MARKETS / FINANCE

Corporate America's worst nightmare lives in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, loves browsing in flea markets and has a lop-eared brown and white pet rabbit named Crackers.

Deutsche Bank said Friday negative real interest rates, central bank buying, dollar weakness and prospects for a European Central Bank balance sheet expansion augur well for gold prices to achieve a 12th consecutive annual gain.

A collapse of the euro and break-up of the European Union would have catastrophic consequences for the global financial system, billionaire investor George Soros was quoted as saying.

Heavily armed robbers tried to steal a stack of gold bars from a plane at an airstrip near a mine in Tanzania owned by AngloGold Ashanti but were thwarted by the country's police.

The euro zone's economy deepened its downturn at the end of 2011 as retail sales fell and sentiment soured, but the first improvement in the business climate in 10 months offered hope that an expected recession may be mild.

Gold prices rose Friday as concerns about the Eurozone's economy and the health of its banks offset the effect of a stronger dollar.

Stocks firmed on Friday on hopes that U.S. jobs data due later in the day will show a stronger outlook for the world's biggest economy, but the euro hit a 16-month low on worries over the region's economic health and further debt sales due next week.

LG Electronics Inc said on Friday it would unveil its first Google TV next week, joining Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics Co in partnering with the search giant to get a foothold in the emerging Internet TV market.

MF Global's bankruptcy trustee, Louis Freeh, has refused to turn over some documents to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission , which is investigating what happened to an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer funds, the Wall Street Journal said.

U.S. employment likely grew solidly last month, but the jobless rate probably rose from a 2-1/2 year low as improving conditions lured some Americans who had given up looking for work back into the labor market.

An exclusive group of funds at Fidelity Investments is seeking shareholder approval to extend the brief tenure of a former executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd on a board that oversees billions of dollars in assets, according to regulatory filings.

The price of pork in China could soon rival U.S. payrolls as the world's most watched economic indicator.

Former Olympus Corp CEO Michael Woodford said on Friday he will sue the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker for unfair dismissal and has instructed lawyers to start legal action in Britain.

A New York federal judge on Thursday damped hopes that he would throw out government wire tap evidence in the insider trading trial of Rajat Gupta, a former board member of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble .

The securities industry, which has been gearing up for battle with the Department of Labor over its proposed higher fiduciary standard for retirement plan advisers, was hit with a litany of last-minute requests in December that they say may cause further delays.

After the closest caucuses in Iowa history -- just eight votes separated Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in Tuesday's caucuses -- the Republican field has been whittled down to six candidates. How will the Iowa results affect the race?

Barnes & Noble Inc cut its Nook sales forecast and shocked investors by saying it may spin off its fast-growing digital business, sending its shares plunging 17 percent.

PepsiCo Inc is considering cutting about 4,000 jobs and reducing pension contributions in order to boost its earnings, the New York Post said, citing sources close to the situation.

The jobs recovery gathered pace as a measure of private-sector hiring surged in December and claims for unemployment benefits fell, suggesting the battered labor market may continue to strengthen in 2012.

Two South African gold mining companies have reported workers deaths.

In his first full day as chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray sought to lower the political heat around the agency, saying it would earnestly get to work targeting all the bad actors in the lending industry.

As Wall Street anxiously awaits the Labor Department's monthly employment report due on Friday, a decent bet has emerged. Odds are, the government will say it underestimated recent job gains.

Barclays Capital released its 2012 price outlook for precious metals Thursday. Despite short-term hurdles, a clouded macro-economic environment against a backdrop of low interest rates and political uncertainties continue to stoke investor appetite for a more diversified and less riskier portfolio.

Bank of America Corp shares surged more than 7 percent on Thursday, outpacing other U.S. banks on a day of positive job news.

The U.S. jobs recovery gathered pace as a measure of private-sector hiring surged in December and claims for unemployment benefits fell, suggesting the battered labor market may continue to strengthen in 2012.

French bank Societe Generale is set to announce an overhaul of its private banking unit that will see Daniel Truchi replaced as head of private banking, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Silver mining company shares rose Thursday as the price of the gray metal climbed nearly 1 percent and the broader equity markets posted gains.

Benchmark Co analysts downgraded Google Inc to hold from buy, citing a decline in advertising revenue from Europe and an uncertain outlook for the first half of this year.

Gold rose on Thursday, a day after it broke ranks with riskier assets, on track to extend to a fifth straight day of gains in the face of a sharp fall in the euro on renewed European debt fears.