IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks started a traditionally healthy month on strong footing on Friday with solid jobs figures, but the S&P 500 may need help to break to new multi-year highs.

U.S. employment grew firmly for a second straight month in March and the jobless rate hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent, underscoring a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the recovery.

Blogs have been buzzing all day with the rumor that American Idol contestants Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart are a couple.

Robots from the United States are getting ready to help Japanese workers cope with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Most major automakers raced past expectations for U.S. sales in March as buyers flocked to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in response to rising gasoline prices at the pump.

A mathematician from NJIT says famous arch-rivals, the Red Sox and Yankees, will tie MLB and the AL East with 97 wins a piece.

Private equity firm TPG Capital is selling a 4.5 percent stake in itself to two sovereign wealth funds, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

LOS ANGELES - The man who created the first version of the uber-successful Madden NFL Football video game is suing Electronic Arts over tens of millions of dollars in owed royalties and potentially billions in profits over the franchise, which has sold more than 85 million copies in the more than 20 years since it hit the marketplace.

Credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal on Friday saying the debt-laden country needed a bailout, while rival agency S&P cut Ireland's rating after bank stress tests revealed another black hole.

Africa's largest telephone group Telkom is selling part of its loss-making Multi-Links operation in Nigeria for $52 million to Visafone Communications, sending its shares higher.

An Internet privacy group that prodded U.S. regulators to scrutinize Google Inc is miffed about getting cut out of a class action settlement over the search behemoth's Buzz social network.

Corrects paragraph to say $4.9 billion, instead of million

Bethesda releases new shots from the latest in its Elder Scrolls series

Oil prices rose on Friday in choppy trading, with U.S. crude reaching a 2-1/2-year high as supportive U.S. jobs data reinforced economic growth expectations.

Private equity firm TPG Capital has agreed to sell a minority stake in itself to two sovereign wealth funds, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Tottenham Hotspur isn't the only side with injury concerns ahead of their Champions League quarter-finals clash against Real Madrid after Jose Mourinho admitted that Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will not be fit for the clash.

U.S. stocks climbed on Friday after solid data on the labor market strengthened confidence in the recovery and comments from a Federal Reserve Bank president signaled support for economic stimulus efforts.

It would be a surprise if the U.S. Federal Reserve did not complete its $600 billion in bond purchases, though the benefits of doing more have fallen, a top Fed official said on Friday.

Employment grew solidly for a second month in March and the jobless rate hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent, underscoring a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the recovery.

The U.S. economy may add jobs more rapidly in coming months as the recovery gathers steam, but that is not a reason for the Federal Reserve to reverse course, a top Fed official said on Friday.

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew at a marginally slower pace in March although a measure of prices rose to their highest level since July 2008, according to an industry report released on Friday.

Raising interest rates by the end of 2011 should be on the table, depending on how the economy improves over the next few months, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on Friday.

A U.S. lawmaker with oversight of technology expressed concern that AT&T Inc's plans to take over T-Mobile USA would stifle innovation in the wireless market.

President Barack Obama said on Friday lawmakers negotiating a six-month budget extension that stretches until the end of the current fiscal year are close to a compromise and it was time to agree.

Plans to introduce mobile phone coverage on the London Underground in time for the 2012 summer Olympics have broken down as the Tube's antiquated network of narrow tunnels proved too difficult to connect in time.

General Motors Co said on Friday that its U.S. sales rose 11.4 percent in March as higher gasoline prices drove demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The European Union filed an appeal against an aircraft subsidies ruling on Friday just hours after calling it a victory, a tactical move in a transatlantic game of global trade chess.

Oil prices rose on Friday in volatile trading, as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data reinforced economic growth expectations but also the possibility it might trigger a pull back from loose monetary policy and strengthen the dollar.

A study in Nature Climate Change from the Institute for Atmospheric Physics at the German Aerospace Centre may show that contrails have just as large an effect as carbon dioxide on climate.