ECONOMY & MARKETS

Japan will invariably have to turn to a massive stimulus program to reconstruct the quake and tsunami-hit regions and this will inflate the country's fiscal deficit at a time when Tokyo is struggling to put a lid on deficit, Nouriel Roubini said on Friday.

Inflation in Germany rose more than previously estimated in February, strengthening speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) may hike interest rate as early as next month.

At least 32 people were killed and many injured after a powerful 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast Friday, triggering a tsunami as high as 10 metres.

U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic reports from both domestic and overseas coupled with fears over the impact on oil price by pervasive unrest in the Middle East and North Africa weighed on the sentiment.

Companies across Japan are in emergency mode and assessing the immediate physical and economic damage caused by the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake.

European shares hit a three-month low in early trade and Asian stocks too dropped on Friday, while U.S. futures headed lower, after a powerful 8.9-magnitude earthquake has struck off Japan's northeastern coast, triggering a tsunami as high as 10 metres.

Oil prices dropped to near $101 a barrel in Asia on Friday, after a powerful earthquake measuring 8.9 magnitude on Richter scale hit off Japan.

A powerful 8.9-magnitude earthquake has struck off Japan's northeastern coast Friday, triggering a tsunami as high as 10 metres, leaving at least five people killed and several injured, early reports said.

Oil prices remained volatile in Asian trade on Friday, as traders became cautious that unrest in Saudi Arabia could intensify and disrupt oil production in the world’s largest oil exporter.

U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic reports from both domestic and overseas coupled with fears over the impact on oil price by pervasive unrest in the Middle East and North Africa weighed on the sentiment.

Shares of Princeton Review Inc. (REVU) touched a new 52-week low of $0.49 on Thursday, after reporting a wider-than-expected fourth quarter loss. The company also said it has has appointed John Connolly as interim president and chief executive officer, succeeding Michael Perik who has resigned to pursue other interests.

Shares of RC2 Corp. (RCRC) touched a new more than 3-year high of $27.59 on Thursday, shortly after the Nikkei business daily first reported that Japan's Tomy Co. Ltd. and RC2 were in merger talks.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: CDC Corp., Ener1, RC2 Corp., Clean Energy Fuels, and Sangamo Biosciences. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Energy Conversion Devices, Zumiez, Jamba, Stereotaxis, and Clearwire.

Shares of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPPI) touched a new 52-week high of $7.60 on Thursday. The company posted a decline in fourth quarter earnings as last year period recorded stock warrant gains, but came ahead of Street view.

Shares of Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) touched a new 52-week high of $38.21 on Thursday, while Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) stock touched an all-time high of $62.37. Green Mountain and Starbucks announced a strategic relationship.

U.S. stocks plummeted on a slew of troubling developments, including a surprising trade deficit in China, a downgrade of Spain’s debt, along with fears over the impact on oil price by pervasive unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

All of the market hype about the imminent collapse of the muni market may in fact be too late.

Since the height of the financial crisis, the Canadian dollar has appreciated substantially against the US dollar. Now, it’s overvalued against the US dollar, according to an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

In the hedge fund industry’s 60 plus years of history, a lot of managers have gotten fabulously wealthy. The following is the list of the 10 richest hedge fund managers in the world.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday after official data showed that applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. rose more than expected last week, after falling to the lowest level since May 2008 in the previous week.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is taking on the fast-growing single serve market, by teaming with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) that holds a dominant share of the U.S. market at about 80 percent owing to several patents surrounding its K-cup.

Léo Apotheker, the Chief Executive Officer of PC giant Hewlett-Packard, is expected to hold an investor briefing in San Francisco where he may unveil his much anticipated vision for HP.

Goods and services trade deficit in the U.S. edged up to $46.3 billion in January from the revised figure of $40.3 billion in December.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: H&R Block, Starbucks, Eaton, Jacobs Engineering, Devry, Netapp, Jabil Circuit and Sprint Nextel.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Human Genome Sciences, Semtech, Starbucks and Atrinsic. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Coldwater Creek, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Canadian Solar, ARM Holdings, and SIGA Technologies.

The Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday kept interest rates unchanged at 0.5 percent again, even though inflation remained above the central bank’s target of 2 percent for a fourteen consecutive month in January.

An outright merger of Sprint Nextel Corp. with Deutsche Telekom unit T-Mobile USA is unlikely, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.

Official data showed on Thursday that China recorded a surprise trade deficit in February, causing Asian markets to drop on fears that monetary tightening in the country is taking a toll on economic growth.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) announced a new product Adobe SocialAnalytics and upgraded SiteCatalyst at its Omniture Summit, which is currently being held at Salt Lake City, Utah between March 8 and 11.