IBT Staff Reporter

Advantage Partners is closer to winning regulator's approval for its $2.5 billion acquisition of regional lender Tokyo Star Bank Ltd after several breakthroughs in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Employers cut 4,000 jobs in August, the first time in four years that monthly hiring contracted, the government said on Friday in a report certain to boost pressure on Federal Reserve policy makers to cut interest rates.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current market turmoil is identical in many ways to that which occurred in 1987 and 1998, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs defended his company's decision on Thursday to cut the price of the iPhone device by $200 this week, but offered existing buyers a $100 store credit and an apology after some complained of the sudden drop.

Chrysler added Toyota's top American executive to its ranks on Thursday, hiring James Press as its new vice-Chairman and President in a bid to steer the newly private, but struggling company as it attempts a comeback.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Thursday it will fire another 850 workers, or about 3 percent of its work force, as it scales back its mortgage lending efforts globally.

The commercial paper market has shrunk 13 percent in the past month as U.S. companies struggle to raise short-term capital, according to data released on Thursday.

Auto parts maker Delphi Corp said it would file a reorganization plan on Thursday that lays out a definitive agreement with former parent General Motors Corp and a path to exiting bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The dollar fell to a one-month low on Thursday as rising mortgage delinquencies and ongoing credit concerns stoked fear of slower U.S. economic growth ahead of a keenly awaited employment report.

Oil rose slightly on Thursday as profit-taking cut into an earlier rally driven by rising tensions between Syria and Israel and a drop in U.S. inventories.

U.S. stocks and Treasury bond prices fell on Thursday after a stronger-than-expected reading of the U.S. services sector and a lower jobless claims number suggested the U.S. economy may not warrant a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut.

European Central Bank kept options open on a future rate move on Thursday, stressing his anti-inflation commitment but saying volatile markets meant the ECB needed more time to think.

Asia-Pacific ministers agreed on Thursday to accelerate global free-trade talks, saying that negotiations were at a crucial and probably final phase.

Twenty-one years after Chernobyl, the industry says nuclear power is clean, safe energy alternative.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Thursday that Beijing took product safety very seriously, as Asia Pacific ministers agreed to set up a food safety taskforce to ensure the health and safety of the region's population.

China has been overwhelmed by the storm of criticism and level of interest in recent product safety problems, but it will be a good learning experience, a public relations executive said on Thursday.

Leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit appeared deadlocked on Thursday over what their Sydney Declaration on climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions should say.

Turmoil in the credit markets will take a toll on the U.S. economy but the full impact will not be clear for another two or three months, William Rhodes, senior vice chairman of Citigroup Inc, said on Thursday.

Seven investment vehicles run by Citigroup controlling roughly $100 billion of assets said on Thursday the credit quality of their portfolios remained very strong and they had succeeded in funding themselves in August.

Royal Bank of Canada subsidiary RBC Centura Inc said on Thursday it has agreed to acquire Alabama National BanCorporation in a deal valued at $1.6 billion.

The rate of home loans entering the foreclosure process rose to a record high in the second quarter of 2007, driven largely by failing subprime mortgages, an industry trade group said on Thursday.

The European Commission has taken the unusual step of sending questionnaires to Google customers before the company officially seeks permission to take over a rival, two business sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Movie-on-demand service Vudu, which launched on Wednesday, aims to lure customers from video rental shops and digital cable television with over 5,000 movies from major and independent studios ready to download.

Intel Corp on Thursday introduced high-end processors for computer servers to compete with an upcoming new product from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.Intel Corp on Thursday introduced high-end processors for computer servers to compete with an upcoming new product from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Co on Wednesday launched a line of powerful new computers aimed squarely at gamers, in the company's latest step to court a small-but-influential audience.

Sony Corp said it would launch a new digital single lens reflex camera for advanced users in November, broadening its product lineup in a move to take on industry leaders Canon Inc and Nikon Corp.

Major retailers, led by discounters Wal-Mart Stores and Target Corp, turned in better-than-expected August sales on Thursday, as consumers went back-to-school shopping despite higher gas prices and the nation's housing meltdown.

Investors have been told for years that they should put a portion of their money into foreign stocks as a way of balancing the U.S. market. The theory behind that advice was: When U.S. stocks zig, those foreign stocks zag.

HSBC said on Thursday it plans to start retail banking operations in Japan from January 2008, making Europe's largest bank the latest foreign player to target Japan's legion of wealthy individuals.