MARKETS / FINANCE

LinkedIn Corp, Starbucks Corp, Pan American Silver Corp, Alcatel Lucent, GlaxoSmithKline, Nokia Corp, Deutsche Bank and Weatherford International Ltd. are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Friday.

Asian stock markets surged Friday as investor sentiment turned positive overnight following better-than-expected economic reports from the U.S.

The U.S. stock index futures point to a flat open Friday, ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm payrolls report and unemployment report.

Crude oil prices declined slightly and hovered below $87 a barrel during Asian trading hours Friday as investors awaited a key U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls and unemployment data from the government.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Thursday were LinkedIn Corp, Orbitz Worldwide, Genpact, Heckmann and Basic Energy Services. The top after-market NYSE losers were Active Network, Guess? Inc, Greenway Medical Technologies, Calix, Inc and Fluor Corp.

Dozens of Iraqi refugees are camped out at a public square in the Hague, desperate to avoid deportation.

Shares of Netflix Inc. (NFLX) eased slightly Thursday, a day after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed he had acquired a near-10 percent stake.

The Chinese government's financial investment arm has bought a ten percent stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings. It's a big step, and China isn't nearly done buying in Europe.

U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday with the most robust intraday gains in a month.

Apple iTunes users can now send Hurricane Sandy relief effort donations to the American Red Cross directly from their music player.

Obama has a whirlwind day of campaigning; Joe Biden campaigns in Iowa; polls show Obama with leads in Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Iowa.

Bankers in Switzerland were fuming at what they saw as the bungled strategy of the bank's new Italian managers.

The world's biggest gold producer posted its fourth-straight disappointing quarterly report as it struggled with costs that rise more than gold's price.

BT Group, Tata Motors, Royal Dutch Shell, ARM Holdings, Zumiez, Comverse Technology, Research In Motion and Netflix are among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Thursday.

The U.S. stock index futures point to a lower open Thursday ahead of the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims data, Institute of Supply Management’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index data and Automatic Data Processing’s National Employment Report.

Cyclone Nilam spared India’s southern city of Chennai, making a landfall 50-km south at Mamallapuram along the Tamil Nadu coast Wednesday evening.

Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after the official data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity expanded for the first time in three months.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Wednesday were Ellie Mae, AVG Technologies, Wabash National Corp, Roundy's and Artio Global Investors Inc. The top after-market NYSE losers were Barnes & Noble, Mueller Water Products, Cameron International Corp, Basic Energy Services and DigitalGlobe.

Asian shares fell Thursday as China's official and private sector manufacturing PMIs confirmed a recovering growth trend, but that failed to convince investors the slowdown was bottoming out.

It has been ten years since the moderately Islamist AKP rose to power in a divided Turkey.

Shares of Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq:FB) fell nearly 4 percent as Facebook’s employees are free to sell some of their stock.

Despite the bank’s top boss insisting outgoing employees will be "treated with care," workers only found out they had been sacked after they were stopped at the front door, unable to enter the building having had their work passes revoked.

According to reports, a large portion of New York City’s teeming rat population may have drowned in the floodwaters that filled subways, tunnels and basements.

The Greek governing coalition was on the verge of collapse Wednesday, as aggressive political maneuvering by the PM pushed the country to the brink.

The Obama and Romney campaigns briefly paused in the wake of the storm. But both candidates will likely be scrambling for votes until Election Day.

Victoire Ingabire, Rwanda's opposition leader, was sentenced to eight years in prison for discussing Hutu-Tutsi rivalries.

U.S. stock markets reopened mostly without incident Wednesday, even as the rest of NY’s Financial District felt its way through Sandy's aftermath.

Lovers of Apple's famed music player will have to wait another month for the design overhaul.

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit.