LONDON (AFP) – Oil prices held steady on Thursday as investors paused for breath following recent gains made after data that showed stronger US energy demand, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, was up four cents to 82.13 dollars per barrel.

London's Brent North Sea crude for April dropped just two cents to 80.46 dollars a barrel.

Prices had climbed on Wednesday, boosted by declining fuel stockpiles in the United States, which indicated strengthening demand in the world's top energy consuming nation.

WASHINGTON – Toyota's massive recalls are prompting Congress to reconsider whether the nation's auto safety agency has lived up to its mission of protecting motorists.

A House panel on Thursday planned to examine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's oversight of the auto industry in the latest congressional hearing linked to Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide. Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too cozy with the Japanese automaker while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical.

BRUSSELS – The European Union's top finance official says the U.S has pressed him on draft EU rules for hedge funds — and hopes the U.S. will respect Europe's right to decide its own legislation.

Amadeo Altafaj Tardio, a spokesman for EU Finance Commissioner Michel Barnier, says U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wrote to the EU executive about hedge fund rules that were proposed last year and will be finalized in coming months.

He didn't give details on the content of the letter but said Thursday that Barnier was 'convinced that the American treasury secretary would share his concern to respect' that EU governments and lawmakers are still discussing the text.

NEW YORK – Giant-screen movie technology company Imax Corp. posted a fourth-quarter profit Thursday, reversing a year-ago loss on a sharp jump in its movie theater equipment sales and rentals.

The company earned $4 million, or 6 cents per share, up from a loss of $9 million, or 21 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue nearly doubled, to $54.2 million from $27.4 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 6 cents per share on sales of $45.3 million, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

'While the success of Fox's 'Avatar: An Imax 3D Experience' drove our year-end performance and has provided a very strong start to 2010, we believe the film has many positive implications for our business over the long term,' said CEO Richard L. Gelfond in a statement.

TOKYO – Japan's economic growth was weaker than first estimated in the fourth quarter, underscoring a patchy recovery in the world's No. 2 economy.

Gross domestic product expanded at an annualized pace of 3.8 percent in the October-December quarter, the government said Thursday, revised down from the 4.6 percent in a preliminary report last month. The new figure was generally in line with market forecasts.

Slightly lower business spending and a big drop in inventories — which suggests companies are letting stocks of goods deplete in anticipation of weak demand — drove the GDP revision.

GENEVA – Information on 24,000 HSBC customers with Swiss accounts has been stolen, the British bank said Thursday, potentially exposing large numbers of international clients to prosecution by tax authorities in their home countries.

A former IT employee of Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA, identified by French authorities as Herve Falciani, stole the information between late 2006 and early 2007, the bank said. The accounts, held by individuals worldwide, were all opened before October 2006 and some 9,000 have since been closed.

'We deeply regret this situation and unreservedly apologize to our clients for this threat to their privacy,' said Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of the Swiss subsidiary.

NEW YORK – Stock futures fell slightly after the Labor Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits fell slightly less than expected.

Workers filing for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to 462,000 last week. Economists had been expecting a drop to 460,000.

Stocks have shown little movement in recent days as economic data hasn't been strong enough to alter views about the strength of an economic recovery.

Meanwhile, a steep jump in inflation in China has caused some concern for international markets Thursday. Rapid inflation could force China to raise interest rates.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 20, or 0.2 percent, at 10,545. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are down 4.00, or 0.4 percent, at 1,141.70, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are down 6.50, or 0.3 percent, at 1,912.25.

When President Obama swept large Democratic majorities into Congress in 2008, the 2010 midterm elections looked as if they might be a snoozer.

But in the wake of Obama's declining poll numbers and the Democrats' shocking loss of the seat once held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the 2010 midterm elections are now shaping up as a critical showdown which could fundamentally alter the balance of power in Washington and in statehouses across the country.

Ten political races to keep an eye on during the 2010 midterm elections.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

Although Election Day 2010 is still 8 months away, here is an update on ten statewide contests -- three for governor and seven for the U.S. Senate -- that we identified as races worth watching in December.

Lewis Freeman made some desperate phone calls to friends and family last August.

He needed $1 million.

The attorney-accountant had to hustle to make up for a shortfall in a fraud case in which his Miami firm had been appointed receiver. Freeman had stolen $1.5 million from the receivership of Hess Kennedy, a debt settlement firm closed down by the Florida attorney general's office. It turned out he had been moving money around from his court-supervised accounts for more than a decade, while pilfering $2.6 million from creditors and victims of fraud.

But then the Hess Kennedy marker came due.

"The scheme fell apart when several courts asked him to make distributions on fiduciary matters, and Freeman was unable to do so because he stole too much money," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Levi told U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck.

ATHENS, Greece – Greek police fired tear gas to disperse protesters throwing rocks and firebombs outside Parliament as more than 20,000 people marched through central Athens during a nationwide strike against the government's harsh new austerity measures.

The strike brought the country to a virtual standstill Thursday, grounding all flights and bringing public transport to a halt. State hospitals were left with emergency staff only and all news broadcasts were suspended as workers walked off the job for 24 hours to protest spending cuts and tax hikes designed to tackle the country's debt crisis.