IBT Staff Reporter

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Qatar Liquefied Natural Gas Company and Shell Group signed an LNG Sale and purchase agreement at SGT April 10.

The FTSE 100 share index fell marginally on Thursday, dropping 18.8 points to 5,965.1 (down 0.3 per cent) after the Bank of England cut interest rates from 5.25 to 5 per cent.

Morgan McKinley has released its London Employment Monitor for March 2008 and has said that the number of new job opportunities in the City fell by 2 per cent compared to February 2008, and fell 23 per cent compared with March 2007.

The High Court gave a ruling on Thursday that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully when it dropped a corruption inquiry into an arms deal involving BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia.

Travel operator Thomas Cook has said that it expects to meet its expectations during the current financial year.

Shares in Birmingham City have been suspended at the request of officials from the club.

Reports say that German utility company RWE has made a takeover offer of £11 billion for nuclear power company British Energy. The deal values the company at 700 pence per share and would be worth £4 billion to the government who own 35 per cent of British Energy.

DSG International Plc, owner of Currys and PC World, has issued a profit warning for the second time this year.

Microsoft is the most likely suitor to merge with Yahoo, analysts contend, as several deals now vie for the Internet giant's future. Sending a clear signal that it intends to pursue all options, the search leader has solicited alternate deals, including a possible merger with AOL, or partnership with arch-rival Google.

Wal-Mart stores and Sears Holding Corp. are among the retailers in hot water with the federal regulators, after they failed to warn consumers from buying some sets may not work after next year's transition to digital broadcasts.

Treasuries fell on Thursdays as stronger earnings sent investors looking for riskier stocks, weakening demand for relatively safe, but low yielding government debt.

The dollar declined against the euro ahead of the Group of Seven nations meeting in Washington on Friday.

Yahoo is about to close a deal for combining its operations with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit in effort to contend Microsoft's $44.6 billion takeover offer.

PDL BioPharma Inc. said on Thursday it plans to spin off its biotechnology assets into a separate entity and pay shareholders a special $500 million or $4.25 a share dividend.

Delta Air Lines gave the green light on a tentative agreement for a merger with Northwest Airlines, which will ultimately create the world's largest carrier, according to news reports.

While most companies are warning they will likely miss their profit forecasts, chemical giant DuPont upped its first-quarter profit expectations Thursday morning for the second time this year.

The second largest biotechnology company Genentech Inc. reported an increase of 12 percent in its first-quarter profits helped by more sells of its cancer drug Avastin.

Copper fell from its record on Wednesday of $4 a pound on profit-taking sell and as the dollar rallied against the euro reducing demand for commodities.

Crude futures declined on Thursday from a record high after profit-taking moves and OPEC signs of keeping output steady.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said on Thursday that the global credit crisis is in its latter stages probably approaching an end.

- Since Wednesday, April 2, natural gas spot prices increased at most markets in the Lower 48 States. Prices at the Henry Hub rose 30 cents per million Btu (MMBtu), or about 3 percent, to $9.89 per ...

Japan stocks showed continual decline Thursday because of strong yen and high fuel prices. Also investors began to fear upcoming Japanese and U.S. earnings reports that may be worse-than expected.

Gold futures ended lower Thursday, as the dollar gained against the euro on speculation a sinking European economy may lead to a cut in borrowing costs.

Soybean advanced for a second day amid speculation that demand for biofuel made from the oilseed will increase due to high prices for crude oil and weak dollar that boosted demand for commodities.

Wall Street rose for the first time in three days on Thursday as investors bought back into stocks after two days of losses, after reports showed a drop in unemployment claims and a better-than-expected sales performance by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Intel continued to show commitment to strengthen its business in China, and support to its customers, by offering $12 million investment to Shanghai Media Group (SMG), one of China's biggest broadcasters, to help it develop its TV service.

News Corp.'s MySpace awarded a British media company, exclusive rights to distribute video programming from the social networking site on broadcast television outside the U.S. and to sell DVDs and related merchandise.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bailed out three of its struggling investment funds and bought distressed assets from others for $1.8 billion, Wall Street bank said in a regulatory filing.

Nokia will introduce a new touchscreen handset, code-named Tube which will increase competition with Apple's iPhone.