JAPAN

Bankrupt Japan Airlines's new president said he would start from scratch in choosing an overseas partner, as American Airlines tries to fend off strong rival suitor Delta Air Lines

Stock index futures rose on Monday after closing their worst month in nearly a year and as investors digested President Barack Obama's budget plans and awaited earnings from Exxon Mobil Corp .

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.42 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.53 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.36 percent at 5 a.m. EST.

Asian stocks fell to three-month lows on Monday with investors cautious after new data strengthened the case for tighter Chinese monetary policy and as attention focused on key U.S. economic reports due this week.

The dollar held at its highest levels in six months on Monday, while the euro huddled near seven-month lows on fiscal concerns, and higher yielding currencies remained pressured by the closing of leveraged trades. The Australian dollar hovered at its weakest since mid-December as investors briefly unwound yen-funded carry trades on a report that a UK regulator would like to restrain carry trading generally.

The Bank of Japan may need to do more on the monetary policy front to stop deflation, the Nikkei daily quoted Japan's Finance Minister Naoto Kan as saying, keeping pressure on the BOJ to help support a fragile economic recovery.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Saturday it would recall nearly 100,000 cars because they have the same accelerator-related problems currently afflicting Japan's Toyota .

Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda apologized for the recall of millions of vehicles around the world, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, as the deepening recall crisis threatened to further damage its sales and delay an earnings recovery.

Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda apologized for the recall of millions of vehicles around the world, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, as the deepening recall crisis threatened to further damage its sales and delay an earnings recovery.

Toyota said its global safety withdrawal would take up to 1.8 million vehicles off Europe's roads and rival Honda announced its own recall, placing the vaunted pedigree of Japan's carmakers under fresh scrutiny.

Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co. announced Friday a voluntary worldwide recall of 646,000 cars following reports of defective parts of their window switch.

Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest chipmaker, kept its outlook far below market estimates and flagged belt-tightening measures ahead after a stronger yen and sliding PC prices hurt quarterly profit.

Toyota Motor Corp faced U.S. Congress scrutiny over its biggest ever safety recall as rival Honda Motor Co, tipped to gain from Toyota's woes, also said it would recall thousands of cars worldwide.

Toyota Motor Corp faced scrutiny from Congress over its biggest ever safety recall as rival Honda Motor Co, tipped to gain from Toyota's woes, also said it would recall thousands of cars worldwide.

Honda Motor Co said on Friday it would recall a total 646,000 units of the Fit/Jazz and City models globally, including 140,000 in the United States.

Toyota Motor Corp faced scrutiny from Congress over its biggest ever safety recall as investors, suppliers and consumers weighed the impact of an unprecedented halt in U.S. production by the No.1 automaker.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 3:17 a.m..

Stocks in Asia tumbled on Friday, hurt by weak technology and resources shares and fresh worries about Greece's debt levels, which dragged the euro to a six-month low against the dollar.

Investor concern about tightening lending conditions in China and deteriorating finances in Greece and Japan led them to pull cash out of developed market equity funds for debt funds in the week ended January 27, fund tracker EPFR Global said late on Thursday.

The talks for the merger of air cargo operations of ailing Japan Airlines Corp and Nippon Yusen KK have reached an impasse over the basic framework of the deal, the Nikkei business daily reported.

Global investors cut back on equities in January in the face of worries about the economy, potentially tighter monetary policy and in reaction to last year's stellar gains.