MARKETS / FINANCE

Santa came early for Wall Street this year by delivering a 22 percent return for 2009, and with just a handful of trading days to go, stock investors are not expecting to find much more under the tree.

Debt-ridden conglomerate Dubai World is expected on Monday to ask key creditors for more time to pay off its loans, but leave them none the wiser concerning their prospects of being paid back in full.

Dubai, set to ask creditors for a standstill on restructuring some $22 billion in debt linked to troubled conglomerate Dubai World , may still repay lenders in full, a local newspaper said on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

U.S. retailers' final weekend sales push before Christmas was under threat as a severe winter snowstorm struck the East Coast, forcing store closures and keeping shoppers at home on Super Saturday.

Verizon Wireless on Friday defended its fee hikes on early cancellations of phone contracts, citing declining prices customers pay for handsets in a letter to regulators.

Santa came early for Wall Street this year by delivering a 22 percent return for 2009, and with just a handful of trading days to go, stock investors aren't expecting to find much more under the tree.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack is forgoing a year-end bonus for the third straight year, he said in a memo obtained by Reuters, putting pressure on other Wall Street CEOs to follow suit.

Stocks rose on Friday in choppy trade as quarterly results from Oracle and Research In Motion lifted the Nasdaq more than 1 percent, but the U.S. dollar's climb curbed gains in both the Dow and the S&P 500.

Stocks rose on Friday in choppy trade as quarterly results from Oracle and Research In Motion lifted the Nasdaq more than 1 percent, but the U.S. dollar's climb curbed gains in both the Dow and the S&P 500.

The U.S. brokerage watchdog is probing how Wall Street firms, including JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup Inc , offer stock research, two people familiar with the probe said on Friday.

Eastman Kodak Co has won a preliminary fight with Samsung Electronics, which the camera giant had accused of infringing its digital camera patents.

U.S. copper futures ended with sharp losses on Thursday as a stronger tone in the dollar sparked a bearish drag across the broader complex, and analysts said the shift in momentum could pull prices of the red metal back down toward $3.00 a lb.

The trustee for bankrupt U.S. mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage Inc gained court approval on Friday to auction the company's $11 billion mortgage servicing portfolio early next year.

The Nasdaq rose on Friday as quarterly results from Oracle and Research In Motion boosted optimism about a recovery in technology spending, but the U.S. dollar's rise weighed on the Dow and S&P 500 as investors pared back risky bets.

Nordic telecoms operators Tele2 (TEL2b.ST) and Telenor (TEL.OL) picked China's Huawei [HWT.UL] to supply their joint 4G network in Sweden, shutting out Ericsson (ERICb.ST) in its home market, Tele2 said.

Crude oil rose and the U.S. dollar gained in a safe-haven bid on Friday after Iranian soldiers crossed into Iraqi territory and took up positions in a disputed southern oilfield.

Computer hackers blocked Twitter.com on Thursday, redirecting its users to a website where a group calling itself Iranian Cyber Army claimed responsibility for the disruption.

A Paris court on Friday found U.S. Internet giant Google guilty of violating copyright by digitizing books and putting extracts online, following a legal challenge by major French publishers.

The Dow and the S&P 500 slipped on Friday as the U.S. dollar's advance led investors to pare back risky bets, but the Nasdaq edged higher as upbeat results from Oracle and Research In Motion boosted optimism about technology spending.

The dollar is likely to extend gains in the upcoming week, continuing to draw support from growing signs of a stable U.S. recovery as well as a Federal Reserve plan to wind down most of its emergency lending early next year.

Upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion lifted U.S. stocks on Friday, while rising oil prices boosted energy shares.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday after upbeat results from technology bellwethers Oracle and Research In Motion.

Robert came to me with a very simple existing résumé that neither showcased his broad skill set nor his career achievements.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday on upbeat results from technology bellwethers Research In Motion and Oracle.

Citigroup Inc's Vikram Pandit endured a brutal capital raising episode this week in an effort to win the bank's freedom from close government oversight, but the bank's CEO may have won less than he hoped.

The euro stabilized on Friday after this week's steep losses against the dollar and yen and rose off nine-month lows versus the Swiss franc while higher oil prices helped European stocks higher in thin year-end trade.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday as oil prices rebounded and on upbeat results from technology bellwethers Research In Motion and Oracle.

The euro clawed back some of its recent steep losses against the dollar and yen on Friday and rose off nine-month lows versus the Swiss franc while higher oil prices pushed European stocks higher in thin year-end trade.

Stocks were expected to open higher on Friday, recovering from the previous session's sharp falls. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.2-0.4 percent by 0915 GMT (4:15 a.m. EST).