WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar has bounced back above 81 US cents on the back of disappointing US retail sales numbers.
At 0630 AEDT on Thursday, the local currency was trading at 81.42 US cents, up from 80.93 cents on Wednesday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open lower following losses on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined more than one per cent.
At 0645 AEST on Thursday, the March share price index futures contract was down 29 points at 5,273.
ELSEWHERE:
WASHINGTON - The US economy kept up "modest" or "moderate" growth in recent weeks, although lower oil prices were hitting the Dallas region, according to a Federal Reserve report.
WASHINGTON - US retail sales slumped in December in a sign consumers remained frugal even as petrol prices declined and hiring picked up.
FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank does not have many options left apart from sovereign bond purchases to ward off deflation in the euro area, its president Mario Draghi says.
MOSCOW - Russia's gas giant Gazprom says there is still a risk that Europe could see a drop in supplies of Russian gas piped via Ukraine this winter.
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to soften the landmark law reining in banks and Wall Street, advancing a key Republican priority more than six years after the financial crisis struck and brought a major recession.
NEW YORK - US banking giant Wells Fargo has reported slightly higher quarterly earnings behind overall loan growth and increased deposit levels in an improving US economy.
NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase has reported a dip in fourth-quarter earnings as hefty legal expenses once again weighed on results.
DETROIT - General Motors says it expects improved earnings and margins in 2015 after paying out nearly $US2 billion ($A2.16 billion) for recalls and victims compensation last year.
LONDON - Britain's Tesco suffered a fresh blow Wednesday as Standard & Poor's became the second ratings agency after Moody's to slash the troubled supermarket's debt to junk status, despite its turnaround plans.
DOHA - Qatar Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell have scrapped plans for a petrochemicals project, worth an estimated $US6.5 billion ($A7.03 billion), due to the slump in global oil prices.
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