ECONOMY & MARKETS

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose Friday but maintained a cautious tone as investors await the Greek elections.

Four years after the 2008 financial crisis began gathering steam, the government has collected another piece of the remaining billions in bailout money that it's owed.

A dead cat bounce was apparently at play Thursday in the equity markets of Spain, Italy and Portugal. With no more room left to fall, stocks rose in those three countries, propped up in spite of horrendous headlines across the financial media.

Moody's Investor Service's downgrade of Spain's sovereign debt sent the nation's borrowing costs sky high on Thursday. But as costly as this latest downgrade is, the next one could be even more devastating.

U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rates increased to 3.71 percent, reversing six weeks of declines after modestly positive economic data, mortgage financier Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Ahead of next year?s expansion of Internet domain names with hundreds of new suffixes, 1,930 applications have been submitted to the governing Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

U.S. foreclosure filings increased for the first time in three months by 9 percent in May, according to a Thursday report by listings site RealtyTrac.

Seadrill Ltd, Transocean, Frontline, Nokia Corp, Credit Suisse, Smithfield Foods, Tata Motors, 3D Systems and Overseas Shipholding Group are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Thursday.

Futures on the major U.S. indices point to a flat opening Thursday ahead of the Department of Labor's report on weekly jobless claims and the Consumer Price Index.

Crude oil futures are slightly lower Thursday as investors await the outcome of the OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna.

European markets fell Thursday as investor confidence was low ahead of the Italian bond auction later in the day.

Finland-based cell phone manufacturer Nokia announced Thursday that it plans to cut 10,000 jobs globally as part of its revamping measures.

Asian markets fell Thursday as weak retail sales data by the U.S. Commerce Department and Spanish debt downgrade by Moody's weighed down on investor sentiment.

Stock markets in China and Hong Kong declined Thursday as weaker-than-expected data on monthly U.S. retail sales and renewed concerns about the debt-laden euro zone weighed on the sentiment.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Wednesday were: Spartech Corp, Haverty Furniture, SuperValu, Orbitz Worldwide and Unifi. The top after-market NYSE losers were: Korn/Ferry International, Winnebago Industries, Select Income REIT, Radian Group and Yelp.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell Thursday amid report of cut in Spain's credit rating and disappointing data from the U.S.

U.S. investors are getting back into real estate, but their efforts are being complicated by the uncertain housing market.

Credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on Spanish government debt on Wednesday by three notches to Baa3 from A3, saying the newly approved euro zone plan to help Spain's banks will increase the country's debt burden.

Precious and industrial metals have been moving higher over the past few sessions in spite of fundamentals, suggesting commodities traders are loading up on the physical assets in anticipation of seeing at least one of the world's major central banks turn on the money spigots later this month.

Openet, one of Ireland?s flourishing software developers, said it raised an additional $21 million from investors in Japan, Europe and the U.S., bringing the cumulative total raised in 13 years to $55 million.

Protestors were present on Wednesday, June 13, when JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon testified on Capitol Hill in Washington. The activists reportedly heckled Dimon as the head of the largest bank in the U.S arrived to take his seat at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notices to the Indian government and Air India management on the striking pilots' plea for their salaries for March.

Five major corporations will join the emergency campaign to save the world's threatened forests by pledging to buy REDD multimillion dollar credits from projects protecting threatened forests around the world, the campaign announced Tuesday at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, commonly known as Rio+20.

Among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Wednesday are Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal, Zynga, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, 3D Systems Corp, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Autoliv, Seadrill and Kraft Foods.

Wal-Mart lawyers have identified India, China, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico as the most corrupt countries, according to a letter from two congressmen investigating the bribery charges leveled against the company.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a slightly lower opening Wednesday ahead of the retail sales report and producer price index.

Crude oil futures hovered above $83 a barrel Wednesday ahead of a weekly report on US oil supplies as well as Thursday's OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna.

European markets rose Wednesday following an overnight rally in the Wall Street amid anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve would announce further quantitative easing to support the economy.

Asian markets rose Wednesday but gains were weighed down as investors were worried about the debt crisis lingering over the euro zone.