IBT Staff Reporter

German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Friday to defend the euro, which she said was stronger than Germany's former deutschemark, but she warned that Europeans faced a long, hard marathon to restore lost credibility.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 up 1 to 1.1 percent ahead of a key jobs report.

Luxury brand Gucci has not seen any impact on its business from global economic woes but it would be prepared to react quickly and cut costs if sales slowed, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview.

Western Digital Corp, the worst hit hard drive manufacturer by Thai floods, said on Friday it has partly resumed production this week after months of suspension and warned of tighter global supply until early next year.

Facebook games developer Zynga Inc will sell about 15 percent of its common stock in an initial public offering, Bloomberg said, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

Republican lawmakers blasted the chairman of the U.S. futures regulator on Thursday for his agency's role in the collapse of MF Global and called his recusal from the investigation a way to "avoid the heat."

A bill to let U.S. spy agencies share intelligence on cyber threats with private companies was backed by a House of Representatives intelligence panel on Thursday.

The German government, Deutsche Telekom AG's biggest shareholder, is growing increasingly worried the company's disposal of its T-Mobile USA subsidiary may run aground over antitrust concerns, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

An Australian court on Friday extended a ban on sales of Samsung Electronics' latest Galaxy tablet in the country by at least a week, further delaying the South Korean technology firm's attempt to sell the device to Christmas shoppers.

An Australian court on Friday extended a ban on sales of Samsung Electronics' latest Galaxy tablet in the country by at least a week, further delaying the South Korean technology firm's attempt to sell the device to Christmas shoppers.

Senator Al Franken asked software maker Carrier IQ to respond to claims by an independent security researcher that its products collect and transmit potentially sensitive data about millions of mobile phone users.

Google Inc is pondering an Internet service to help consumers shop online and take advantage of same-day delivery, hoping to stanch the loss of Web traffic to Amazon.com Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims won the right to immediately appeal a ruling that took away more than $19 billion of his claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co, Madoff's main bank for two decades.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, under pressure from a spiraling euro zone debt crisis five months before a presidential election, told France on Thursday the euro bloc needs closer and stricter coordination of national budgets to survive.

H&R Block Inc posted a wider quarterly loss as the largest U.S. tax preparer continued to take charges by disposing of non-core assets.

Stocks treaded water on Thursday after the previous day's massive gains, but traders worried that recent strong data could set the market up for a sell-off should Friday's jobs report fall short of hopes.

Over 650,000 Groupon’s were sold between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the holiday store “Grouponicus,” according to a blog post by Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason.

U.S. factories shrugged off weakness in the global economy in November as manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in five months, a fresh sign the domestic economy was accelerating.

The Massachusetts attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five large U.S. banks accusing them of deceptive foreclosure practices, a signal of ebbing confidence that a multi-state agreement can be worked out.

A pro-democracy blogger who was jailed for insulting UAE leaders, then pardoned and released hours later, Thursday vowed to go on with his campaign work, sounding a rare note of defiance in the Gulf Arab oil state.

Current Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam will take on a new role as Chairman of the Board in January as recently retired CEO Ivan Seidenberg will step down as a director, the company announced Thursday.

U.S. auto sales rose 14 percent in November, paced by gains at Chrysler Group LLC and Volkswagen AG, as consumers returned to showrooms even without the lure of a big year-end sale.

Rick Perry has released three TV ads in Iowa in the past 24 hours in an attempt to re-establish himself in the state that will hold the nation's first caucuses on Jan. 3.

WASHINGTON (TheWrap.com) - Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) continued a barrage of support for proposed online anti-piracy legislation Thursday, calling claims that such a law would threaten internet freedoms blatantly false.

The Issue: The parent company of American Airlines , filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday. But there are still airline industry investing opportunities.

The European Commission joined forces with major technology firms including Apple, Facebook and Google on Thursday to improve the protection of children online.

General Motors Co may redesign the battery for its Chevrolet Volt to address issues raised after federal officials opened a safety probe into the plug-in electric car, GM's chief executive said on Thursday.

AT&T Inc accused the U.S. communications regulator of being one-sided and cherry-picking facts when it issued a stinging rebuke of the company's plan to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom.

Former Twitter engineering Vice President Michael Abbott is joining Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers next week as a partner, the firm said, signaling its commitment to social networks, mobile and the cloud.