IBT Staff Reporter

A day after New York City came up with a $1,000 bagel, a local restaurateur unveiled a $25,000 chocolate sundae on Wednesday, setting a Guinness world record for the most expensive dessert.

New applications for jobless aid fell unexpectedly last week, dropping by 13,000, but a more reliable moving average of these claims rose to the highest level in six months, government data on Thursday showed.

Flags flew at half-mast across Finland on Thursday in mourning for eight people killed by an 18-year-old gunman at a school hours after he posted a video on YouTube predicting a massacre there.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan on Thursday to resume a naval mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan that has been stalled by a domestic political controversy.

S&P 500 and Dow stock futures rose on Thursday as shares of natural resources companies, including Alcoa Inc, gained after BHP Billiton disclosed it had made a bid for rival miner Rio Tinto.

World stocks hit a two-week low on Thursday while the dollar remained vulnerable near the previous day's record lows as Wall Street tumbled on a fresh series of negative news on the U.S. mortgage and financial industry.

The dollar teetered close to its all-time lows against the euro on Thursday as the market waited to see whether the European Central Bank would voice concern about the sharp rally in the single currency.

Oil recouped early losses to resume its march towards the $100-milestone on Thursday as resurfacing worries of tight winter supplies and continuing dollar weakness put the brakes on some early profit-taking.

China on Thursday urged Iran to heed rising international worry about its nuclear ambitions, saying Beijing would seek to work with Europe and the United Nations to defuse the crisis but holding its tongue on any new sanctions.

Toll Brothers said on Thursday that it expected to report a 36 percent drop in quarterly home-building revenue, reflecting the deepening decline in the U.S. housing market.

OPEC's secretary-general called on Thursday for tighter regulation of oil markets to reduce the speculative investment the exporter group blames for driving prices to nearly $100 a barrel.

BHP Billiton has made a long-awaited bid approach to Rio Tinto in a move aimed at creating a $350 billion-plus mining giant, but Rio rejected the all-share proposal as too low.

Pakistani national elections will take place before February 15, President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday, after Western allies and opponents had demanded polls be held on time and emergency rule scrapped.

Ford Motor Co posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday and said it was nearing a deal to spin off British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover. Shares of Ford rose almost 5 percent in pre-market trading. Ford said it expects to conclude a deal to sell Jaguar and Land Rover by early next year.

Ballard Power Systems, the Vancouver producer of hydrogen fuel cells, said it agreed to sell its automotive-fuel-cell business to Daimler AG of Germany and Ford Motor Co. of Dearborn, Mich. As payment, Ballard will receive the 34.3 million of its shares that Daimler and Ford hold.

United Airline announced on Tuesday its plans to start daily nonstop flights from San Francisco to Guangzhou, China.

The mobile-gaming market suffered a reversal of fortune in the second quarter of 2007 as revenues for title publishers declined by 9 percent sequentially, compared with 11 percent growth in the first quarter, according to iSuppli Corp.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday said it has suffered a $3.7 billion loss stemming from its U.S. subprime mortgage exposure, which it expects will reduce fourth-quarter earnings by about $2.5 billion. The Wall Street investment bank said the loss occurred in September and October, and might change before its fiscal quarter ends this month.

Visa USA, Inc will pay American Express Co. a total of $2.25 billion to settle allegations stemming from an anti-trust lawsuit filed in 2004 by AmEx, according to a report.

The outlook of the U.S. interest rate policy is asymmetric, with further rate cutting bigger than the potential for increases, said St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole on Wednesday.

Misleading information which allegedly resulted from technical problems was published on Wednesday causing confusion in trading on the London Stock market.

Network giant Cisco Systems posted a 37% increase in profit in the first quarter, posting slightly above analyst expectations on strong sales growth.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued subpoenas to mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Wednesday as he seeks information about allegations that Washington Mutual Inc pressured appraisers to inflate home values.

It's not just for lonely hearts anymore. Speed-dating a way for busy singles to meet was on the event list at a distinctly unromantic venue, the Information Management Network's ABS East conference, in a bid to bring together investors and issuers still reeling from this year's U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown.

American International Group Inc shares fell on Wednesday as investors grew increasingly nervous before third-quarter earnings were reported after the close and a takeover premium evaporated.

HONG KONG, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Oil soared above $98 a barrel for the first time on Wednesday and gold rose to a 28-year high as investors sought shelter from the falling dollar, which plumbed all-time lows.

Stocks fell on Wednesday as fear of more credit market turmoil raised worry about prospects for the economy and profits. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office was sending subpoenas to government-sponsored mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a probe of the home loan industry.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc on Wednesday confirmed it would acquire the Philadelphia Stock Exchange for $652 million, a move that will let the No. 2 U.S. stock exchange expand its presence in the fast-growing equity options business.

President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday after police fought pitched battles with protesters, and the prime minister said there had been an attempt at a coup.