Amazon on Thursday delivered record profits for the first quarter, fueled by gains in cloud computing and new business segments for the US technology colossus. Net profit in the quarter more than doubled from the same period last year to US$3.6 billion, extending Amazon's trend of rising profitability.

Microsoft hit the trillion-dollar value mark on Thursday for the first time, becoming the third technology giant to reach the milestone. Shares in Microsoft rallied some five per cent in early Wall Street trade after a robust earnings report a day earlier to lift the value briefly above US$1 trillion.

HYFLUX has received a non-binding letter of intent for a possible S$400 million injection from an owner and developer of water and power utilities based in the Middle East, the troubled water treatment firm said in an exchange filing on Thursday.

MANULIFE US Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) said on Thursday its distribution per unit (DPU) for the first quarter rose 22.8 per cent to 1.51 US cents from 1.23 cents for the year-ago quarter.

UBS Group AG is starting a new venture at its US operation, marrying its wealth-management unit and investment bank to capture more deals and trading activity among its ultra-rich clients.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR