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The China unit of investment bank JP Morgan has won approval to become a trading member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the eighth foreign financial institute to obtain such membership, said the exchange on its Web stie (www.sge.com.cn).

The top after market NYSE gainers on Friday were: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Nabors Industries, Canadian Pacific Railway, 3D Systems and Carter's, Inc. The top after market NYSE Losers were: Freescale Semiconductor, China New Borun, Mindray Medical International, Swift Transportation and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Barclays Plc's underlying quarterly profit rose 5 percent from a year ago as lower charges for bad debt at the British bank offset a third consecutive sharp fall in investment banking revenue.

Barclays reported a 5 percent rise in underlying quarterly profit as lower charges for bad debt at the British bank offset a third consecutive sharp fall in investment banking revenues as the euro zone financial crisis deepened.

MF Global Holdings Ltd was in talks on Sunday with possible buyers with the aim squarely on doing a deal, though all options were on the table, a person briefed on the matter said.

MF Global Holdings Ltd. is racing to sell all or part of its business this weekend, with its futures brokerage business seen as the most attractive, a source familiar with the situation said Friday.

A look past the upbeat headlines from this week's third-quarter gross domestic product report points to a more tentative diagnosis of the U.S. economy than initial responses indicated.

European shares extended the previous session's rally Friday, with investors still buoyant over a deal struck by euro zone leaders early Thursday to help end the bloc's two-year-old debt crisis.

Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bezos is thumbing his nose at Wall Street again and some investors don't like it.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is moving closer to emerging from its record bankruptcy, and that its Chapter 11 reorganization is now backed by creditors who hold more than $160 billion of claims.

The company blamed the revenue drop-off to a sharp contraction in European demand.

Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) reported a 14.2 percent increase in third quarter earnings, due to ongoing cost cutting measures. Because of historically strong yen and lower production activities, the company lowered its full year 2011 outlook.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, lightning, slow play, burrowing moles -- Mark Russell has had to contend with a wide range of obstacles in his role as a tournament director for the PGA Tour.

The Kenyan shilling slipped against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed on by offshore banks closing out dollar positions after the central bank issued new trading rules, while stock rose slightly on the back of banks' nine-months earnings.

Former world number one Ernie Els will be joined by a host of other major winners in next month's Singapore Open which has secured a strong field despite clashing with an Australian event headlined by Tiger Woods.

Israeli technology companies, once the darlings of New York's Nasdaq, have turned their backs on the exchange and are looking for suitors to acquire them.

The long-awaited biography, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, was made available Monday. Isaacson briefly mentions that Jobs wanted to create a television with a simple user interface, rescuing consumers from multiple confusing remotes.

The Ghana cedi continues to extend gains made late last week and could pursue the upward trend if the central bank and mining sector keep supplying the market with dollars, traders said.

Rapper and entrepreneur Shawn Carter a.k.a. Jay-Z has invested in part of the New Jersey Nets, and now, actor Will Smith has become part owner of his hometown team: the Philadelphia 76ers.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Human Genome Sciences, Tangoe, Conceptus, FreightCar America and GTx. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: TranS1, Crocs, Gulfport Energy Corp, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Sequenom, Inc.

The Kenyan shilling reversed earlier losses to close firmer against the dollar on Monday for the fourth straight session, helped by new limits on the amount of foreign exchange banks can hold, while stocks edged up on bets the recent sell-off was overdone.

Kinder Morgan Inc. announced on Sunday plans to buy El Paso Corp. for $21.1 billion in cash and stocks to create the largest natural gas pipeline energy company in the U.S.

Kinder Morgan Inc. announced on Sunday it is set to buy El Paso Corp. for $38 billion, along with cash, stock and debt to create a powerful North American energy company.

Stock index futures pointed to a 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 0.6-0.7 percent.

Gold prices held steady on Thursday, as optimism for a solution to the Eurozone crisis underpinned sentiment, while tight physical supply in Asia continued to lend support.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc suffered its first loss in the firm's effort to win back portions of upfront bonuses paid to former brokers, according to regulatory documents released on Wednesday.

Barclays Capital said the pace of iPhone 4S roll-out is fastest in the iPhone's history and points to a big December quarter push for Apple Inc.

New York City's securities industry could lose nearly 10,000 jobs by the end of 2012, according to a report by New York state's comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Gold, silver, platinum and palladium, as well as other commodities, generally stand a better chance of handling a global economic downturn than other types of investments, Barclays Capital said Monday.