IBT Staff Reporter

Premium-car maker Volvo, which Ford is selling to China's Zhejiang Geely, has hired the head of Volkswagen's North America business as its chief executive.

Pakistani authorities on Friday put seven major websites, including Google and YouTube, under watch for containing material deemed offensive to Muslims, officials said.

Salesforce.com Inc is suing Microsoft Corp for alleged patent violations, the latest development in a legal battle that began last month when Microsoft accused Salesforce of stealing its intellectual property.

BP Plc's struggle to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was nearing a potentially important stage on Friday even as worries about the soaring costs of the clean-up sent the company's shares nose-diving to a 14-year-low.

Stocks were little changed on Friday on mixed economic data as major indexes were on track to post their worst week in five.

Economic growth was slower than previously reported in the first quarter as estimates of business and consumer spending were cut.

A Democratic plan to provide additional aid to jobless workers, businesses and cash-strapped states and raise taxes on investment fund managers failed in the Senate on Thursday.

Consumer sentiment rose in June to its highest since January 2008 while reports of job losses were down sharply from a year ago, a survey showed on Friday.

Gold rose nearly 1 percent on Friday as investors sought refuge from financial market uncertainty and currency depreciation as they awaited the outcome of a G20 meeting.

British Airways made a new offer to cabin crew on Friday in a bid to end a long-running dispute over pay and conditions before a ballot on further strikes next Tuesday.

The dollar climbed against the euro and fell against the yen on Friday as investors sought safety on concerns about euro zone fiscal strains and data showing soft U.S. economic growth.

KB Home , the fifth-largest U.S. homebuilder, reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday as pressure on home prices offset the company's first rise in home deliveries in three and a half years.

Global regulators will dilute a reform that forces banks to hold more reserves to survive shocks without massive taxpayer help again, sources familiar with the negotiations said on Friday.

U.S. lawmakers hammered out a historic overhaul of financial regulations as dawn broke over the nation's capital on Friday, handing President Barack Obama a major domestic policy victory on the eve of a global summit devoted to financial reform.

Corrects to say banks could invest up to 3 percent of their Tier 1 capital, not their tangible common equity, in hedge funds and private equity funds

Electronics maker Foxconn Technologies, under fire for its working practices after a string of worker suicides, will sign over management of staff dormitories at its complexes in Shenzhen, southern China, to other companies, it said on Friday.

There is no basis for major appreciation of the yuan, given China's shrinking trade surplus, although the country's latest yuan policy will help to restructure its economy in the long run, a senior central banker said on Friday.

Economic growth was slower than previously estimated in the first quarter as estimates of business and consumer spending were cut, according to government data on Friday.

Stocks were little changed on Friday after mixed economic data, while financial shares gained as uncertainty ebbed after an agreement to overhaul financial regulations.

Oil rose on Friday due to concerns that a storm in the Caribbean may move toward the Gulf of Mexico, where oil facilities are clustered and BP continues to fight an oil spill.

Economic growth was slower than previously estimated in the first quarter as estimates of business and consumer spending were cut, according to government data on Friday.

Oppenheimer estimated first-day sales of Apple's iPhone 4 at 1.5 million units, surpassing previous iPhone launch sales.

Freddie Mac, the second largest purchaser of residential mortgages, said it shrank its investment portfolio in May, while the delinquency rates on loans it guarantees were mixed at elevated levels.

KB Home , the fifth-largest U.S. homebuilder, reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday, as pressure on home prices offset the company's first rise in home deliveries in three-and-a-half years.

Global regulators will dilute a reform that forces banks to hold more reserves to survive shocks without massive taxpayer help again, sources familiar with the negotiations said on Friday.

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln credited common sense for helping forge a compromise on her proposal to force banks to spin off their swap trading operations, allowing them to retain the bulk of their books but bar them trading commodities, equity and credit default swaps.

Global merger and acquisition activity in 2010 is off to its worst start in six years, and with economic uncertainty and a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the second half could be just as disappointing.

The dollar rose against the euro and fell against the yen on Friday as investors sought safety amid ongoing concerns about fiscal strains in the euro zone and after a report showed soft U.S. economic growth data.

Wall Street was set to open flat on Friday after the government said first-quarter economic growth was slower than previously estimated and lawmakers reached a historic agreement to overhaul financial regulations.