JAPAN

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent at 0804 GMT (4:04 a.m. ET).

Citigroup will close its Japan office for Citi Venture Capital International as the high-growth focused fund management firm has failed to find any attractive investments, two people with direct knowledge of the closure said.

Shares of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> slid almost 3 percent on Monday after the company forecast a larger-than-expected fall in operating profit as it struggles to restore production following the earthquake in March.

Family Radio president Harold Camping, who famously predicted that about 200 million people will Rapture on May 21 and the world will be destroyed five months later, on Thursday night suffered a stroke which has affected his ability to speak.

Talk about getting it from all sides. Economists want Americans to cut down on debt and boost spending all at once, even as home values tumble and gasoline prices soar.

Video game maker Nintendo unveiled its new Wii U this week, again focusing its innovations on the way gamers interact with games as it vies to maintain its lead on Sony and Microsoft.

Travelers Cos Inc is slowing down its share buybacks and will post a second-quarter operating loss because of more than $1 billion in catastrophe losses, the property insurer said on Friday.

Disappointing trade data from China and the scrapping of a large IPO fed into fears about market volatility and the economy on Friday, with U.S. stocks set to fall a day after rebounding from a six-day losing streak.

Disappointing trade data from China and the scrapping of a large IPO fed into fears about market volatility and the economy on Friday, sending futures lower a day after stocks bounced from a six-day losing streak.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it expects operating profit this business year to fall 35 percent to 300 billion yen ($3.7 billion) after Japan's biggest earthquake on record severely disrupted car production and slashed sales and a strengthening yen cut into overseas earnings.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda emerged on Thursday as a leading candidate to replace the increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan, possibly this month.

Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> is expected to forecast a fall in annual profit later on Friday as the world's largest automaker works to restore output knocked out by Japan's March 11 disaster and grapples with a strong yen.

Wall Street ended higher for the first time in over a week on Thursday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 rising 1 percent at one point, but many analysts saw the rebound as short-lived.

Wall Street turned back a six-day losing streak on Thursday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 bouncing up 1 percent, after data on U.S. exports eased concerns about a stalled economic recovery that had weighed on the market for days.

U.S. stocks extended gains on Thursday after trade data showed record U.S. exports, easing concerns about a stalled economic recovery following a six-day slide that left the equities market oversold.

Stocks extended gains on Thursday after trade data showed record U.S. exports, easing concerns about a stalled economic recovery following a six-day slide that left the equities market oversold.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 1,000 last week, according to a report on Thursday that could stoke fears the labor market recovery has stalled.

Stocks rose on Thursday after six days of losses as a narrowed U.S. trade deficit was seen as one positive point in a recent string of weak economic data.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 1,000 last week, according to a report on Thursday that could stoke fears the labor market recovery has stalled.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in April, as U.S. exports rose to a new record and imports from Japan tumbled more than 25 percent in the aftermath of its earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, a U.S. government report showed on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid unexpectedly edged higher last week, stoking fears of a stalled economic recovery even as a separate report showed record exports in April.