IBT Staff Reporter

China's stocks rose the most in a week, led by energy companies and China Unicom, which will benefit from the coming restructuring of the telecom industry.

Gold futures ended with strong gains on Thursday as record energy costs and weakness in the U.S. dollar boosted the demand for a hedge against inflation.

Microsoft is set to place more emphasis on making mobile phones as one of its strategies to develop the Information Technology infrastructure in developing nations, based partly on a prototype that was developed for Fone+.

Crude futures climbed past $124 a barrel in electronic trading late afternoon, recovering from earlier weakness as traders continued to have concerns over global supplies, while OPEC commented the market is well supplied.

Since Wednesday, April 30, natural gas spot prices increased at most markets in the Lower 48 States. Prices at the Henry Hub rose 27 cents per million Btu (MMBtu), or about 2.5 percent, to $11.08 per MMBtu.

Microsoft's satellite imagery project was sued over the TerraServer name, by a small North Carolina company alleging that the firm was using its name which is already registered.

Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, will open its first stores in Europe by paying $2.1 billion for a 50 percent stake in Europe's largest cell phone retailer, the companies announced Thursday.

Coffee posted record gains on Thursday amid concerns that frost will harm Brazil's crops, the world's largest coffee grower.

Warner Music on Thursday posted a higher than expected net loss in its second quarter and suspended a quarterly dividend in order to raise cash and lower its debt.

Toyota Motor Corp said its profit declined in the first three months of the year and expects a profit drop for the current year due to a weak U.S. market, a stronger yen, and rising raw materials and energy costs.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday in the wake of higher gold prices and sales from retailers and media companies were higher than expected.

Agrium Inc's chief executive says the company is looking into possible new development of potash mines in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, according to a report.

Expeditors International of Washington Inc. provider of global logistic services, reported on Wednesday its first-quarter net earnings increased to $66.47 million or 31 cents a share from $59.29 million or 28 cents a year ago.

Copper futures fell for a second straight day on Wednesday as a labor strike in Chile ended and speculation that higher prices will reduce demand from China rose.

Corn and soybeans rallied for the second day amid concerns that planting delays caused by cold, wet weather will reduce crop yields in the U.S.

Dollar rose against the euro yesterday as weak economic data from the Euro zone put pressure on the euro helping the counterpart.

The dollar gained versus the euro on Thursday as members of the European Central Bank gather today for a meeting to decide on economic policy.

Sterling fell against the dollar yesterday with weak consumer morale output and jobs figures keeping investors focused on a sharply slowing UK economy and the prospect of further interest rate cuts.

ZymoGenetics Inc., developer and manufacturer of therapeutic proteins, was told by the Food and Drugs Administration that its promotion of the treatment Recothrom had false and misleading material according to a letter released today.

AMD Inc, the world's second largest chipmaker, announced updated plans for new computer server processors on Wednesday, including versions with six and twelve processing cores.

Medtronic Inc., a medical device maker, reported late Wednesday it was recalling certain devices coated with contaminated blood-thinner, Heparin.

China's Xinjiang Land and Resources Office said today that the province discovered new natural resources, among which, coal reserves totaled 18.98 billion tons.

News Corp., the owner of the MySpace Web site and Fox television, said on Wednesday its quarterly net profit rose three-fold on higher advertising sales and on a gain from the sale of its stake in DirecTV Group Inc.

Singapore Airlines will use the world's largest passenger plane, Airbus' A380, to take one of the three daily flights between Singapore and Beijing as it strives to meet growing flight demand ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Chinese Food and Drug regulators said pharmaceutical Baxter International Inc. did not fully co-operate in an investigation to address the case of the blood thinner heparin to which 81 deaths are linked due to the presence of a chemical contaminant.

French oil company Total SA said Wednesday its first-quarter net profit jumped 18 percent as record oil prices made up for the weak dollar and a drop in refining margins.

Satellite television service provider DirectTV reported that profit grew 10.4 percent during the first quarter, beating analysts' estimates.

Microsoft will invest $280 million to establish a Research and Development(R&D) Building in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and double the staff within three to five years to reach 3,000 the company said today.

Cablevision announced that its programming unit agreed to buy the Sundance Channel, the network founded by actor Robert Redford, in a deal worth $496 million.