IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, after iPhones maker Apple beat forecasts with its quarterly profit overnight.

Credit Suisse on Thursday posted a net profit of 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.71 billion) for the first quarter, twice as much as expected by analysts, and said it remained optimistic about its prospects.

U.S. online auctioneer eBay Inc won final approval from South Korea's antitrust watchdog for its planned acquisition of Gmarket Inc, subject to conditions such as a commission freeze for the next three years.

LOS ANGELES - The hit family feature Marley & Me regained the No. 1 slot on the national home video sales chart during the week ended April 19, while The Day the Earth Stood Still held on to the top spot on the national video rental chart for a second consecutive week.

Japanese shares fell on Thursday as worries about the health of the global financial sector flared again after a larger-than-expected loss from Morgan Stanley and a report that top Japanese broker Nomura had also fallen deeply into the red.

President Barack Obama will weigh in on Thursday on the lending practices of U.S. credit card companies, an issue that has triggered an outcry from consumers hit with high fees and interest rates.

Logitech International S A , the world's largest computer mouse maker, reported a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, saying sales were hurt by weak consumer demand and the economic downturn.

Smart power grid company Echelon Corp and T-Mobile USA said on Thursday they had formed an alliance to use T-Mobile's wireless network to link smart meters to utilities.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday its group-wide sales fell 27 percent to 1.767 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2009, keeping it ahead of Volkswagen AG as the world's top-selling carmaker.

Legislation to curb credit card fees and limit consumer penalties cleared a congressional panel on Wednesday, a day ahead of a meeting between industry executives and President Barack Obama at the White House.

Police are investigating the death of Freddie Mac official after he was found dead in his house on Wednesday morning in an apparent suicide.

New legislation to control and cut credit fees and limiting consumer penalties was on Wednesday cleared by the House Financial Services Committee.

General Electric Co expects its smart grid electricity monitoring business to grow to represent $3 billion to $4 billion in annual revenue over the next three to four years, the head of its Energy Infrastructure unit said on Wednesday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest U.S. retailer, said Wednesday it plans to nearly double the amount of solar power generated from rooftop panels on its California stores.

Gov. Phil Bredesen from Tennessee made a test-drive of Nissan's electric car on Wednesday at the automaker's headquarters in Franklin, a suburb in Nashville urging the construction of chargins stations.

The intelligence expert who prepared a still-secret study on cybersecurity for President Obama said on Wednesday the danger of attacks on U.S. computer networks cannot be fixed easily or quickly.

Political allies of the U.S. auto industry expressed serious concern on Wednesday to senior White House officials about possible carmaker bankruptcies with Chrysler LLC facing an April 30 deadline to cement an alliance to avert probable insolvency.

Business software maker VMware Inc warned that its revenue would dramatically miss Wall Street forecasts due to the weak economy and a new product launch, sending its shares down 14 percent.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has harshly criticized Pakistan's government for ceding more territory to Taliban, saying it has abdicated to the Taliban.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States should explore more clean energy like wind and solar and less on oil.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon recommended Wednesday the Security Council not to deploy UN force for Somali. He said such a deployment could exacerbate the country's conflict.

The IMF said Tuesday the global economy recession is likely go deeper and will have a slow recovery to stabilization.

The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's business said on Wednesday that he had received three more bids for its market-making unit, as he prepares to sell it and distribute the proceeds to the swindler's defrauded clients.

Lower fuel prices helped Continental Airlines and AirTran Holdings post quarterly results above Wall Street estimates, despite lower traffic and falling demand.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said on Wednesday that MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe will not be renewing his contract and will step down from the chief executive post.

Three former brokers and three former day traders conspired to misuse company squawk boxes for insider trading, a U.S. jury ruled on Wednesday in the second trial in the case.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp may be courting a former top executive at social network Facebook to replace the chief executive and co-founder of its top rival MySpace, All Things Digital, a media and technology website, reported on Wednesday.

Corrects third paragraph to show that former Facebook executive's name is Owen Van Natta, not Don Van Natta

Three former brokers and three former day traders conspired to misuse company squawk boxes for insider trading, a U.S. jury ruled on Wednesday in the second trial in the case.