Google stock recovers on talks of $100 billion company
New york : Google Inc. sent out an upbeat message on its capacity to grow in 2006 and ahead. This was after cautious comments made by its chief financial officer George Reyes on Tuesday that led to the company's stock plunging.

Google shares closed up $11.65, or 3.2 percent, to $376.45 on the Nasdaq adding over $6 to trade at $382.80 in extended hours of trading.

The company's co-founder Sergey Brin in an upbeat tone said, "We are not planning on conquering the world," and top executives outlined plans for far more capital spending and ambitious overseas growth, suggesting they are planning to build a $100 billion company.

On Wednesday, Google's market capitalization was already more than $100 billion, at $111.5 billion. For 2005, Google registered revenues of $6.14 billion, up 92.5 percent from a revenue of $3.19 billion in 2004.

The stock has recovered from a low below $340 earlier this week but it remains 20 percent off its high of $475 earlier this year.

Google's shares have getting hit over the past month due to fears that the company may find it tough to diversify beyond its pay-per-click advertising business even as it needs to step up investments in order to fend off increasingly focused rivals.
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European Central Bank raises key interest rate to 2.5 per cent
The European Central Bank has raised its key interest rate to 2.5 per cent. The increase from 2.25 per cent was the second quarter-point raise in four months by the bank after it held steady for more than two years.

All 54 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast that the bank would raise its refinancing rate, following a similar move in December.

Financial markets and economists will now be looking at the factors the bank is watching and hints about another increase later this year.

Recent figures raised concerns, with gross domestic product in Germany — the euro zone's largest economy — stalling in the final three months of 2005 and the country's unemployment above 12 percent in January and February.
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