A Chinese official sent the US dollar plunging in markets when he said China would shift more of its huge international reserves into stronger currencies such as the Euro to offset weak currencies like the dollar.
The United States House of Representatives approved Thursday, in a 285 to 132 vote, a long delayed free-trade agreement with Peru, the first such accord passed by Congress since the opposition Democrats won control last year.
Members of the United States Congress accused Yahoo of lying about its co-operation with the Chinese Government in an incident that led to a dissident's imprisonment, according to The Washington Post.
The chairman and chief executive of the Citigroup bank, Charles Prince, has resigned and will be replaces by former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin it was announced.
The United States bank Merrill Lynch said that CEO Stan O'Neal had retired with immediate effect, in a move that followed intense media speculation following calls for his departure after the firm was forced to admit a 7.9 billion US dollars exposure to bad debt.
World markets plunged on Thursday amid renewed fears about the credit crisis, sending shares in finance firms sharply lower. On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 360 points or 2.6%, after two leading banks were downgraded earlier in the day.
The number of new jobs created by the United States economy leapt dramatically in October with employers adding 166.000 posts, twice the expected number, reported the Labor Department.
Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn takes the helm of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday on a critical mission: to restore the aging institution's relevance and finances.
Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan on August 6, 1945, died on Thursday at age 92, a newspaper reported.
The United States Federal Reserve by a clear majority voted on Wednesday to cut US interest rates 25 basis points from 4.75% to 4.5%. The widely expected decision was taken to help revive the country's faltering housing and credit markets.