1) The U.S. economy rebounded in the second quarter, bouncing back after labor disputes at West Coast shipping ports led to lackluster growth in the first three months of the year. U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.3 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department said in its preliminary estimate Thursday.
2) Facebook Inc's (O:FB) plans to focus spending on its two messaging services, Instagram and its virtual reality headset business was cheered by Wall Street analysts, who said the efforts would boost long-term growth. Of the 50 brokerages covering the stock, at least 20 raised their price targets. Piper Jaffray was the most bullish with a $146 target - 50 percent over Facebook's Wednesday close of $96.99. The median price target is $110.
3) Crude oil futures edged higher on Thursday, amid indications that Saudi Arabia could cut production at the end of the summer and following a larger than expected drawdown in U.S. supplies last week. On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for September delivery tacked on 37 cents, or 0.69%, to trade at $53.75 a barrel during European morning hours.
4) Procter & Gamble Co (N:PG), the world's largest consumer products maker, reported its sixth straight fall in quarterly sales, as the stronger dollar continued to weigh on the value of sales from overseas markets. Shares of the maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent were down marginally at $80.43 on Thursday.
5) Time Warner Cable Inc (N:TWC), which is being bought by Charter Communications (O:CHTR), reported lower-than-expected revenue for five quarters in a row as it lost about 45,000 residential video customers. Cable companies have been struggling with declining subscriber numbers as viewers shift to cheaper and more flexible streaming services offered by Netflix Inc (O:NFLX), Amazon.com Inc (O:AMZN), Hulu and others.
6) Natural gas futures extended losses on Thursday, despite data showing that U.S. natural gas supplies rose less than expected last week.
Natural gas for delivery in September on the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 5.4 cents, or 1.9%, to trade at $2.809 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours after hitting a daily peak of $2.882 earlier, the most since July 23. Prices were at around $2.821 prior to the release of the supply data.
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