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.

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.

WASHINGTON – Toyota's massive recalls are bringing new scrutiny to the government's auto safety agency, prompting Congress to look at how federal safety officials have lived up to their 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.

FRANKFURT – German carmaker BMW AG said Thursday its 2009 net income fell 36 percent to euro210 million ($286 million) because of lower demand for its cars and motorcycles during the economic downturn as well as a higher tax rate.

BMW, the world's biggest luxury car maker, said it earned euro330 million in net income in 2008. Revenue last year was down nearly 5 percent to euro51 billion from euro53 billion in 2008.

The automaker, based in Munich, also builds motorcycles and the Mini and Rolls Royce car brands.

NEW YORK – Stock futures are trading in a narrow range as a lack of economic reports have kept a lid on big movements this week.

Investors eager for fresh clues on whether the economy is strengthening could get what they want Thursday. The Labor Department is releasing its weekly jobless claims report.

Stocks have barely budged since last week's monthly employment report.

Overseas markets were mixed after China said its inflation rate jumped 2.7 percent in February from 1.5 percent in January.

Dow Jones industrial average futures is down 7, or 0.1 percent, at 10,558. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures is down 2.10, or 0.2 percent, at 1,143.60, while Nasdaq 100 index futures is down 1.25, or 0.1 percent, at 1,917.50.

WASHINGTON – The chief economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who is an expert on the financial instruments that figured largely in the 2008 crisis, is leaving his position for the private sector.

The SEC announced Tuesday that James Overdahl will leave the agency at the end of March to become a vice president of National Economic Research Associates, an economic consulting firm.

News of his departure comes a few weeks after the SEC imposed new curbs on the practice of short-selling stocks over the objections of the two Republican commissioners on the five-member panel, who said there was a lack of economic data to justify the move.

GENEVA – Global airlines are undergoing a surprisingly strong recovery with Asian and Latin American carriers leading the way, the leading industry group said Thursday as it halved its loss forecast for 2010 to $2.8 billion.

The International Air Transport Association said carriers began bouncing back late last year, and have continued to see stronger demand after posting record losses during the global economic crisis. The group also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to $9.4 billion from $11 billion because of the year-end rally.

'We are starting to see some blue skies ahead of us,' said IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani.

LONDON – Oil company BP PLC said Thursday it will pay $7 billion to acquire exploration rights in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico from Devon Energy Corp.

BP will buy the rights for 10 offshore exploration blocks in Brazil and a portfolio of rights in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and in the Caspian Sea.

BP said it is also selling, for $500 million, a 50 percent stake in its Kirby oil sands interests in Canada to Devon, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

WASHINGTON – The foreclosure crisis isn't over, but the pace of growth may finally be slowing down.

RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in February grew 6 percent from the year-ago level, the smallest annual increase in four years.

More than 308,000 households, or one in every 418 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listings company reported. That was down more than 2 percent from January

Still, fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan modification programs. Many analysts say most of those borrowers will eventually lose their homes, sparking a new round of foreclosures later this year.