BANGKOK – Oil prices lingered near $75 a barrel Friday in Asia, largely holding onto a big gain the day before as investors put a positive spin on U.S. economic reports and Asian stock markets rose.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was down 30 cents at $74.72 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.11 to settle at $75.02 on Thursday.

The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, but are still above levels in a healthy economy.

The National Association of Realtors said the number of Americans who signed contracts to purchase previously owned homes rose 5.2 percent in July. That was 19 percent below the same month last year and home sales remain at the lowest level in more than a decade.

Oil prices ended higher Thursday after an initial retreat as investors put a positive spin on reports about jobs, manufacturing and home sales.

Benchmark oil for October delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $75.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices dropped as low as $73.11 earlier in the session.

Meanwhile, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $2.676 on Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's about 5 cents less than a month ago and 7.4 cents higher than a year ago.

The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, but are still above levels in a healthy economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employment likely fell for a third straight month in August as more temporary census jobs ended and cautious businesses scaled back hiring, an outcome that could pressure the Federal Reserve to prop up growth.

Nonfarm payrolls fell 100,000 after declining 131,000 in July, according to a Reuters survey. Private payrolls, a better barometer of the labor market's underlying health, are seen rising only 41,000, well below the 71,000 jobs added in July.

The Labor Department will release the closely watched employment report for August at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).

Against the backdrop of weak data such as housing, larger-than-expected job losses last month could heighten fears the economy is sliding back into recession and push the Fed -- the U.S. central bank -- closer to launching a fresh round of bond buying.

SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea's second largest carmaker Kia Motors said Friday it is recalling about 35,000 vehicles sold in the United States due to faulty wiring in interior lights that could cause fires.

On Tuesday the company said it would recall about 18,000 vehicles sold domestically because of the same problem.

Most vehicles subject to the US recall were made in South Korea except for the Sorento R, which was produced at Kia's factory in the US state of Georgia, a company spokesman said.

The US recall affects about 24,000 Soul hatchbacks produced between September 2009 and June this year and some 11,000 Sorento sport utility vehicles made in the same period.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a panel investigating the financial crisis that regulators must be ready to shutter the largest institutions if they threaten to bring down the financial system.

'If the crisis has a single lesson, it is that the too-big-to-fail problem must be solved,' Bernanke said Thursday while testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Bernanke also said it was impossible for the Fed to rescue Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy in 2008 because the Wall Street firm lacked sufficient collateral to secure a loan. Lehman's former chief executive told the panel a day earlier that the firm could have been saved, but regulators refused to provide help.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Burger King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion, giving the No. 2 U.S. fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp.

At $24 per share, the offer represents a 46 percent premium to Burger King's price before news of the negotiations emerged on Wednesday.

"It was a call out of the blue," Burger King Chairman and Chief Executive John Chidsey told Reuters in an interview when asked about how the talks started. He declined to give additional details.

Chidsey will keep his roles during a transition period and then become co-chairman with 3G Managing Director Alex Behring.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.

The data released on Thursday, including sturdy sales from U.S. retailers last month, followed a report on Wednesday showing a surprising gain in manufacturing and suggested the economy retained some underlying strength.

"This is an economy that has hit a soft patch. It's not an economy that appears to be heading toward a double-dip recession," said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A Mississippi jury ordered Ford Motor Co to pay $131 million to the family of a man who died while driving an Explorer, an attorney for the family said on Thursday.

The trial centered on a 2001 accident involving Brian Cole, who at the time had been a prospect for the New York Mets, the family's attorney Tab Turner said.

Turner said that after the jury returned its verdict, Ford reached a settlement with the family. He declined to disclose the amount.

The case was heard in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said Cole had been driving over 80 miles per hour when he went off the road and was not wearing his safety belt. She said Ford would have won the case had the judge not excluded certain pieces of evidence.

NEW ORLEANS – An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast Thursday, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, the Coast Guard said there was no leak, and no one was killed.

The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the source of BP's massive spill. But hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the fire. Mariner Energy's Patrick Cassidy said he considered the incident a fire, not an explosion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country's economy cope with the devastation, the head of the IMF said on Thursday.

Severe flooding in Pakistan has destroyed cropland and livestock and displaced millions of people, causing damage the

government has estimated at $43 billion, or almost one quarter of the South Asian nation's 2009 GDP.

"The IMF ... will be the first agency likely to disperse very rapidly money which is absolutely needed," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told reporters after a week of discussions with Pakistani officials. "The most important thing is to keep the Pakistani economy .. on track."

NEW YORK (Reuters) – News Corp (NWSA.O) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said the global economy is still in an uncertain state and the media industry is going through a fundamental transformation that is unpredictable

"I do not believe we are out of the turmoil yet. Sovereign debt pressures, soaring deficits and unacceptable U.S. unemployment levels are key obstacles to the global economic recovery," said Murdoch in a letter to shareholders in his company's annual report published on Thursday.

"Others may see more positive signs, but I believe until these issues are addressed, markets, governments, currencies and consumer behavior will be unpredictable," he said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Companies are cutting healthcare costs further amid a continuing sour economy, scaling back benefits and shifting a greater share of the expense to employees.

The findings, published on Thursday, come as the congressional campaign heats up over the nation's stagnant economic growth and whether recently passed healthcare reforms should be repealed.

Such steps may be keeping the cost of insurance plans down "but it also means employer coverage is less comprehensive," said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducts the annual survey.

"From a consumer perspective, the cost of health insurance just keeps going up faster than wages."

DETROIT – General Motors plans to start trading shares again on Nov. 18, timing that allows the company one more quarter of earnings to build its case to investors, a firm that researches initial public offerings said Thursday.

Scott Sweet, the managing partner of IPO Boutique, said GM plans to price the shares on Nov. 17 and begin selling them the next day. He said the automaker wants to start a two-week a road show to drum up investor interest on Nov. 3, the day after the midterm congressional elections.

It's unclear if the IPO dates have been finalized. Two people with knowledge of the process say the automaker's board hasn't approved a date for the IPO but is expected to meet next week to discuss the issue. GM is in a 'quiet period' before an IPO, so no one is authorized to discuss the process publicly.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama Administration is likely to stay focused on toughening regulatory oversight of the U.S. offshore oil industry and may push back lifting a ban on deepwater drilling after the latest accident in the Gulf of Mexico, analysts said on Thursday.

The fire on a Mariner Energy oil and gas platform in shallow waters of the U.S. Gulf on Thursday was a major setback for companies hoping for an early end to the government's drilling moratorium and raised more questions about the safety of offshore drilling.

"This explosion will make it less likely that the moratorium on offshore drilling will be lifted," said Rick Muller, senior analyst for Energy Security Analysis Inc in Boston.

The United States is still reeling from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Video game maker Take-Two Interactive Inc (TTWO.O) on Thursday smashed Wall Street expectations for its fiscal third quarter and raised its forecast for the current fourth quarter, citing strong sales for its "Red Dead Redemption" title.

The company's shares rose 12.4 percent in after-hours trading.

The New York-based company raised its outlook for the fourth quarter and said it expects to be profitable for the full fiscal year, after previously forecasting a net loss.

"It's a hit or miss business and 'Red Dead Redemption' definitely played a big role in the turnaround," said Atul Bagga, an analyst with ThinkEquity LLC.

Take-Two Interactive confounded analysts who had expected the company to suffer without a game release tied to "Grand Theft Auto," its most popular franchise.