IBT Staff Reporter

Gold extended losses on Thursday to slip to its lowest in nearly a week as a firmer dollar and rising bond yields triggered more selling, traders said.

Key plot details could be fake, warns a publisher of the eagerly awaited book.

Starbucks Corp.'s chief financial officer said on Thursday the high end of the coffee shop chain's 2007 earnings forecast will be 'very challenging' due to current market conditions, including higher dairy costs.

Sony Corp. expects at least 380 new PlayStation 3 games to hit the market this business year and says that should rev up demand for the console that has so far lost out to Nintendo's wildly popular Wii.

It has been said only half-jokingly that General Motors Corp. is actually a giant health-insurance provider - just one that happens to make cars.

After a frenzied four days of deals at the Paris Air Show, Europe's Airbus appears to have booked enough orders to move ahead of rival Boeing Co. in the sales race this year.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group's initial public offering was about seven times subscribed, boosted by demand from Asia, the Middle East and Europe, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc. on Thursday urged CBOT Holdings Inc. shareholders and members to reject the proposed sale of the company to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.

U.S. government debt prices were mixed on Thursday after data suggesting less tightness in the labor market offset downward pressure from worries over rising global interest rates.

The European Union's data watchdog will expand its investigation of Web search engines beyond sector leader Google and write to that company, a European Commission source said on Thursday.

H&R Block Inc., the largest U.S. tax preparer, on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter loss on the depressed value of a mortgage unit slammed by deterioration in the U.S. subprime market.

French winemakers are disappointed that President Nicolas Sarkozy is teetotal and fear his clean-living image gives the wrong impression of France.

A general strike to protest against a rise in fuel prices paralyzed most economic activity in Nigeria for a second day on Thursday, but unions spared vital oil exports.

The nations will review labor and environmental standards in a deal struck earlier in the year.

China on Thursday forgave Iraq's debt owed to the Chinese government and pledged to help rebuild the country's war-shattered economy.

Residents from the seaside resort of Rimini on Italy's Adriatic coast quietly admit that a short drive to nearby microstate San Marino has allowed many to hide cash from the taxman for decades.

Dow Jones & Co. Inc. said on Wednesday its board will take over negotiations related to a $5 billion takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., a move that could bring a quicker resolution to the talks.

Lifecycle funds have become hugely popular with investors due to their simplicity but as more funds are launched, picking the right one is increasingly becoming a complex task for retirement plans.

Top U.S. consumer electronics retail chain Best Buy Co. Inc. is speeding up its expansion in China, banking on robust demand in a fast-growing market that it entered just one year ago.

Morgan Stanley, a top Wall Street firm, has raised an $8 billion real estate fund through its property arm to focus on North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

U.S. Federal Reserve policy makers want to shift their emphasis away from current benign inflation to uncertainty about future price pressures, and are debating whether to stop calling inflation 'elevated' in their policy statements, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The shutdown of a Venezuelan television station critical of President Hugo Chavez may prove a windfall for the owner of a rival network: millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

U.S. businesses painted dramatically different portraits of a new trade deal with South Korea on Wednesday, some touting lucrative sales opportunities and others charging the Bush administration had brought home an abominable deal for U.S. workers.

British censors on Tuesday banned a video game for the first time in 10 years, rejecting U.S.-published 'Manhunt 2' for what they described as an unrelenting focus on sadism and brutal slaying.

From depressed investment to bulging foreign exchange reserves, Asia's economies are still deeply marked by the legacy of the financial crisis that engulfed the region a decade ago.

Apple Inc.'s widely anticipated music- and video-playing iPhone will allow subscribers to wirelessly stream material from Google Inc.'s popular video-sharing site YouTube, Apple said on Wednesday.

China decreased its holdings of U.S. government debt in April for the first time in 18 months, but this may not be the bearish signal it appears to be for U.S. Treasury bonds.

Sterling rose on Wednesday, boosted by Bank of England meeting minutes that reflected a surprising bias for higher interest rates, while the euro and dollar climbed for the fifth day in six against the low-yielding yen.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday said its second-quarter profit rose 40 percent, trouncing expectations as most of its trading and investment-banking businesses achieved record results.