IBT Staff Reporter

Mexicans were returning to normal life on Thursday after a five-day business shutdown due to the H1N1 flu virus and China eased quarantine measures, but the virus spread slowly in Europe.

Pakistani aircraft pounded Taliban positions in the Swat valley on Thursday as thousands of people took advantage of a break in a curfew to flee from the region.

China on Thursday put the official number of dead and missing schoolchildren from last year's devastating Sichuan earthquake at 5,335, far lower than the number compiled from news reports at the time.

Tonight, instead of more charts that demonstrate an increasingly broken market, or links to mainstream media sources of exponentially diminishing value, I provide a selection

President Barack Obama proposed on Thursday nearly doubling funds to enforce U.S. tax laws next year, with an aim of more than quadrupling funding for tax compliance to $2.1 billion within five years.

General Electric Co said on Thursday it plans to invest $6 billion by 2015 to lower the cost of healthcare, in a push the U.S. conglomerate is calling Healthymagination.

Thomson Reuters Corp reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and affirmed its expectation that revenue will grow in 2009.

Stocks fell on Thursday as analyst downgrades in the telecom sector and a move out of technology stocks outweighed hopes that bank stress tests results would show most banks are healthier than thought.

NEW YORK, May 7 - The Nasdaq turned lower on Thursday, and the Dow and the S&P 500 cut gains, as a sell-off in big-cap technology and telecommunications companies weighed.

Fed's bank results reassuring [and a joke at the same time], show no insolvency

NEW YORK - U.S. retailers reported better-than-expected monthly sales figures for a second straight month in April, offering fresh evidence that consumers' willingness to spend is warming up with the spring weather.

Rogers Communications Inc. will launch two mobile devices in June that will run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, making it the first carrier in Canada to carry the so-called Google phone.

The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate to a new record low on Thursday, and will buy up bonds for the first time in a bid to stem the euro zone's economic decline and shore up shaky markets.

The new president of South Africa is set to be inaugurated on Saturday at the Union Buildings, the nation’s governmental residence, accompanied by his three first ladies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday reported a stronger-than-expected 5 percent rise in sales at U.S. stores open at least a year in April, helped by demand for Easter merchandise.

The Nasdaq turned lower on Thursday, and the Dow and the S&P 500 cut gains, as a sell-off in big-cap technology and telecommunications companies weighed.

A bigger role must be found for improving energy efficiency in any new U.N. deal aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a leading China-based project developer said on Thursday.

Chrysler chief executive Bob Nardelli praised a court decision that opens up the way for the bankrupt firm to sell its assets, creating an alliance with Fiat SpA.

Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp shares rallied in premarket trading ahead of the release of stress test results that will force them and other top banks to raise tens of billions of dollars in capital.

Stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors anticipated results of stress tests to show that most banks are healthier than previously thought.

The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate on Thursday and announced a three-pronged drive of unconventional steps to drive down borrowing costs and get the euro zone economy back on its feet.

Warner Music Group on Thursday posted a wider quarter loss as recorded music sales declined more than expected.

The idea of wind turbines churning out free electricity alongside every home and office building has appeal, judging by the throngs around community wind purveyors at a Chicago wind power convention this week.

Italy's biggest utility Enel SpA has received more than 10 indications of interest for a stake of upto 49 percent in its renewable energy unit, Enel Green Power, a top company executive said.

Venture capitalists are increasingly looking to invest in start-up companies that provide complementary services for the Internet cloud, hoping to get in on the ground floor of a trend that the world's biggest tech companies are pushing.

The Bank of England left interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent for a second month running on Thursday and said it would increase the size of its asset purchase programme by 50 billion pounds.

Ford Motor Co's sale of Volvo is moving ahead as it runs due diligence on the remaining bidders, and a buyer could be announced by the end of this month or next, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The European Central Bank cut its main interest rate on Thursday to 1.0 percent, and financial markets are now focused on any alternative policy measures the ECB reveals to get the euro zone economy back on its feet.

General Motors Corp said it burned through $10.2 billion in the first quarter as it failed to cut costs fast enough to offset a sharp decline in global sales and was kept afloat by a federal bailout.