MARKETS / FINANCE

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao presented duelling trade agendas as an antidote to weak global growth at an APEC summit on Saturday that underscored the two countries' growing rivalry.

The Bakrie Group, one of Indonesia's biggest conglomerates, has once again emerged from a debt crisis by selling off some of its assets, giving away half its stake in coal venture Bumi Plc to fellow miner Borneo Lumbung Energi .

President Barack Obama used an Asia-Pacific summit on Saturday to push back against China's trade practices, insisting Beijing stop poaching U.S. intellectual property and allow its currency to rise.

JAKARTA/LONDON - It was supposed to be a union of two legendary business dynasties, one West, one East. Nathaniel Philip Rothshild, the 40-year-old scion of the storied European banking family, forged a deal a year ago with the Bakrie brothers, one of Indonesia's mightiest business families, to create an international coal-mining titan.

Following are quotes from President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao before the APEC CEO summit.

Almost two weeks after the bankruptcy of commodities firm MF Global, customers at rival firms are all asking the same question: How safe is my money?

Romney has no real ideology or political philosophy behind him (hence, the endless flip-flops on various topics). Many of the Republican Party's right-wing do not like nor trust him.

Standard and Poor's has placed Hungary's sovereign rating on negative credit watch, citing unpredictable policy moves and a weak growth outlook and increasing the chances of a cut to junk status also threatened on Friday by fellow agency Fitch.

Italy's parliament was set to approve austerity measures on Saturday, triggering the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and meeting European Union demands to avert a euro zone meltdown.

EMI, the London-based record label that for 80 years brought the world everyone from the Beatles and Queen to Coldplay and Katy Perry, is no longer independent.

Stocks jumped on Friday, ending higher for the week after the Italian Senate's approval of economic reforms gave investors some relief from worries about the euro zone's debt crisis.

Wall Street is stuck in a highly volatile range as investors hoping for a rally into the end of the year are browbeaten by Europe's unfolding crisis.

Italy's parliament on Friday began rushing through austerity measures demanded by the European Union to avert a euro zone meltdown and Washington ratcheted up pressure for more dramatic action from the currency bloc.

The euro zone's debt crisis could substantially damage the U.S. economy if not contained, the Federal Reserve's No. 2 official warned on Friday as she urged bold action by Europe.

A federal judge ordered Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon Group hedge fund founder sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading, to pay a record $92.8 million penalty in a related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil case.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Sony won the auction for EMI's recorded music and music publishing operations on Friday, trumping bids by archrivals Warner Music Group and BMG Music Publishing at the 11th hour.

Canadian gold miner IAMGold (IMG.TO: Quote) is on the look-out for acquisitions and while it is not itself up for sale, its chief executive said on Friday it does represent good value right now.

As part of the restructuring related to the merger of its two banking units, Mizuho Financial Group Inc will cut 10 percent of its workforce, or 3,000 jobs, by end of fiscal 2015, The Nikkei said.

The Federal Reserve will begin a new round of bank stress tests in a couple of weeks, a top Fed official said on Friday, warning that strains from Europe's debt crisis threaten the U.S. economy and financial system.

After a series of tightening measures by China's central bank choked off bank loans to small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs), many resorted to importing copper and other commodities as a way to get cheap loans.

Gold prices rode a roller-coaster this week, topping a peak midweek when the settled at $1,799.20 before plunging 2.2 percent over the next two days on fears Italy had lost control of its finances and was threatening the Eurozone's survival.

Peru said on Friday that it will crack down on violent anti-mining protesters after clashes with police injured 40 people, the first skirmishes since President Ollanta Humala took office vowing to defuse conflicts over natural resources.

Stocks rose on Friday and were on track to end the week higher as Italy's Senate approved economic reforms, easing investors' concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis.

Lenders will confront Japan's Olympus Corp next week to demand an explanation for an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, a banking source said on Friday, though he denied reports they would seek more security over their loans.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday warned that advanced economies could fall back into recession unless policy-makers move with greater urgency to agree on policies to boost growth.

An erroneous downgrade of French sovereign credit rating by Standard & Poor's rating agency on Thursday was a very serious incident and will have to be investigated, the European Commission said on Friday.

Automotive giant Daimler, a leading German exporter, is against keeping Greece in the euro zone at all costs and believes Europe's single currency will survive even if Athens is forced to return to the drachma.

Americans became more hopeful about the economic outlook in November, pushing consumer sentiment to a five-month high, though they still have a gloomy view of personal finances, a survey released on Friday showed.

Claude Resources Inc. said Friday its third-quarter profit fell as a one-time loss on derivatives and lower production offset higher prices.