IBT Staff Reporter

NYMEX Holdings Inc, parent of the New York Mercantile Exchange, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday helped by stronger electronic trading volume and cost cuts.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said on Thursday its third-quarter earnings declined 10 percent, missing expectations on sharply dropping profits from the production of gasoline and lower natural gas prices. Margins to produce gasoline and other refined products fell sharply during the quarter, dragging down earnings at most integrated oil companies that both drill for and refine the fuel.

Hong Kong banks on Thursday said they would cut their prime lending rates in line with a reduction in U.S. borrowing costs, while the Hong Kong dollar eased away from the ceiling of its trading band with the U.S. dollar.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO's new owners voted Royal Bank of Scotland executive Mark Fisher as the Dutch bank's chief executive at a shareholder's meeting on Thursday, the lender said.

Credit Suisse said third-quarter profit at its investment bank was all but wiped out by writedowns, leading to a 31 percent fall in group net earnings to 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.12 billion).

World stocks dropped from earlier all-time highs on Thursday while the dollar rebounded from a record low after the Federal Reserve made a widely-expected U.S. interest rate cut and moderated expectations of further easing.

Oil on Thursday above $96 for the first time, extending the previous day's 5 percent jump after an unexpected sharp fall in U.S. crude stocks and data showing strong economic growth. Crude oil's inflation adjusted prices is approaching an all-time of $101.70 seen in 1980. The price also includes reaction to a weak U.S. dollar, a Federal Reserve interest rate cut, and andOPEC statement saying prices were out of its control.

Three days of fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu displaced 88,000 people from their homes, adding to hundreds of thousands who fled violence earlier this year, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Japan ordered its naval ships on Thursday to withdraw from a refueling mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan as a political deadlock kept the government from meeting a deadline to extend the activities.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that economic sanctions agreed against groups backing Kurdish rebels were not yet in force, denying a report that Turkey had closed its airspace to flights to northern Iraq.

A senior U.S. official said on Thursday Russia and China had been blocking tough U.N. sanctions against Iran for months but there would be a push to impose them if Tehran had not suspended nuclear activity within two weeks.

AvalonBay Communities Inc.'s third-quarter net income rose sharply to $128.8 million, or $1.58 a share, from $42.1 million, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier.

Indexes tracking mining and metals shares rallied on Wednesday. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index surged 4.1% at 188.09 points. The CBOE Gold Index rose 3.5% at 190.18 points and the Amex Gold Bugs Index rallied 3.8% at 435.08 points.

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone supplier revealed today its newest headset, the Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-101.

Microsoft Corp. and International Trade Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Connect Africa summit in Kigali, Rwanda on Tuesday, so as to be able to expand the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure.

The Bank of Japan today lowered its forecasts for growth and inflation this year, and held interest rates steady, but maintained its view that the country's economy was likely to continue its sustained expansion.

The sale of Olympic tickets was suspended on October 30th, the first day of the second tranche sale. The official ticketing website has been paralyzed since 9:30AM.and has not been resumed so far. Besides, phone lines were jammed and serpentine queues formed at banks.

On October 30th, Nokia Siemens Communications Corporation (Nokia Siemens) declared that they will fire 350 people in China before year 2008, which is the part of their global restructuring plan.

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday after signs that the economy is showing strong growth and expectations that today’s Federal Reserve quarter-point cut for its benchmark interest rate will promote growth.

Japan's housing starts plunged 44.0 percent in September, the sharpest fall on record, to 63,018 units as confusion and procedural delays over stiffer building regulations weighed on the housing market, the government said Wednesday.

In the UK the Competition Commission has released an initial report on the groceries industry saying that “the UK groceries market is delivering a good deal for consumers.”

U.S. oil hit a record over $95 a barrel on Wednesday, posting the biggest gain in 10 months after a steep drop in U.S. inventories fueled winter supply concerns and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates.

Wall Street bankers are flocking to the Middle East, and it's not for oil or the balmy weather.

U.S. auto sales are expected to have dipped slightly in October, as stepped-up incentive spending by automakers could not totally offset the drag from continued turmoil in the U.S. housing market, analysts said.

Sprint Nextel Corp, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, is in talks to put applications from Web search leader Google Inc on its cell phones, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Google is in talks with some of the largest U.S. wireless carriers to make a deeper move into the mobile industry, an area it views as key to future growth.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 25 basis points to 4-1/2 percent.

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point on Wednesday, hoping to forestall what policy makers see as further slowing of the economy in the near term due in part to the U.S. housing downturn. The Federal Open Market Committee cut the key federal funds rate to 4.5 percent on Tuesday in a bid to forestall damage to the broader economy from turmoil in financial markets.

Oil rallied to a record $94 a barrel on Wednesday after weekly data showed U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly slumped by 3.9 million barrels, countering expectations for an increase.

Buddhist monks in Myanmar staged a protest march on Wednesday, their first since soldiers crushed a pro-democracy uprising a month ago, as U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari prepared a return visit to the former Burma.