IBT Staff Reporter

Oil dropped $2 on Thursday as credit and economic fears pounded global financial markets and as a storm threat to U.S. Gulf refineries and rigs receded.

The yen rallied across the board on Thursday, reaching its highest against the dollar in more than a year, as investors worldwide fled carry trades in the wake of a global plunge in stocks which triggered safe-haven buying of U.S. Treasuries.

Stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as fears grew that deteriorating credit market conditions may deal a blow to economic expansion.

Several reporters and their family members have sued Hewlett-Packard Co and some of its officers, their lawyer said in a statement, alleging the technology giant violated their privacy in a hunt for the source of boardroom leaks.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President William Poole said on Wednesday financial market turmoil had not undermined the U.S. economy and there was no need for the central bank to ride to the rescue with an emergency rate cut.

Groundbreaking for new homes fell 6.1 percent in July to the lowest pace in more than 10 years while building permit activity, a sign of future construction plans, sank to a nearly 11-year low, a government report on Thursday showed.Groundbreaking for new homes fell 6.1 percent in July to the lowest pace in more than 10 years while building permit activity, a sign of future construction plans, sank to a nearly 11-year low, a government report on Thursday showed.

BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc., the world's biggest mining house, should post record second-half profits on strong sales of industrial minerals such as copper, iron ore, coal and petroleum products.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's largest bank, would consider buying a commercial bank in the United States or Europe to expand its international operations, a senior executive said on Thursday.

Kraft Foods Inc. is in the early stages of looking for a buyer for its Post cereals business, maker of the Grape Nuts and Shredded Wheat brands, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Website on Thursday.

China Mobile Ltd., the world's largest wireless operator, posted a better-than-expected 28 percent jump in quarterly earnings as more users switched to mobile phones, despite sacrificing margins to woo poorer rural customers. The firm and rival China Unicom Ltd. are slugging it out to sign up poorer customers in smaller cities and the countryside, with subscriber growth slowing in the world's largest telecoms arena -- chipping away at margins.

Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC), the largest U.S. mortgage lender, fell 13 percent on Tuesday over investor concerns that it could fall into bankruptcy amid an ongoing liquidity crunch.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 wiping out what was left of its 2007 gains, as credit jitters sparked a broad stock market sell-off. Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. fell 16.2 percent to $20.51 on the rumors that the largest U.S. mortgage company has been unable to raise money from the commercial paper market. Countrywide officials were not immediately available for comment.

U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa, Inc. has selected the ousted former chief of German conglomerate Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld, as its chief operating officer, the company said Tuesday.

The recall of millions of Chinese-made toys by U.S. toy company Mattel Inc. will make Americans more cautious about buying toys made in China but will not deter them, parents said.

DuPont Co. on Wednesday said it expects its agriculture and nutrition business to deliver 10 percent revenue growth and 20 percent pretax operating income growth in 2007.

A new rock band is soothing Kashmir which has been blighted by years of violence and a ban on entertainment by separatist Muslim guerrillas.

Orange, the mobile phone arm of telecoms group France Telecom, declined to comment on Wednesday on reports it had won the license to sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in France.

Blu-ray high-definition movie discs outsold films on the rival HD-DVD format by 2-to-1 in the United States in the first half of 2007, Home Media Research said on Tuesday.

Symantec Corp and Intel Corp are jointly developing security products that could be built into tiny computer microprocessors, Symantec Vice President Rowan Trollope said on Tuesday.

Publisher HarperCollins said on Wednesday it would make samples from 14 new book titles available for Apple Inc's Web-browsing iPhone in a new effort to extend publishing into digital formats.

Aluminum company Alcoa Inc. said on Wednesday it named Klaus Kleinfeld, the former president and chief executive officer of Siemens AG, as its president and chief operating officer.

Countrywide Financial Corp shares fell as much as 9.2 percent on Wednesday after the largest U.S. mortgage lender was downgraded to sell from buy by a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst, who said bankruptcy may be possible if liquidity worsens.

World oil demand forecasts are falling into a widening range, adding to uncertainty that may steer OPEC towards doing nothing when it meets on September 11, analysts said on Wednesday.

The region is still a safer bet than struggling U.S. and European markets despite an expected dip in investment due to higher borrowing costs from the U.S. subprime crises.

While India is doing away with some symbols of British rule, such as the names of some cities and towns, other things, such as language and the university system remain firmly entrenched.

Britain said on Wednesday it would ease restrictions on livestock movements and was likely to stand down vaccination teams after initial tests for foot and mouth disease at a farm and theme park proved negative.

A bridge that collapsed in China killing at least 36 people broke apart like a pat of beancurd because there were apparently no steel reinforcement bars, state media said on Wednesday, quoting a rescuer.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh marked the 60th anniversary of independence from British rule by urging the country to work harder to free itself from the shackles of poverty, ignorance and disease.

Democratic presidential hopefuls have seized on the deepening U.S. mortgage crisis and gyrating financial markets as signs they would be better stewards of the economy, but Republicans argue the outlook is strong.