GERMANY

Business sentiment in Germany continued to improve for the third straight month in December, helped by better conditions in retailing and wholesaling, according to the Ifo Business Survey.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are Office Depot, Accenture, Salesforce.com and American Express. The top after market NYSE most active stocks are Citigroup, Boston Scientific, Sprint Nextel Corporation and Bank of America.

Nokia has filed fresh patent infringement claims against Apple in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, alleging that Apple infringed its patents in many of its products sold in these countries, including iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Eurozone manufacturing PMI touched an 8-month high in December while composite output index fell, according to a survey.

Many experts in the private sector favor expanding the size of the 750-billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which was created to bail out European countries under sovereign debt pressures.

Roubini Global Economics (RGE) has predicted that global economy's growth next year will be marginally weaker than this year, with eurozone holding the biggest risk to global growth, and that the U.S. will not emerge any time soon from the worst unemployment crisis it has faced in decades.

Registrations of new passenger cars in Europe decreased by 7.1% amounting to 1,069,268 units, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said Wednesday.

Some of the so-called emerging markets have advanced to a point where they might be considered “developed” -- or not, depending on one’s views and criteria. Further complicating this picture is the arrival of “frontier” markets – countries even less developed than the emerging markets, but boasting even greater long-term growth potential.

The court martial of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, who disobeyed orders because he believes Barack Obama is not the legal President of the United States, begins today at Fort Meade in Maryland.

The Obama administration has an ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years and creating two million U.S. jobs in the process.

Richard Holbrooke, a top U.S. diplomat who was a key figure in negotiating peace to end the war in Bosnia 15 years ago, and was the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Monday.

The world's largest Christmas present was the Statue of Liberty. The French gave it to the US in 1886. It is 46.5 meters high and weighs 225 tons.

The EUR/USD distanced itself from a falling channel ahead of the Fed policy and rose to a three-week high on Tuesday. The single currency, however, pared some of its gains after data at 10:00 am GMT showed the region's industrial output rose at a lower-than-expected pace in October.

German economic sentiment rose more than expected in December, posting an increase for a second consecutive month.

Japan will lower the corporate tax rate by 4.5 percent to spur the economy out of deflation, Nikkei reported on Tuesday.

Germany should raise wages in order to provide demand for struggling peripheral European economies. It should do so not only to show responsible European statesmanship, but also out of its own self-interest.

A late-day sell-off, ahead of the U.S. Senate vote on the compromised tax bill, pushed the major equity indices to session lows, resulting in a mixed performance for stocks.

There are many things weakening the single currency. Concerns over a lack of consensus on euro-area bonds, dollar-positive data from the US, fears about China being forced to cool down its economy and now, an ascending channel clearly shaping up on the 60-minute EUR/USD chart.

Disney Dream, the third cruise ship of Disney Cruise Line, is all geared up for her Atlantic voyage to the United States on December 19, as the cruise line took delivery of the third ship in its fleet on Thursday.

Dictatorships are faster and more efficient than democracies, which can be bogged down by long-drawn out debates among deeply polarized political parties who can't seem to agree on anything.

European equities will beat 2010 gains by the end of next year, as companies get some help from better earnings and record-low interest rates that will overcome the sovereign debt crisis, Bloomberg said, citing a survey of 13 strategists.