BUSINESS

Italy's central bank governor urged the government on Saturday to rapidly implement planned reforms and take further steps to support the euro zone's third-biggest economy, which he said would shrink by around 1.5 percent this year.

Kung Fu Panda creator Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc plans to build a production studio in Shanghai with some of China's biggest media companies, a landmark deal that gives the company a foothold in one of the largest untapped markets for Hollywood.

The $40 billion United Brotherhood of Carpenters pension fund, a long-time investor rights activist, is asking more than a dozen U.S. companies to start disclosing how long they have had the same outside auditor.

A U.S. grand jury added more charges against file-sharing website Megaupload and its executives, and also accused them of taking copyrighted content from sites such as YouTube for its own service, according to a new indictment released on Friday.

For the dozen or so niche hedge funds that make their money in the natural gas market, January's wild trading should have come as a welcome relief.

The parent of Fidelity Investments, FMR LLC, plans to raise $250 million through a debt offering, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

Mitsui & Co Ltd's MOEX Offshore agreed with the U.S. Justice Department to pay at least $90 million to settle some of its liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the first government settlement involving the BP Plc Macondo well.

Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone told investors he will not quit plans to build a national mobile broadband service even after the startup wireless company he is backing suffered a serious regulatory blow this week.

Carlson Capital, a hedge fund based in Dallas, said on Friday that one of its former portfolio managers had received inside information from a industry consultant who has been arrested and charged with illegally passing on inside information.

U.S. securities regulators have widened their inquiry into the trillion-dollar market for exchange-traded funds, according to a person familiar with the matter.

CVS Caremark Corp said it received requests for information about a prescription drug discount program it runs for uninsured or under-insured individuals from both the U.S. government and the Texas Attorney General.

On Thursday, mothers were in the spotlight to hit the runway for Strut: The Fashionable Mom Show, the first ever show featuring moms for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. Featuring over 20 mothers wearing a mix of designer and non-designer clothing, women of all shapes and sizes walked the runway to songs from Beyoncé, Rihanna and LMFAO's Sexy and I Know It held in The Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Cen...

Italian police said on Friday they had seized about $6 trillion worth of fake U.S. Treasury bonds and other securities in Switzerland, and arrested eight Italians accused of international fraud and other financial crimes.

The trustee managing the assets of bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd said none of the roughly $26 million being used to fund the futures brokerage in Chapter 11 is part of a $1.6 billion shortfall in customer accounts.

When Jason Goldberg set out to raise a new round of funding for his flash sales site Fab.com, he dispensed with the usual PowerPoint presentations and instead gave potential investors a look at the crown jewels: the dashboard of real-time analytics that can instantly spot trends and enable the site to tweak its offerings on the fly.

Feb 18 - Former Olympus Corp president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa aided the firm in securing 70 billion yen, a part of which was allegedly used to conceal massive investment losses, the Nikkei business daily reported, citing unnamed sources.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Friday, but investors stayed cautious before a long holiday weekend when hopes are set for Greece's bailout plan to be approved.

An outspoken research analyst who made waves by refusing to cooperate in the U.S. government's broad insider-trading probe was charged with illegally supplying hedge funds with tips as part of his consulting service.

A British student, who hacked into Facebook's internal network risking disastrous consequences for the website, was jailed for eight months on Friday in what prosecutors described as the most serious case of its kind they had seen.

A research analyst who made waves by refusing to cooperate in the government's broad insider-trading probe was charged with illegally passing tips he gleaned from technology company insiders to hedge funds.

A committee of Lehman Brothers creditors is seeking to force U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify in connection with an $8.6 billion dispute between Lehman and JPMorgan Chase & Co, Lehman's banker before its collapse.

Dutch delivery firm TNT Express said on Friday its board of directors has rejected an unsolicited takeover offer from U.S-based peer UPS worth an estimated 4.9 billion euros, but it said discussions are continuing.

Washington Mutual Inc received long-sought court approval to exit bankruptcy and repay $7 billion to creditors, ending more than three years of court battles between hedge funds investors, shareholders and JPMorgan Chase & Co .

Stocks rose slightly on Friday, but investors stayed cautious before an long holiday weekend when hopes are set for Greece's bailout plan to be approved.

Gasoline prices jumped in January, leading overall consumer prices higher and offering a reminder of the risks energy costs pose to the economic recovery.

United Parcel Service Inc. is in talks with TNT Express after its Dutch rival rejected a 4.9 billion-euro ($6.45 billion) cash bid, the companies said on Friday.

Canada's finance minister sounded upbeat that Europe will resolve the Greek debt crisis next week following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Friday.

Credit reporting firm TransUnion Corp agreed to be acquired by buyout firm Advent International and a Goldman Sachs unit in a deal valued at $3 billion.

European leaders expressed optimism on Friday that Greece would secure a new rescue package worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) though policymakers admitted urgent work was still needed to get its debt-cutting program back on track.