1. The dollar remained at one-week lows against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, despite data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since November 1973 last week, as progress on the Greek debt front supported demand for riskier assets.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 18 fell by 26,000 to 255,000 from the previous week’s total of 281,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 1,000 to 280,000 last week.
2. The Nasdaq composite edged up on Thursday after two days of losses, while the S&P 500 and Dow were lower on weak earnings from bellwethers such as 3M (N:MMM) and Caterpillar (N:CAT).
3) Japan's Nikkei has agreed to buy the FT Group, publisher of the Financial Times newspaper, from Britain's Pearson (L:PSON) for 844 million pounds ($1.31 billion) in cash, the two companies said on Thursday.
4) Natural gas futures briefly extended gains to hit a five-week high on Thursday before turning lower after data showed that U.S. natural gas supplies rose less than expected last week.
5) West Texas Intermediate oil futures rebounded from the previous session\'s steep declines on Thursday, but prices held below the $50-level amid ongoing concerns over a global supply glut.
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