IBT Staff Reporter

Credit Agricole, reported a 0.6 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on Thursday, which beat an average forecast, and said the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has had a limited impact on it.

Freddie Mac, the nation's second-largest source of home loan funding, said on Thursday its second-quarter net income fell 45 percent from a year earlier as more borrowers defaulted on their loans.

H&R Block Inc, the largest U.S. tax preparer, said it was trying to renegotiate the sale of its Option One Mortgage Corp unit and would get out subprime lending after its quarterly loss more than doubled.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 4 percent in the second quarter, as strong business investment led the fastest pace of expansion since early last year, the government reported on Thursday. However, the rebound in growth is not likely to be sustained. Policy makers and analysts may scale back estimates for U.S. growth in the coming quarters due to disruptions in the financial markets worldwide from rising defaults in subprime mortgages.

LG Electronics announced its first premium camera mobile phone on Thursday and an executive told Reuters the company aimed for 10-15 percent of this market segment within about a year.

Video-sharing Web site YouTube said on Wednesday that it has reached a deal with British licensing organizations that collect royalties on behalf of 50,000 composers, songwriters and publishers.

Apple Inc shares rose more than 5 percent on Wednesday on growing expectations that the company will announce a revamped line of iPods next week. The new units may have a large touch screen similar to the iPhone.

Consumer electronics maker Sony Corp. on Thursday said it introduced a new U.S. version of its Sony Walkman that includes the ability to play digital video, the latest potential rival to Apple Inc.'s dominant iPod media player.

The summer dry spell for video games came to an end last week with the arrival of BioShock, the creepy underwater shooter that has won rave reviews and flown off store shelves. The main bulk of important games this year won't come out until November, but the next month or two will see the release of quite a few other hot games.

Robust business investment helped push U.S. second-quarter growth ahead at an upwardly revised 4 percent annual rate, the government reported on Thursday, the fastest pace since early last year but one that is unlikely to be sustained.

General Electric Co said on Thursday it is considering pulling out of the consumer lending business in Japan, as tighter regulation has crimped profits across the industry, but said nothing has been decided yet.

The head of Toyota Motor Corp, the world's biggest automaker, said on Thursday he expects further cooperation between truck affiliates Isuzu Motors Ltd and Hino Motors Ltd to better compete in global markets.

Biotech company Actelion is due to report results from clinical trials of two key drugs at the weekend, and positive results could further boost its already highly valued stock, analysts said.

German drug maker Merck KGaA's Merck Serono unit won European Commission approval to market a new formulation of its Rebif drug to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis, the company said on Thursday.

Sears Holdings Corp said on Thursday that its quarterly profit fell 40 percent as sales declined and the retailer marked down prices for shoppers coping with a tough economy.

CITIC Securities, China's biggest listed brokerage, said on Thursday it has raised 25 billion yuan ($3.31 billion) in a heavily oversubscribed new share offer to finance expansion.

General Motors of Canada will cut about 1,000 jobs at a truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario, in January amid slumping pick-up sales, the Globe and Mail newspaper said in its online edition on Thursday.

Chip giant Intel Corp. is optimistic amid steady PC demand and a rollout of new products

Heightened investor expectations of a U.S. rate cut next month soothed financial market volatility on Thursday as a Bank of Japan policymaker said some of the turbulence had been overdone.

An Australian hedge fund felled by its exposure to risky credit derivatives filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, and liquidators on Thursday were assessing how much money, if any, would be returned to investors.

While funding for large leveraged buyouts has dried up in the last month, the middle market M&A climate remains strong, with hundreds of potential deals currently in the pipeline, American Capital Strategies Ltd Chairman and CEO Malon Wilkus said on Wednesday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, under fire from some for being slow to stamp out a smoldering credit crisis, takes the stage before global policy-makers on Friday in a test of his leadership with financial market worry at a fever pitch.

Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.9 percent on Thursday as higher oil prices pushed up energy stocks and trading firms, while TDK Corp gained on its plan to buy Thai-based Magnecomp Precision Technology.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday, pointing to a weaker open a day after stocks rallied, as investors grappled with mixed signals on whether the Federal Reserve would soon cut rates.

The yen rose broadly on Thursday, recovering from the previous day's sharp drop, and high yielding currencies fell as the spotlight swung back to troubled credit markets with investors cautious about risky carry trades.

Oil was steady above $73 on Thursday after spiking two percent the previous day on an unexpectedly large drop in crude and gasoline stocks in top consumer the United States.

California produce grower Metz Fresh LLC said on Wednesday it voluntarily recalled fresh spinach in grocery stores and food service packages after a sample tested positive for salmonella.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is not rushing to cut benchmark interest rates because it wants to break investors of the view that the central bank is there to bail them out, an article in the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

South Korea said the remaining seven Korean church volunteers held by the Taliban in Afghanistan were likely to be freed on Thursday, a day after 12 of their colleagues were released from an ordeal of nearly six weeks.