europe to reach its green energy targets, the top official at a newly created bioenergy body said on Wednesday.

Wind farm costs have fallen significantly for companies big enough to finance their own projects as the economic crisis cripples competitors for turbines, an executive from RWE Innogy said on Wednesday.

Most global industrial companies that emit a lot of greenhouse gases are not adequately detailing their climate strategies in U.S. financial filings, two studies by environmental and investment groups showed on Wednesday.

Renewable stocks are likely to give up gains again after having recovered since March, but financially strong companies such as SMA Solar and SolarWorld will be hit less harder than others, according to fund firm Swisscanto.

Morgan Stanley is likely to be part of the first wave of major banks to exit the U.S. government's bank bailout program after recently selling more than $2 billion of shares, research analysts said on Wednesday.