BUSINESS

Asian stock markets mostly advanced Friday as investors welcomed Spain's new budget plan, which includes more spending cuts and tax increases.

European markets rose Friday as investors were hopeful that France would follow Spain to announce budget cuts to reduce deficit and help control the debt pressure faced by the euro zone.

Five people including the gunman were killed and four others injured after a man opened fire at a Minneapolis business house Thursday evening, police said.

The top after-market Nasdaq gainers Thursday were Research in Motion Limited, The Wet Seal Inc, Horizon Pharma Inc, OraSure Technologies Inc and BGC Partners Inc. The top after-market Nasdaq losers were EMCORE Corporation, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Limelight Networks Inc, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation and Life Partners Holdings.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Thursday were Capital Trust, AZZ Inc, Accenture Plc, Knight Capital Group and Sealy Corp. The top after-market NYSE losers were Brookdale Senior Living, Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund, Toro Co, Nike, Inc and EnergySolutions.

Most of the Asian markets rose Friday as investor confidence was lifted after Spain announced budget cuts to control the rising debt pressure affecting the country’s economy.

Earlier in the week, it was widely reported that 2013 would bring a “bacon shortage,” as rising pork prices would eventually drive up demand for bacon to the point where it would be almost impossible to find. However, even after falling for the story themselves, NBC News is reporting that the bacon shortage is hogwash.

Asian shares rose Friday on hopes that economic reform and budget plans unveiled by Spain will help it manage its debt imbalances and avoid a euro zone bailout.

Microsoft’s (Nasdaq:MSFT) search engine Bing and Klout are forming a strategic partnership that will allow the tech giant to invest in the new social media company and in turn feature Klout scores within Bing search results, the companies announced Thursday.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) reached an agreement with Chrysler Group LLC, Thursday. The agreement mirrored prior agreements with Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and General Motors Company (NYSE: GM).

The world's biggest passenger airplane has a new operator, as Thai Airways International gets its first double-decker giant.

The Spanish government introduced a budget Thursday with deep austerity measures, including slashing welfare by 20 percent.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has been aggressively pursuing global expansion. Coffee-hungry Scandinavia is its next target.

News Corp. is reversing its decision to block Google from indexing content from its paywalled UK newspaper, The Times.

The Empire State Building's owners won't run the 1 World Trade Center observatory, officials said.

In New York Thursday, Mario Monti said looming fiscal cliff and debt crisis issues in Washington might be solved by taking a page out of the Italian playbook.

The winning ticket for the $202 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday was sold in Iowa.

Johnny Lewis, of "Sons of Anarchy" fame, was found dead and is the prime suspected in the murder of elderly Katherine Davis.

Tempur-Pedic International Inc. (NYSE: TPX) will buy rival Sealy Corp. (NYSE: ZZ) for $228.6 million to create a "2.7 billion global bedding provider," Tempur-Pedic said.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key publicly apologized to Kim Dotcom, the 38-year-old founder of file-sharing site Megaupload, who is wanted by the U.S. Justice Dept.

The recent riots at Foxconn factory in northern China that left 40 people injured and impacted nearly 2,000 workers reflect the sagging morale of the Chinese factory workers, who appear to be stressed out on realizing a few benefits against nurturing high expectations of better conditions and guarantees.

Unelected Italian PM Mario Monti says he would be open to staying on as prime minister after the new elections -- his clearest signal yet.

The European Union asked the World Trade Organization on Thursday for the right to impose annual trade sanctions worth up to $12 billion on the United States in retaliation for illegal subsidies to plane maker Boeing (NYSE: BA.N).

Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for new jobless benefits last week. However U.S. 2Q GDP rose less than initially estimated.

Raising hopes on further economic reforms, India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram Thursday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wanted the implementation of more measures to stabilize the rupee.

Logitech International, D.R. Horton, BHP Billiton Ltd, Mellanox Technologies, Nokia Corp, Novartis AG, Perrigo Co, Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion Ltd. are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Thursday.

Climate change caused by global warming is contributing to nearly 400,000 deaths a year and reducing global GDP by 1.6% annually.

Following the approval of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector in India, retail giant Walmart (WMT) has announced plans to launch its first store within 12 to 18 months through its joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, but the high cost of real estate may pose a big challenge for the low-price retailer.

Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG) will post weaker fourth-quarter profits as a payment dispute with Express Scripts cuts revenue.