Berlin - Global shares are facing the run-up to a grisly end to the week as the prospects of a deep and protracted recession looms large over world financial markets.

After rising sharply earlier in the week on a sense of optimism triggered by coordinated government crisis management plans, share markets were engulfed Thursday by renewed turbulence amid fears about the economic fallout from a financial crisis that could last well into the new year.

New York - US stocks opened up on Thursday after a steep dive a day earlier amid ongoing fears of a global recession.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 91.28, or 1.06 per cent, to 8,669.19 about 10 minutes after the opening bell.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index picked up 10.44 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 918.28 at 9:42 am (1342 GMT). The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index earned 9.23 to 1,637.56.

Washington  - Inflation remained unchanged in the United States las

Frankfurt - German banks across the board have been steadily winning new customers as the financial crisis mounts, statistics released Thursday show.

Rather than withdrawing money from banks to hide under the mattress, Germans appear to regard banks as the safest place, especially after a promise last month by Chancellor Angela Merkel that not one euro in banks will be lost.

The country's top commercial bank, Deutsche Bank, said Thursday on its website its customer base had grown net by 200,000 since the start of the year to nearly 10 million.

New York - Citigroup extended its financial losses for a fourth quarter, registering a loss of 2.8 billion dollars for the period between July and September.

The bank attributed part of its loss to nearly 10 billion dollars in writedowns from loans gone bad and securities that have lost value.

New York  - Merrill Lynch reported its fifth straight quarter of losses Thursday as it registered a 5.2-billion-dollar loss for the third quarter of 2008.

Merrill Lynch, which is facing a takeover by the Bank of America, attributed its losses to continued writedowns on bad loans.

The losses reported Thursday compare with third-quarter 2007 losses of 2.2 billion dollars.

Altogether, the bank has suffered losses of 25 billion dollars during the ongoing financial crisis, making it one of the biggest victims worldwide.