BUSINESS

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 to 0.4 percent.

Top Chinese leaders will likely resist pressure to declare an outright easing in monetary policy when they meet next week to decide economic priorities for 2012, the last full year of President Hu Jintao's tenure ahead of a critical leadership succession.

Europe divided on Friday in a historic rift over building a fiscal union to preserve the euro, with a large majority of countries led by Germany and France agreeing to move ahead with a separate treaty, leaving Britain isolated.

Europe divided on Friday in a historic rift over building a fiscal union to preserve the euro, with a large majority of countries led by Germany and France agreeing to move ahead with a separate treaty, leaving Britain isolated.

European stock markets and the euro fell on Friday on fears that EU leaders were struggling to come to terms on immediate measures to halt the slide of euro zone government bond markets after two years of deepening crisis.

Europe's debt crisis has brought Japan's own debt pile into a spotlight that ironically buys Tokyo more time to fix its finances by making alternatives to Japanese bonds look even less appealing.

Improved transparency is Europe's quickest route to debt resolution and China's best defense against external economic shocks, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says.

European Union leaders paused from their summit after hours of talks focused on trying to find a solution to the euro zone debt crisis.

EU leaders agreed stricter budget rules for the euro zone on Friday, but failed to secure changes to the EU treaty among all 27 member states, meaning a deal will instead have to involve just euro zone states and any others that want to join.

EU leaders agreed stricter budget rules for the euro zone on Friday, but failed to secure changes to the EU treaty among all 27 member states, meaning a deal will instead have to involve just euro zone states and any others that want to join.

The European Union failed to secure backing from all 27 countries to change the EU treaty at a summit on Friday, meaning any deal will now likely involve the 17 euro zone countries plus any others that want to join, three EU diplomats said.

A U.S. appeals court appeared skeptical on Thursday toward attempts by California gay marriage opponents to overturn a landmark court decision because the judge overseeing the case did not disclose his own long-term homosexual relationship.

Shares of Alibaba.com Ltd fell nearly 8 percent to a two-month low early on Friday morning after sources said parent Alibaba Group is seeking up to $4 billion in debt financing, expected to help it buy back a 40 percent stake from Yahoo Inc.

A contrite Jon Corzine, in his first public defense of his leadership of now-bankrupt futures brokerage MF Global, told U.S. lawmakers he never intended to break rules and had no clue what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer money.

Walnut Place, a group of undisclosed investors who oppose Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion mortgage bond settlement, is the Baupost Group, a distressed debt fund, according to an attorney for the bank.

Investors are cautiously optimistic about their investment plans in developing countries over the next 12 months despite increased concerns about the euro zone debt crisis, a survey by the World Bank's political risk insurance agency found on Thursday.

Zynga Inc Chief Executive Mark Pincus said the social games company can double the number of its paying players but he and other executives sidestepped questions about player retention and churn rates, speaking at a luncheon ahead of its IPO.

Online bargain-hunting on Cyber Monday enjoyed a breakout year in Canada in 2011, according to data released by eBay, further evidence that U.S.-style pre-holiday discounts are spreading northward.

Shares of Coinstar Inc jumped 11 percent after media reports that the kiosk maker's Redbox rental service is partnering with Verizon Communications for a new online streaming service.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) reported a bigger-than-expected rise in November sales at established restaurants across the board, led by big gains in Japan, China and a strong showing in its top revenue market of Europe.

EU leaders are committed to a new fiscal compact for the euro zone, including much tighter control of public finances and, in the longer term, could consider joint debt issuance, an early draft of conclusions at an EU summit said on Thursday.

Wall Street fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank dashed hopes that policy-makers were preparing a financial bazooka to contain the debt crisis, and Germany rejected some proposals to add power to the euro zone's bailout fund.

Europe's banks must find 114.7 billion euros of extra capital, more than predicted two months ago, to make them strong enough to withstand the euro zone debt crisis and restore investor confidence.

Wall Street fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank dashed hopes that policy-makers were preparing a financial bazooka to contain the debt crisis, and Germany rejected some proposals to add power to the euro zone's bailout fund.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a nine-month low last week, suggesting the labor market's recovery was gaining momentum.

Boeing Co , on track to notch its highest number of commercial aircraft orders since 2007, is working to bag what many experts say are the last available orders in a buying spree by U.S. operators.

Ford Motor Co restored its dividend for the first time in five years on Thursday, with a quarterly payout of 5 cents per share that the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it could maintain during any future downturn.

Wall Street fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank dashed hopes that policy-makers were preparing a financial bazooka to contain the debt crisis, and Germany rejected some proposals to add power to the euro zone's bailout fund.

The European Central Bank spooked financial markets Thursday by dousing hopes of dramatic crisis-fighting action in the euro area shortly before European leaders began what the French president billed a last chance summit.