(Reuters) - European Central Bank policymakers underscored the case for an April rate hike on Thursday as Portugal's political crisis raised the prospect of another spell of reluctant ECB bond market intervention. The ECB has kept rates at a record low of 1 percent for almost two years as the financial and debt crises have unfolded, but it took financial markets by surprise earlier this month by flagging a earlier-than-expected hike in April.

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(Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc beat quarterly profit estimates as strength in its mobile business offset weak demand for televisions and entertainment software in the all-important holiday season, sending its shares up. The top U.S. consumer electronics chain, which recently announced plans to open about 150 Best Buy Mobile small-format stores in the United States, saw a low double-digit comparable store sales increase in mobile phones even as overall same-store sales fell in the fourth quarter.

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"I would say we did not discuss this option," Trichet told a news conference after a meeting of the ECB's Governing Council. Four days later, the ECB announced that it would start buying bonds. Trichet's U-turn was part of an emergency package with euro zone leaders to stave off a crisis of confidence in the single currency. By reaching for its "nuclear option", the ECB had also helped rewrite the manual of modern central banking.

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(Reuters) - Oracle Corp is poised to provide fresh evidence of the upward curve of technology spending on Thursday, and to detail its battle plan against emerging competitor Hewlett-Packard Co as the two tech giants vie to lead the datacenter revolution. The business software leader, which last year bought server maker Sun Microsystems, is expected to post sharply higher sales and earnings as its strategy of offering a one-stop shop for business software and hardware shows signs of paying off in an improving economy.

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(Reuters) - Britain's triple-A sovereign debt rating could be at risk if slower economic growth makes it harder for the government to rein in its budget deficit, ratings agency Moody's said on Thursday. "The government's ongoing commitment to large-scale deficit reduction is very important to the Aaa rating and stable outlook," Moody's said the day after finance minister George Osborne revealed downgraded growth forecasts in his 2011 Budget.

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(Reuters) - ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG.N) reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations due to price increases, but said inflation would eat into the next quarter's profits. The maker of Healthy Choice frozen meals and Slim Jim meat snacks said fiscal third-quarter earnings were $215.1 million, or 50 cents per share, compared with $228.7 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.

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(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) said it would manage nearly 1,600 stores in 20 eastern U.S. states from Atlanta, putting a closer focus on opportunities to grow its business in states such as New York. The new eastern business unit will be run by Rosalind Brewer, president of Walmart East and executive vice president of Walmart U.S., who already lived in Atlanta. She is responsible for areas such as store innovation, staff, supply chain and real estate.

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(Reuters) - Brent crude fell over $1 on Thursday after mixed U.S. data, against a backdrop of instability in the Middle East and new eurozone debt worries following the resignation of Portugal's prime minister. At 1335 GMT, May Brent was down 86 cents to $114.69 a barrel after dipping over $1 to $114.50 on mixed U.S. data.

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(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday, after modest losses in the previous session, as worry continued over debt issues in the euro zone, Japan's nuclear crisis and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. Concerns over euro area debt levels will again be in focus as Portugal's parliament was expected to reject government austerity measures in a vote scheduled for 1500 GMT, with Prime Minister Jose Socrates threatening to resign if the opposition rejected the proposals.

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(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve objected to Bank of America Corp's plans to boost its dividend and told the bank to revise its proposal, sending shares down 1.7 percent in premarket trading. BofA had hoped to be in a second wave of banks raising dividends in the second half of this year, but unlike some of its major rivals, it is still struggling to be consistently profitable.

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