AFP - The leading stock exchange closed higher on Thursday, but showed little conviction as investors waited for quarterly results from US chip giant Intel to offer some cheer, dealers said.

Reuters - Stocks traded slightly higher on Thursday, led by the technology sector after upbeat brokerage comments on Oracle Corp and ahead of an expected profit report from Intel Corp.

AP - The stock market rose modestly Thursday, after the government said businesses increased inventories by a larger-than-expected amount in November.

AP - The stock market closed higher Wednesday, led by gains in shares of banks and drugmakers, while energy companies were held back by a drop in crude oil.

AP - Asian stock markets rose Thursday as fears diminished about China's lending curbs and Australia's economic recovery showed new signs of gathering momentum.

Reuters - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.11 percent, Dow Jones futures unchanged and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.11 percent at 4 a.m. EST.

AFP - London stocks weakened at the start of trading on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 index losing 0.52 percent to 5,470.29 points.

AFP - European stocks held steady on Wednesday, with investors pausing after steep falls in Asia, as China moved to curb its credit boom and the US earnings season began on a weak note.

Reuters - Chinese search engine Baidu Inc shares jumped 16.8 percent to $451.50 in premarket trade on Wednesday as rival Google Inc threatened to quit operations in China, warnings it would no longer tolerate strict censorshop of its Google.cn search engine.