ECONOMY & MARKETS

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Monday are: Herbalife, McClatchy, Hanger Orthopedic Group, Dice Holdings and Molina Healthcare Inc. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Ferro Corp, General Cable, Graphic Packaging Holding, CH Energy Group and Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior.

Jefferies & Co. upgraded its rating on shares of RadiSys Corp. (NASDAQ: RSYS) to "buy" from "hold" while maintaining its price target of $10.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Gentiva Health Services, Sangamo Biosciences, LHC Group, Clearwire, and Cytori Therapeutics. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Innophos Holdings, Texas Roadhouse, Siliconware Precision Industries, Ctrip.com International, and Meru Networks.

Manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in two years in July as new orders contracted, casting doubt on expectations the faltering recovery would quickly regain steam.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday on concerns about a downgrade of the United States credit rating and economic worries after sluggish data, while the yen gave some gains on jitters over the possibility of intervention by Bank of Japan.

The United States' debt woes still threaten the global economy despite a last-minute deal struck by Congress, China's main official newspaper said on Tuesday, nonetheless adding there was no short-term escape from the dominance of the dollar.

On Monday HSBC announced intentions to lay off 30,000 employees by 2013, a move that Goldman Sachs indirectly caused, says one professor.

South Africa's rand fell against the dollar on Monday as a set of weak international manufacturing data reawakened worries about the global economy, prompting investors to go for traditional safe-haven trades.

South Africa's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell for the fourth straight month to a seasonally adjusted 44.2 in July from 53.9 in June, sponsor Kagiso Securities said on Monday.

The debt crisis in Europe, which holds around 35 percent of South African government debt, could hit local bonds if it worsens, pushing yields higher than expected, Treasury Director-General Lungisa Fuzile said on Monday.

Kenya's monetary policy committee decided to leave its key lending rate unchanged because non-food and fuel inflation were within its target band, its chairman, who is also the governor of the central bank, said on Monday.

Glencore , the world's largest diversified commodities trader, has booked a supertanker to store part of the nearly four million barrels of gas oil it purchased in July, industry sources said on Monday.

Money market funds face uncharted waters if a debt deal is not reached soon in Washington, but Joe Morgan is not ready to abandon ship.

Japan's top government spokesman welcomed the U.S. debt ceiling agreement on Monday and said he hoped it would stabilise markets.

After losing the bidding war over Nortel Networks patents, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has purchased more than 1,000 technology patents from International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has acquired more than 1,000 technology patents from International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), after it lost the bidding war over more than 6,000 patent filings from Nortel Networks.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said it will reduce the data browsing speeds for the top five percent of its heaviest users on unlimited wireless data plans from October 1, in response to the explosive data usage growth and network congestion.

The top after-market NYSE Losers on Friday are: Kindred Healthcare, Skilled Healthcare Group, Five Star Quality Care, Brookdale Senior Living, TAL Education, Standard Motor Products, Omnicare, Sunrise Senior Living, Molina Healthcare and Titanium Metals.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Friday are: Dynegy, Unifi, iSoftStone Holdings, Orbitz Worldwide, Terex, Crexus Investment, Miller Petroleum, Gildan Activewear, HSBC Holdings and MEMC Electronic Materials.

U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) rose just 1.3 percent in the second quarter and a scant, revised 0.4 percent in the first quarter -- statistics that reveal a U.S. economy that's not only growing at a very slow rate, it's in danger of falling back into a recession.

It took a two week-long cottage cheese rebellion to get Israelis to question the power of the country's tycoons.

Some major bond fund managers are asking their institutional clients to consider waiving strict requirements that might force mass selling of Treasury bonds if the United States loses its AAA rating.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Allied Healthcare International, Sify Technologies, EV Energy Partners, Silicon Motion Technology, Gulfport Energy, and Yahoo!. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Vistaprint, STEC, Constant Contact, Oclaro, and DepoMed.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: Expedia, Newell Rubbermaid, Cerner, Noble Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Macy's, Motorola Mobility Holdings, Newmont Mining, TJX Companies and Emerson Electric Co.

Lufthansa and Airbus has launched the world's first ever daily commercial passenger flights using bio-fuel.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: Ingram Micro, Commercial Metals, Invacare, KBR and Regal Entertainment Group. The top after-market NYSE losers are: RealD, Miller Petroleum, Motorola Solutions, Equifax and Ameriprise Financial.

South Africa's rand slipped on Thursday after posting strong gains this week, while bond prices fell on concerns over the U.S. debt standoff and stocks fell for the fourth straight day.

South Africa's official jobless rate rose further in the second quarter of this year as the mining and manufacturing sectors shed jobs.

Scorpex has entered into a deal with IET to install and operate waste gasification equipment in Mexico.