By Leigh Thomas and Jason Lange PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is looking into expanding its range of policy tools, while the U.S. central bank is mulling scaling back its support measures, highlighting the contrasting fortunes between the world's two biggest economic blocs. ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet said late on Wednesday that the central bank could try new policies if needed to battle deflation risks, adding that the central bank was also weighing measures to encourage more lending in the euro zone. ...

PARIS (AP) — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde is facing questions at a special Paris court Thursday over her role in the 400 million euro ($520 million) pay-off to a controversial businessman when she was France's finance minister.

(Reuters) - U.S. industrial conglomerate Dover Corp said it will spin off some of its communication technologies businesses into a publicly traded company named Knowles Corp. The businesses make microphones, speakers, receivers and transducers, among other communication products. "Given the evolution of their unique business model, these businesses can now pursue a more aggressive growth strategy together as a standalone company," Chief Executive Robert A. Livingston said in a statement. Dover's other products include industrial pumps, oil and mining drilling tools and food packaging ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it has fined a wealth management unit of U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase 3.08 million pounds ($4.6 million) for being unable to show it was giving clients the right advice. The FCA said on Thursday the failings were not corrected until the watchdog brought them to the bank's attention in the course of its wider review of wealth management firms in Britain. ...

By Edward Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's bosses tried to convince skeptical shareholders at a lively annual meeting on Thursday that the bank was on the right track again after facing a host of legal problems. Co-chief Executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, who took charge nearly a year ago, are trying to steer Germany's largest bank through a major restructuring and resolve its many legal issues. They are also trying to reshape the bank in the wake of the financial crisis for an industry with lower profit margins and higher regulatory costs. ...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's financial markets gyrated wildly Thursday, underscoring the vulnerability of its economy to a loss of investor confidence as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attempts shock monetary easing to end two decades of stagnation.

NEW YORK (AP) — The momentum of a late sell-off on Wall Street is carrying through for a second day, with U.S. futures and global stock markets in retreat.

BEIJING (AP) — A survey shows China's manufacturing contracted this month, adding to signs a fragile recovery in the world's No. 2 economy is slowing.

LONDON (AP) — Financial markets around the world were roiled Thursday after Japanese stocks suffered their biggest slide since the country was hit by a devastating tsunami more than two years ago.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators accepted on Thursday concessions from Lufthansa , United Airlines , Air Canada and Continental to ease competition concerns about their transatlantic revenue-sharing pact. The European Commission said the airlines would give up airport slots in Frankfurt and New York, and also allow rivals to sell tickets on this route, confirming a Reuters story in February. ...

TOKYO (AP) — Keeping the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan in stable condition requires a cast of thousands. Increasingly the plant's operator is struggling to find enough workers, a trend that many expect to worsen and hamper progress in the decades-long effort to safely decommission it.

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plan helped offset shrinking personal computer sales with enterprise computing services. While fiscal second-quarter profit plummeted 32 percent, Wall Street had braced for worse. HP shares gained 14 percent after the company projected full-year earnings per share of $3.50 to $3.60, raising the lower end by 10 cents, and fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates. ...

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plan helped offset shrinking personal computer sales with enterprise computing services. While fiscal second-quarter profit plummeted 32 percent, Wall Street had braced for worse. HP shares gained 14 percent after the company projected full-year earnings per share of $3.50 to $3.60, raising the lower end by 10 cents, and fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates. ...

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Large companies should disclose how much tax they pay in each country where they operate, the European Commission's top regulatory official said, in the text of a speech to be delivered on Thursday. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of drafting business regulation, said large banks will already be obliged to disclose their profits, taxes and subsidies in each member state and in the non-EU countries where they operate. ...

BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese stocks plummeted Thursday after a spike in government bond yields and unexpectedly weak Chinese manufacturing spooked investors sitting atop months of massive gains in share prices. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo nosedived 7.3 percent to close at 14,483.98, its worst drop since the 2011 tsunami.

By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - President Anibal Cavaco Silva thanked Portugal's patron saint for a long-delayed approval of Lisbon's bailout review last week, but the head of state could claim a share of the credit for himself. The conservative president's role has grown far beyond his figurehead status in the past few weeks. With the president on his side, Prime Minister Passos Coelho appears immune to opposition calls for an early election, despite a teetering coalition, record-low popularity in opinion polls and protests and strikes promised for late May and June. ...

DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers are ready to pass legislation that links student loan rates to the financial markets in spite of a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers are ready to pass legislation that links student loan rates to the financial markets in spite of a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

PARIS (AP) — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has appeared at a special Paris court to face questioning over a controversial arbitrage deal that she oversaw as French finance minister.