IBT Staff Reporter

Chrysler LLC has named longtime Toyota Motor Corp North American executive Jim Press as a new vice chairman and president.

Malaysian loss-making car-maker Proton Holdings expects to reverse a long and painful slide in its domestic market share with the launch of a new model from January.

Hyundai Motor Group chief Chung Mong-koo had his three-year jail sentence for fraud suspended by a South Korean appeals court on Thursday, leaving him free to run the world's sixth largest auto maker.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, helped by an upbeat earnings outlook and favorable news in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors, while economic data eased worries about a possible recession.

The Bank of England kept official interest rates steady for a second month running on Thursday, and said it was keeping a close eye on financial markets to see how turmoil there would hit companies and consumers.

The Nikkei average closed 0.6 percent higher on Thursday, after hitting its lowest level in a week, as telecoms including KDDI Corp gained on a bullish brokerage report and steel stocks rose on better outlooks.

Gold hit a new six-week high on Thursday, supported by firm energy prices and improving physical demand in key consuming nations.

The euro steadied versus the yen on Thursday after the European Central Bank held rates at 4 percent as expected, as the market awaited a post-decision news conference with ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

European shares fell and sterling slipped after the Bank of England said it was too early to tell how recent market turbulence would affect companies and households, and left interest rates on hold.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday his country took food safety very seriously, echoing comments by President Hu Jintao in Sydney.

The oil market is well balanced and there is no shortage of crude, OPEC's president said on Thursday, ahead of a meeting of the producer group next week that is expected to maintain supply curbs.

Starbucks opened its first coffee shop in Russia on Thursday, two years after it won a legal battle to protect the right to its brand in the fast-growing Russian market.

Limited Brands Inc said on Thursday sales at stores open at least a year rose 1 percent in August, in line with the retailer's expectations, but it expects same-store sales to be flat in September.

Blackstone Group plans to buy a 20 to 40 percent stake in chemicals company China National BlueStar (Group) Corp for up to $500 million, marking its first major investment in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Campbell Soup Co on Thursday posted quarterly profit below analysts' estimates despite strong sales of its V8 vegetable juice, as the company overhauled its supply chain in Australia and Indonesia.

Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti died in the early hours of Thursday, his agent said.Here are some key facts on Pavarotti.

Like most Italian boys, Luciano Pavarotti used to dream of being a soccer star. Instead, he rose to opera stardom and entranced stadium audiences with his singing voice rather than his soccer skills.

The legendary Italian tenor brought opera to the masses with his powerful voice and jovial personality.

Apple Inc on Wednesday said the company was cutting the price of its iPhone and was on track to sell one million phones before the end of September.

Shares in some of the biggest U.S. entertainment and media companies fell on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs downgraded its view on the sector to cautious from neutral due to concerns about the U.S. economic slowdown.

Getting TV shows iTunes will be harder for Apple as firms avoid the music industry's mistakes.

Apple Inc is expected to unveil new iPods this week, injecting fresh excitement into the product line at a time when defections by partners have shown cracks in its digital music dominance.

Stocks fell on Wednesday after data showed deterioration in the employment and housing markets, underscoring concern that problems of the subprime mortgage market were spreading to the wider economy.

Facebook, the social-network site that has enjoyed explosive growth in new members over the past three months, said it plans to let users tell the rest of the world how to find them on the site.

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc introduced on Wednesday an updated version of its high-definition DVD player that supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD, offering a possible solution to the format war.

NBC Universal has reached a deal for online retailer Amazon.com Inc to sell television show downloads, it said on Tuesday, just days after the media company pulled the plug on a contract with Apple Inc'siTunes.

Yahoo Inc has struck a deal to buy BlueLithium, the fifth-largest U.S. online ad network, for $300 million in cash, in the latest move to consolidate the fast-growing behavioral ad targeting market.

Taiwan smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) said on Wednesday it will launch 10 new PDAs and smartphones using chips from U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc by the end of the year.

Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell by a surprising 12.2 percent in July as credit tightened up amid troubles in the housing and subprime mortgage sectors, a real estate trade group said on Wednesday.