IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors bet Wall Street might hold off from hitting fresh bear-market lows as a search for beaten-down shares provided support. The likely bounce from three-month lows faces a drag from fresh government data showing the number of U.S. workers continuing to claim jobless benefits jumped to a record in the first week of February. The Dow Jones industrial avera...

This is an improvement of more than 800,000 homes since Nielsen reported readiness status at the beginning of February. The Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M., market continues to be the least prepared. Some stations switched during the daytime, but an NAB representative said the vast majority that switched Tuesday did so after airing their primetime programing.

Delta Air Lines said on Thursday that it would grant voluntary buyouts to the more than 2,100 employees requesting them, but the number of job cuts could grow as the company assesses future labor needs. The world's largest airline previously said it would cut capacity by 6 percent to 8 percent this year as economic weakness erodes travel demand. Delta, which eliminated 4,000 jobs ...

Switzerland on Thursday embarked on a struggle to defend a landmark decision allowing bank giant UBS to transfer client data to the United States in a tax settlement that experts say will dilute bank secrecy laws. UBS , the world's biggest bank to the rich, agreed late on Wednesday to pay a hefty $780 million fine and disclose the identity of some clients after U.S. i...

has not been well received. S&P 500 futures rose 15.10 points, and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures climbed 117 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 17.00 points. According to Reuters data, the benchmark S&P 500 shows the br...

The board of General Motors' Saab met on Thursday, a union representative said, amid reports the Swedish carmaker was set to file for protection from creditors. Earlier on Thursday, Swedish public service radio reported, without disclosing its sources, that Saab's board had called an extraordinary meeting to decide on a reorganization of the carmaker. A reorganization filing, whic...

The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment aid jumped to a record high in early February according to data on Thursday that highlighted the deteriorating labor market as a 13-month recession deepens. A separate report showed prices received by U.S. producers rose last month, breaking a five straight month declining trend as energy costs rebounded. The number of people remaining on the benef...

Venezuela seized a local bank owned by Allen Stanford on Thursday to stem massive online deposit withdrawals as the impact of a U.S. fraud case against the Texan billionaire spread through Latin America.

Venezuela took control of a local bank owned by Allen Stanford, who faces U.S. fraud charges, the finance minister said on Thursday, as the impact of the American case spread through Latin America. We have taken the decision to take over, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said, adding that the government would seek to quickly sell the bank. In recent days, depositors had worried that the troubl...

Sprint Nextel Corp posted a fourth-quarter loss as 1.3 million subscribers left its mobile phone service, but the results were not as bad as some had feared, and its shares rose more than 14 percent. The No. 3 U.S. mobile company, which has struggled with customer defections in the last few years, said on Thursday that its net loss narrowed to $1.6 billion, or 57 cents per share, from...

S&P 500 stock index futures briefly pared gains on Thursday following a government report showing the number of U.S. workers continuing to claim jobless benefits jumped to a record in the first week of February. The data underscored the toll of the deepening recession on the labor market, and presented a hurdle for stocks attempting to bounce from three-month lows. S&P 500 futures rose 8...

The number of U.S. workers continuing to claim jobless benefits jumped to a record high in the first week of February, the Labor Department data showed on Thursday, while new claims for unemployment insurance last week was unchanged at a very high level. Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits were a seasonally adjusted 627,000 in the week ended February 14 unchanged from an upwa...

U.S. producer prices rose faster than expected in January after falling for five straight months as energy costs rebounded, government data showed on Thursday, but inflation pressures generally remained benign. The Labor Department said the producer price index rose 0.8 percent in January, rising for the first-time since July, compared to a 1.9 percent drop in December. Analysts polled by Reuter...

Just hours after he said urging OPEC not to cut oil production was not in my domain, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that remark reflected more of my naivete than anything else and he would encourage OPEC members to promote stability in crude oil prices.

Oil rallied toward $36 a barrel on Thursday ahead of key United States inventory data, while the dollar's weakness and a recovery in global stock markets offered support to oil prices. Crude stockpiles in the United States likely rose last week by 3.0 million barrels to their highest since May 1998, a Reuters poll of analysts ahead of the U.S. Energy Information Administration data due later on...

has not been well received. S&P 500 futures rose 10.30 points, and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures climbed 67 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7.75 points. But even with the bounce, there was caution ahead of a weekly report on jobless ...

CVS Caremark Corp posted a higher fourth-quarter profit that matched Wall Street's expectations, helped by growth in its pharmacy services and retail drugstore units. CVS said on Thursday that it had earned $949.3 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with $811.2 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier. The results matched the analysts' average forecast, according to Re...

Barack Obama will seek to quell Canadian concerns about U.S. protectionism when he makes his first foreign trip as president on Thursday to the United States' biggest trading partner and energy supplier.

Sprint Nextel Corp, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, posted a quarterly loss on Thursday and said a total of 1.3 million wireless customers had left its service during the quarter.

Sprint Nextel Corp , the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, posted a quarterly loss on Thursday and said a total of 1.3 million wireless customers had left its service during the quarter. Sprint, which has struggled with customer defections in the last few years, reported a loss of $1.6 billion, or 57 cents per share, compared with a loss of $29.3 billion, or $10.31 per share, in the same quar...

CVS Caremark Corp. posted a higher fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by growth in its pharmacy services and retail drugstore units.

UBS's landmark settlement deal with U.S. tax authorities could be the final nail in the coffin for Switzerland's prized bank secrecy and will have far-reaching consequences for the whole offshore financial industry.

Sprint Nextel Corp. on Thursday reported fourth quarter an full-year 2008 results.

as well as identify some American clients who held undeclared bank accounts to avert criminal charges. The settlement, which Swiss authorities say they agreed to broker to avoid putting the bank's existence at risk, could also have wide implications for the $7 trillion-offshore banking industry by making it harder to try to circumvent tax laws. The settlement in the U.S. tax case is what we ...

Oil rallied above $36 a barrel on Thursday ahead of key United States inventory data, while the dollar's weakness and a recovery in global stock markets offered support to oil prices.

World stocks rose from the previous day's three-month low on Thursday, while the dollar and government bonds fell, as some European corporate quarterly results were better than the most pessimistic expectations. Nestle the world's biggest food group, beat forecasts with underlying sales growth of 8.3 percent in 2008 and it was cautiously upbeat for 2009. BNP Paribas

Nestle reported strong underlying 2008 sales growth of 8.3 percent and said it was cautiously upbeat for 2009, unlike some rivals, and would push cheaper products to cope with the downturn.

Dow Jones futures rose 1.0 percent by 5:00 a.m. EST, S&P 500 futures rose 1.2 percent and Nasdaq futures rose 0.9 percent, indicating that Wall Street stocks could open higher on Thursday. Eyes will be on the fallout of UBS's $780 million settlement under which the Swiss bank admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide accounts from the IRS. Some UBS customers could face scrutiny...

Oil prices rose above $35 a barrel on Thursday ahead of United States data expected to show crude inventories in the top energy consumer hit an 11-year high amid a worsening recession. Oil stocks in the U.S. have risen by 20 percent since September as the downturn has crushed consumption, and helped pull crude prices more than $110 off their peaks last summer. A day ahead of expiry, U.S. crude f...