AFP - European equities fell on Friday as investors pocketed gains won a day earlier, mulled more bad news for the banking sector and began looking to next week in the absence of Wall Street trading, dealers said.

AP - Asian markets were mixed Friday as investors digested uneven readings on the U.S. economy and more record oil prices. Japan posted its 12th straight day of losses.

AP - Japan's key stock index extended its longest slide in more than a half-century, as record oil prices intensified concerns over the impact on corporate earnings and consumer demand.

Reuters - World stocks slipped back towards this week's five-month low on Friday as steadying oil prices failed to erase concerns about slowing economic growth and rising inflation, and as banking stocks came under renewed pressure.

Investor's Business Daily - Steel and mining stocks tumbled Wednesday, but as China and India continue to build their way into the 21st century, steel and the iron ore and coking coal to make it are still hot commodities.

AP - Wall Street capped a shortened trading week with a mixed finish Thursday after some uneven economic data: news of a contraction in the nation's services sector and a tame reading on employment. But stocks still had their third dismal week in a row, with the major indexes again posting losses as worries about rising oil prices and the fallout from the credit crisis dogged the market.

Reuters - A former Morgan Stanley financial analyst and her husband, an ex-hedge fund analyst at ING Group, have settled insider trading charges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Dow rose on Thursday, a day after the blue-chip average entered a bear market, on relief payrolls data was not as weak as some had feared and with another record oil price boosting energy shares.

Reuters - World stocks slipped back towards this week's five-month low on Friday as steadying oil prices failed to erase concerns about slowing economic growth and rising inflation, and as banking stocks came under renewed pressure.

Reuters - Goldman Sachs said the European banks sector needs to raise about 60 billion to 90 billion euros ($94 to $141 billion), or withhold one year of dividends, to reach an aggregate Tier I ratio of 9 percent -- a level achieved by European banks that have recapitalized recently.

Reuters - Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Friday he was confident about the United States' economic fundamentals in the long term despite a current rough patch and was quite optimistic about the future.

Reuters - The European Central Bank's interest rate rise sends a signal that it is serious about combating inflation, policymakers said as they staged a public relations offensive to justify Thursday's increase.

Reuters - The dollar's fall is a source of global concern and the European Union wants a better balance between the U.S. unit and other major currencies, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday.

Reuters - Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Friday he was confident about the United States' economic fundamentals in the long term despite a current rough patch and was quite optimistic about the future.

Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Dow rose on Thursday, a day after the blue-chip average entered a bear market, on relief payrolls data was not as weak as some had feared and with another record oil price boosting energy shares.

Investor's Business Daily - The benchmark 30-year fixed home loan rate fell 10 basis points to 6.35%, ending a 5-week uptrend to a 9-month peak, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said. Weaker economic data made a Fed rate hike less likely, pushing Treasury yields and mortgage rates lower. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slid 12 ticks to 5.92%. The 1-year ARM fell 10 basis points to 5.17%.

Reuters - Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said on Friday he was confident about the United States' economic fundamentals in the long term despite a current rough patch and was quite optimistic about the future.

AP - Fireworks aren't the only thing skyrocketing on this Fourth of July. The price of gas has hit another all-time high.

AP - Between surging oil prices, food inflation and a credit crunch that's depressed global growth, leaders from the Group of Eight economic powers face the gravest combination of economic woes in at least a decade when they gather next week.

AP - The nation lost jobs for a sixth month in a row in June, a storm of pink slips drenching this year's July Fourth holiday for more than 60,000 Americans and leaving thousands more worried about the future.

Reuters - G8 leaders aim to present a united front against global inflation, driven by soaring oil and food prices, at a summit in Japan next week, but solving the problem requires more than just a strong message from rich nations.

AFP - Inflation, and not the credit crunch, is the biggest economic concern worldwide, especially in developing countries, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview Thursday.

Investor's Business Daily - 1 The 6th straight monthly payrolls drop was in line with forecasts, though April and May payrolls were revised lower. That bodes ill for the economy, but recessions typically have bigger job cuts. Unemployment stayed at 5.5%, defying forecasts for a dip after May's spike. Factories and home builders slashed staff. Rising jobless claims signal more job losses ahead.

AP - Wall Street companies sharply scaled back their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks boosted it slightly.

AP - The European Union and Russia said Friday they would discuss all aspects of energy cooperation — including access to energy markets — during negotiations on broader political and economic ties.

Reuters - The dollar's fall is a source of global concern and the European Union wants a better balance between the U.S. unit and other major currencies, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday.

Reuters - The European Central Bank's interest rate rise sends a signal that it is serious about combating inflation, policymakers said as they staged a public relations offensive to justify Thursday's increase.

AP - Wary of higher energy and commodity prices, the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate Thursday by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent, a move it hopes will help curtail rising inflation in the 15 countries that use the euro.

Reuters - The euro fell and shares and government bonds rallied on Thursday as the European Central Bank poured cold water on speculation of further aggressive interest rate hikes after raising them as expected.

AP - Construction activity in Britain declined in June at the fastest rate in 11 years, a supply institute said Wednesday, and a major home builder said it had been unable to raise more capital — both signs of worsening conditions in the battered housing industry.

AFP - Blue chips remained at lower levels midafternoon, dragged down by the banking sector amid fears of profit warnings, with Wall Street lower on the back of ongoing concerns over rising oil prices.

AFP - Fast asleep in the forests of the Rhodope mountains, this former miners' town, like a lot of other near-forgotten places in Bulgaria, is hoping for an EU financial kiss to waken from its slumber and start pulling in the tourists.

Reuters - It will be tough for Wall Street to shake off the bear market blues next week if the price of oil keeps rising and the earnings season kick-off from Alcoa and General Electric disappoints investors.

AP - In a June 25 story about quarterly earnings at Research In Motion Ltd., The Associated Press incorrectly reported that the BlackBerry Bold will be a touch-screen phone. Current plans do not call for the device to have a touch screen.

Reuters - Family Dollar Stores Inc on Wednesday reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit as the discount retailer kept a tight control on expenses and inventory to navigate the tough environment, sending its shares up than 11 percent.

AP - Constellation Brands Inc. said Tuesday its fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 50 percent, lifted by price increases as well as strong sales of its new higher-margin wine brands such as Clos du Bois and Wild Horse.

Investor's Business Daily - Every penny a company earns that survives the butcher's knife of materials costs, wages, taxes and capital spending deserves a place on the mantle.

AP - H&R Block Inc., the nation's largest tax preparer, said Monday it swung to a fourth-quarter profit, helped by a record-setting tax season and the sale of its troubled mortgage arm.

Reuters - Tax preparer H&R Block Inc said on Monday it swung to a quarterly profit from a loss, beating estimates and driving the stock 6.6 percent higher, as revenue rose 11 percent.

AP - KB Home's latest quarterly results capped a week of discouraging trends for the homebuilding sector Friday.

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages, which had been rising for five straight weeks, posted a decline this week as signals from the Federal Reserve eased worries about imminent rate increases.

Reuters - An even gloomier scenario may be in store for an already ailing U.S. housing market if the overall economy slips into a recession, according to UBS Securities analysts.

AP - Bank of America Corp. completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. Tuesday, making the Charlotte-based bank the nation's leading mortgage originator and servicer.

AP - Gov. Mike Easley called on state lawmakers Tuesday to make up for the federal government's inaction by approving a measure to help some struggling North Carolina homeowners by giving them more latitude to repay their debt.

AFP - Bank of America said Tuesday it completed its purchase of Countrywide Financial, the largest US mortgage lender that had been at the center of the country's subprime loan crisis.

Reuters - CIT Group Inc said on Tuesday it agreed to sell nearly $10 billion of mortgage assets, in a deal that removes problem loans from the commercial lender's balance sheet and lifted its shares 14 percent in premarket trading.

BusinessWeek Online - After a great run, real estate investments have suffered over the past year, with the average real estate mutual fund down 18%, according to Morningstar. David Lee has managed the $2.5 billion T. Rowe Price Real Estate Fund (NASDAQ:TRREX - News) since it opened in October 1997, so he has seen tough times before. In the two years after the fund started, shares of real estate investment trusts (REITs) lost almost 20%, even as the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index raced ahead 50%. "Even my family was calling up saying they were going to disown me," Lee jokes.

AP - CIT Group Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its home lending business to Lone Star Funds for $1.5 billion in cash, plus $4.4 billion of assumed debt, in a move to exit the troubled mortgage arena and focus on its commercial finance operations.

AP - A federal judge in New York is urging Eli Lilly and Co. to settle a multibillion-dollar lawsuit filed by insurance companies, unions and others who claim the pharmaceutical giant overpriced its top-selling drug Zyprexa and exaggerated its usefulness.

AP - Two large pharmaceutical companies said Thursday they will appeal a jury verdict ordering them to pay more than $114 million for overcharging the state's Medicaid program for prescription drugs.

TechWeb - InformationWeek - With a container approach from Parallels' Virtuozzo, memory consumption and processor overhead are reduced through the use of one operating system per host.

AP - Shares in AstraZeneca PLC jumped 6 percent Wednesday after the drug maker won a key patent battle in the United States over Seroquel, its anti-psychotic drug and second-best seller.

TechWeb - InformationWeek - The combination will form a single secure national network for the exchange of prescription related data between physicians, pharmacies, and prescription benefit management organizations.

Reuters - Chain drug stores including Walgreens and pharmacy benefits managers like Medco Health Solutions are combining their electronic networks to speed adoption of computerized prescriptions.

AP - The drug store and pharmacy benefit management industries on Tuesday will announce a combination of their information systems in order to boost electronic prescribing by physicians.

AP - Drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. will pay $64,400 to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of withholding severance pay to force a longtime employee to withdraw a discrimination charge.

AFP - Swiss banking giant UBS, which had been hit hard by the subprime crisis, on Friday said it would break even or report a slight loss for its second quarter thanks to a substantial tax credit.

Investor's Business Daily - 1 The 6th straight monthly payrolls drop was in line with forecasts, though April and May payrolls were revised lower. That bodes ill for the economy, but recessions typically have bigger job cuts. Unemployment stayed at 5.5%, defying forecasts for a dip after May's spike. Factories and home builders slashed staff. Rising jobless claims signal more job losses ahead.

Investor's Business Daily - The benchmark 30-year fixed home loan rate fell 10 basis points to 6.35%, ending a 5-week uptrend to a 9-month peak, mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said. Weaker economic data made a Fed rate hike less likely, pushing Treasury yields and mortgage rates lower. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slid 12 ticks to 5.92%. The 1-year ARM fell 10 basis points to 5.17%.

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages, which had been rising for five straight weeks, posted a decline this week as signals from the Federal Reserve eased worries about imminent rate increases.

Reuters - An even gloomier scenario may be in store for an already ailing U.S. housing market if the overall economy slips into a recession, according to UBS Securities analysts.

AFP - The German bank IKB, which flirted with bankruptcy after the US subprime housing crisis erupted, posted Thursday an annual loss of just 24 million euros (38 million dollars) owing to a favourable tax effect, it said.

Reuters - New foreclosures almost quadrupled in Los Angeles and more than doubled in Miami in the second quarter from a year ago, with over $5 billion of mortgages turning sour in LA alone, real estate research firm PropertyShark.com said.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that the US economy was enduring "a rough period" and warned that home foreclosures would likely remain high in the near future.