IBT Staff Reporter

Microsoft Corp. named former Disney and General Motors executive Tony Scott as chief information officer on Thursday, after it ousted its previous executive in November under mysterious circumstances.

Google.org, the popular search engine's philanthropic venture, said on Thursday it will fund more than $25 million in grants and investments. The funds will be used to fight climate change, poverty, global diseases and will support small businesses.

The subprime mortgage crisis is claiming more victims as shares of bond insurers Ambac Financial Group, Inc. and MBIA, Inc. fell sharply on Thursday over concerns that they could lose their AAA credit ratings.

Asian stocks fell to a five-month low after U.S home construction and manufacturing numbers added concern that the world's largest economy is in recession.

U.S. Wheat rose sharply on Monday, reaching trading limits, driven by higher demand and export sales.

Sales of video games jumped in the U.S thanks to a strong holiday season new data reveals, with Nintendo dominating rivals through 2007. The Nintendo Wii outsold competitors in December, coming in with sales of 1.35 million units for the month compared to 1.26 million units for the Xbox 360 and 797,600 units for the PlayStation 3 according to market data released by NPD.

Copper futures settled slightly higher on Thursday as the dollar weakened and fears of an economic recession grew.

Gold futures dropped on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke voiced his support for an economic stimulus plan to prevent a recession.

The dollar fell on Thursday after comments by Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke echoed a statement made earlier this week signaling that the Federal Reserve would continue to cut interest rates, reducing the attractiveness of deposits in the currency.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the economic outlook has worsened and Merrill Lynch & Co. reported the a big loss related to the struggling mortgage lending market.

Crude oil declined to below $90 a barrel on Thursday as traders remained concerned that the U.S. economy will fall into recession, affecting oil demand in the largest energy consuming nation.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday he backs a quickly implemented fiscal stimulus package to complement the Fed's monetary policy aimed at boosting the slowing U.S. economy.

Apple computers are encroaching into the PC market space, capturing over 6 percent of the US computer new sales research indicates.

Velocity Interactive Group, the newly formed digital-media investment firm announced Thursday it will invest $10 million in Broadband Enterprises, an online video ad network.

The dollar dropped on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional committee that more interest rate cuts may be necessary and that the economic outlook has worsened.

Merrill Lynch exposed billions more in losses related to the troubled mortgage lending market on Thursday, with newly hired chief executive calling the latest quarterly results clearly unacceptable as the company moves to straighten out its balances. Merrill reported an $11.5 billion write-down in its last quarter, while recording an overall loss of $9.3 billion for the same period.

Back in the day, a 200-point move in the Dow really meant something. Now it's just the typical morning routine; and after lunch, there's often an equally large swing in the opposite direction. If The Street used to feel like a well-paved avenue, these days it's more like a pothole-riddled mountain road. Investors need new techniques to stay on the right path and ensure a smooth ride.

German unions on Thursday called for a consumer boycott of Nokia products to protest against the cellphone maker's plans to close a German plant. Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, said on Tuesday it wants to move production to lower-cost regions and said the plant, in the western city of Bochum, is not competitive enough. The company has said it may cut up to 2,300 staff.

Churches across the world are able to sing the Lord's praises online after the launch of the first major digital hymn book on Thursday.

Dell Inc returned to double-digit percentage growth in global PC shipments in the fourth quarter as its new retail sales strategy began to pay off, while rival Hewlett-Packard Co's growth slowed, technology researcher IDC said on Wednesday. Overall, global personal computer sales rose a healthy but less-than-expected 15.5 percent in the fourth quarter, and economic concerns were likely to cut into future demand, IDC said.

Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday it will soon start to serve ads and share content with financial information site Edgar Online Inc.

One of the world's biggest toy companies has warned popular social networking website Facebook that a highly popular Scrabulous game on its site infringes on copyrights.

Gold futures dropped the most in nearly nine months on Wednesday as the dollar rose against a basket of other major currencies, reducing the investment appeal of gold.

Copper fell on Thursday on concerns over weakened demand for the red metal as the U.S. economy confronts big losses by investment banks and government reports showing rising consumer prices and stagnant industrial production.

Sun Microsystems Inc. announced plans on Wednesday to buy MySQL, an open-source database software company for a proposed $1 billion.

The U.S. economy continued to grow in the final weeks of the fourth quarter but the pace of activity slackened amid subdued holiday spending and a weak housing sector, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve districts suggest that economic activity increased modestly during the survey period of mid-November through December, but at a slower pace compared with the previous survey period, the Fed said.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has launched at this year's Macworld Expo, four years after the last edition. The new suite of productivity applications for the Macintosh operating system is built specifically for the Mac and is tailored to feel like a native application. The software was created by Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, which is dedicated to products on that operating system.

Gold fell 2.4 percent on Wednesday as investors took profits after a failed bid to set another record high beyond $914, but analysts said it might rebound after a period of consolidation.

U.S. crude recovered slightly on Tuesday after dropping below $90 after the U.S. weekly inventories report showed crude stockpiles grew 4.28 million barrels last week.