(Reuters) - Crude oil futures slumped on Thursday as the dollar index strengthened on fresh euro zone credit woes, while the focus remained on Libya, where the escalating violence triggered fears that the country's oil infrastructure could suffer long-lasting damage. Both Brent and U.S. light crude benchmarks fell by more than $2 earlier in the session. By 1340 GMT, Brent futures for April pared back some losses, down $1.40 to $114.54 a barrel. U.S. crude futures recouped some of the losses by the same time, down $1.47 to $102.91.

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(Reuters) - Germany refused to be rushed into boosting the euro zone's rescue fund after Moody's cut Spain's credit rating on Thursday and markets piled pressure on Portugal on the eve of a summit of the currency bloc. The euro fell to a one-week low of $1.3804, the risk premium on Spanish bonds widened and the cost of insuring Spanish, Greek and Portuguese debt against default rose as a fresh wave of euro zone jitters hit financial markets.

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(Reuters) - Stocks hit session highs midmorning on Tuesday, led by bank and industrial shares, as a tick down in crude prices shifted investor attention to a stronger U.S. economy. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 80.27 points, or 0.66 percent, to 12,170.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 8.15 points, or 0.62 percent, to 1,318.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC added 16.60 points, or 0.60 percent, to 2,762.23.

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(Reuters) - Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, the central figure in the biggest U.S. insider trading case in a generation, went to trial on Tuesday in a showdown with prosecutors that will feature wiretap evidence and the testimony of former friends and associates. Onetime billionaire Rajaratnam, 53, was mobbed by photographers and TV crews when he stepped from a black suburban SUV and walked into Manhattan federal court. Dressed in a brown coat and a suit, he was escorted by one of his lawyers.

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(Reuters) - Brown-Forman Corp (BFb.N), the maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey, posted a stronger-than-expected 30 percent increase in quarterly profit helped by strong emerging market demand, and raised its full-year outlook, sending shares up 6 percent. The company also said it was seeing improvement in the United States, which had been a weaker market. Net income was $140.7 million, or 96 cents a share, in the fiscal third quarter, up from $107.9 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had expected 86 cents.

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(Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund manager Carl Icahn said he plans to return all of his clients' money, becoming the latest in a string of investors who no longer want to manage money for outsiders. "After careful consideration of all relevant factors, we have determined to return all fee-paying capital to investors," the 75-year-old stock picker wrote in an investor letter. A copy of the letter was released in a regulatory filing Tuesday morning.

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(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) could have relatively high expenses for the next two years as it wrestles with mortgage losses, but longer term it plans to cut costs to improve profitability, its chief executive said. "We are still eating large costs" related to the financial crisis and foreclosures, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on Tuesday at the bank's first investor day since 2007.

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(Reuters) - OPEC oil producers are consulting about a supply boost but many in the group remain skeptical, saying high prices are due to fears of shortage and world supply is comfortable despite the loss of Libyan crude. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has yet to officially change its production policy, even though it has been boosting supply informally for months and Saudi Arabia has offered to help make up for the loss of around two thirds of Libya's output.

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(Reuters) - Markets have understood the European Central Bank's policy signals, ECB policymaker Axel Weber said on Tuesday, adding he did not want to correct expectations for rates to be at 1.75 percent by year's end. The ECB shocked financial markets last week when the bank's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said it may raise interest rates next month, wrongfooting economists and traders who had not expected it to raise rates until much later in the year.

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(Reuters) - Oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday with Brent crude dropping more than $2 a barrel after Kuwait's oil minister said OPEC was considering boosting production for the first time in more than two years. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has yet to change its production policy officially, even though it has been boosting supply informally for months and Saudi Arabia has offered to help make up for the loss of around two thirds of Libya's output.

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