GERMANY

Stocks retreated on Friday after two days of gains as wealthier nations appeared to pull back from a European Union plan to broaden funding for a plan to deal with the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Factbox on the Breeders' Cup meeting, to be run at Churchill Downs on Friday and Saturday.

Commerzbank is 25-percent-owned by the German government

The Eurozone won verbal support but no new money at a G20 summit on Friday for its tortured efforts to overcome a sovereign debt crisis, while Italy was effectively placed under IMF supervision.

Physicists officially christened three elements, substances that cannot be broken down by chemical means, on Friday at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics meeting in London held once every three years.

U.S. stocks fell in morning trading on Friday after two days of steep gains as richer nations appeared to back away from a European Union plan to broaden funding for a euro zone bailout fund.

Italy will allow the IMF to monitor its progress with long overdue reforms of pensions, labor markets and privatizations, European leaders announced on Friday, looking beyond the crisis in Greece to the far graver threat to the euro zone.

Stocks were set to drop at the open on Friday, and a mixed report on the U.S. labor market could make trading volatile.

Private sector activity in the euro zone shrank at its fastest pace in 28 months in October as the debt crisis sapped new business and soured sentiment in an economy looking like it is heading into a slump, survey data showed on Friday.

Private sector activity in the euro zone shrank at its fastest pace in 28 months in October as the debt crisis sapped new business and soured sentiment in an economy looking like it is heading into a slump, survey data showed on Friday.

World stocks and the euro rose on Friday, boosted by expectations that Greece will avoid a referendum on a new bailout package, easing imminent concerns of a Greek default and its potential shockwaves through the euro zone.

Asian shares rallied more than 3 percent and the euro steadied Friday on hopes that Greece will abandon a proposed referendum on a European Union bailout, but investors remained cautious over a confidence vote scheduled for later in the Greek parliament.

Italy, under fierce pressure from financial markets and European peers, has agreed to have the IMF and the EU monitor its progress with long- delayed reforms of pensions, labor markets and privatization, senior EU sources said Friday.

Commerzbank will accelerate a pullback from euro zone nations and cut risky assets to avoid another state bailout after a 798 million euros ($1.10 billion) impairment on Greek assets pushed it to a third-quarter operating loss.

Europa, a suspense drama about astronauts from different countries who head to the frigid glacial moon of Jupiter, has found a warm reception at this year's American Film Market, selling in 12 territories so far.

Short sellers who banked on a fall in the price of solar stocks this year pocketed big returns and are already positioning themselves for another go at the battered sector.

South Africa on Thursday said it signed an agreement with 12 other countries to combat cross-border tax evasion.

The question arises as pressure mounts on Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to step down after an odd couple of days in which he announced then withdrew a proposal to put the latest Eurozone rescue deal before the Greek citizenry as a referendum vote.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter point to 1.25 percent in a surprise move on Thursday and President Mario Draghi said the euro zone could subside into a mild recession in the latter part of 2011.

If Greece decided to leave the euro, it would also have to quit the European Union, according to the terms of the EU's treaties, the European Commission said on Thursday.

Papandreou also shrugged off persistent calls – by both opposition lawmakers and members of his own ruling Socialist Pasok party – to call new elections.