IBT Staff Reporter

China betrayed signs of spluttering domestic demand on Friday as imports crumbling to their lowest in more than two years and weaker-than-forecast bank lending signaled to investors that policymakers would soon make a fresh bid to bolster growth.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told conservative lawmakers on Friday that existing Greek reform pledges would not bring its debt down to levels that are considered sustainable, sources who attended the meeting said.

Boeing has frozen the price on its bid for a multi-billion-dollar Brazilian air force jet contract, sources close to the deal told Reuters, as the global race to sell military hardware to emerging economic powers becomes more competitive.

Stock index futures fell on Friday as the latest setback in Greek negotiations for a financial bailout package put the S&P 500 on track to snap a three-day winning streak.

German luxury carmaker Daimler AG won't slash its workforce to close the gap with rivals BMW and Audi in terms of profitability, the company's personnel chief said.

Stock index futures fell on Friday as the latest setback in Greek negotiations for a bailout package put the S&P 500 on track to snap a three-day winning streak.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed confidence that a second bailout package for Greece would be finalized next week, but said Athens needed to implement structural reforms to restore confidence in its economy.

NYSE Euronext signaled it would shift focus to faster-growing areas like supplying computer systems and information from trading, as the U.S. exchange looks to an independent future following the collapse of a takeover by Deutsche Boerse.

If anyone can pull off the labyrinthine deal between Alibaba Group and Yahoo Inc, it's Jack Ma, who founded the e-commerce group and within a decade unlocked China's huge online shopping potential.

China's imports in January fell the most since the depths of the global financial crisis, raising concerns that demand may be weaker than previously thought even allowing for Lunar New Year factory shutdowns.

NYSE Euronext posted quarterly operating profit at the top end of expectations with a 13 percent rise helped by strong information and technology services, an area the U.S. group is now looking to as a growth driver.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4 to 0.5 percent.

Tighter bank financing is the big threat to shipping companies, and many are looking at alternative sources of funding such as private equity to fill gaps amid a worsening credit squeeze, a transport survey showed on Friday.

State Street Corp has hired former Bank of America Corp's executive Dan McNicholas as head of sales for its alternative investment servicing business in the Asia Pacific region.

Greek workers went on strike against austerity measures on Friday, docking ships and halting public transport, hours after euro zone finance ministers said Athens needed to make more cuts to convince them to release a financial bailout.

Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba plans to take private its Hong Kong-listed unit, two sources familiar with the matter said, as part of a complex deal that would strengthen founder Jack Ma's control and give key stakeholder Yahoo cash and a direct stake in one of Alibaba's operating businesses.

British bank Barclays warned it may miss its medium-term profitability target after it ended 2011 with its worst quarter for three years as the euro zone debt crisis hit bond trading, dragging its annual profit down on the year before.

If anyone can pull off the labyrinthine deal between Alibaba Group and Yahoo Inc, it is Jack Ma, who founded the e-commerce group and within a decade unlocked China's huge online shopping potential.

Stocks and the euro fell while safe-haven government bonds rose on Friday as final approval of a long-awaited Greek debt deal remained elusive, keeping alive the threat of a messy default.

Trying to track China's economic course during the Lunar New Year can leave analysts howling at the moon. January auto sales tumbled, yet oil imports were the third highest on record. A measure of factory activity picked up, but trade data was weak.

Wynn Resorts Ltd, the $15 billion gaming empire of Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn, may be forced to give its biggest shareholder access to its financial papers, a U.S. judge has ruled, the latest turn in a case that has transfixed the casino world with implications for the company's control.

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group plans to take its Hong Kong-listed unit private, two sources familiar with the matter said, and is working with Yahoo on an asset-swap deal that may result in Yahoo owning a direct stake in one of Alibaba Group's operating businesses.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a veteran prosecutor with acute political instincts and a reputation for thick skin, gambled big in the settlement negotiations with banks over illegal foreclosures.

Crystal Morello's family pleaded for months with their lender for a cheaper mortgage on their family home in Belleville, Michigan. But time ran out last summer, and they left before they were evicted.

There's a whole lot of box-office promise in The Vow -- a romantic drama starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams on track to gross more than $30 million in North America this weekend.

Britain's Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa have bumped Lady Gaga off the international fashion map.

A Different Kind of Truth is a pretty ponderous name for a not very ponderous album -- Van Halen's first in 28 years with David Lee Roth as frontman. If they'd been in as cheeky a mood titling it as they were in recording it, maybe they could have gone with: 1985.

Adele may be a safe bet to clean up at Sunday's Grammy Awards, but if music fans think that means a night of few surprises, they should ask Justin Bieber.

Angry musicians will protest outside Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony over a decision to cut 31 ethnic and minority musical categories from the music industry's top awards.