IBT Staff Reporter

Senator Harry Reid's wife Landra and their daughter were severely injured in a car accident Friday as they were hit by a tractor-trailer truck, a Reid spokesman said, according to the Associated Press.

Women's apparel retailer AnnTaylor Stores Corp posted a surprise quarterly profit, but gave a disappointing forecast as it remains cautious about spending this spring.

Bank of America Corp completed 20,666 mortgage modifications in March under a U.S. government-backed program, up 61 percent from February, the bank said on Friday.

Wells Fargo & Co may be moving toward a settlement of Baltimore's lawsuit accusing it of steering minority borrowers to expensive home loans.

U.S. demand for residential heating and cooling systems, which was pounded by the long housing slump, may have hit bottom, the head of United Technologies Corp's Carrier air conditioner arm said.

U.S. consumer sentiment declined slightly in early March, with Americans less positive about the job outlook, a survey released on Friday showed.

Switzerland's UBS has warned parliamentarians failure to back a deal to end its bitter U.S. tax row with the bank could result in a damaging backlash for Swiss banks as well as the Alpine nation's economy.

In mid-January, a who's who of Wall Street gathered to hear Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman whose role in the White House seemed at best unclear.

Unprecedented discounts after a series of damaging recalls boosted Toyota Motor Corp's U.S. sales in early March, as U.S. regulators weighed new auto safety measures.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France accused Washington on Friday of setting the wrong example on protectionism, suggesting there had not been a level playing field in the race for a $50 billion refueling plane contract.

Norwegian fertilizer group Yara International ASA shied away from raising its offer for Terra Industries Inc to top a rival bid, boosting its shares on Friday but scuppering U.S. expansion plans.

Nissan Motor launched its much-awaited, low-cost compact car on Friday, aiming to become a major force in the fast-growing segment with a global sales target of one million units a year by 2013.

Major U.S. stock indices erased earlier gains to trade negative for the day. Lower than expected consumer sentiment index, a technical resistance for the S&P 500, and declining shares of drug companies pushed the market down.

Greece's gross domestic product shrank slightly less than feared at the end of 2009 and unemployment eased, but the economy looked set to deteriorate as the government imposes major cutbacks.

Nokia Oyj lowered it share of global handset sales after recalculating the size of the market and the scale of the growing grey sector in unlicensed and counterfeit phones.

Women's clothing retailer AnnTaylor Stores Corp reported a surprise quarterly profit on Friday, helped by tight inventory management and improved merchandise.

Sales at U.S. retailers rose unexpectedly in February despite a drop in vehicle purchases and inclement weather that was expected to curtail shopping, according to a government report on Friday that bolstered hopes of a sustainable economic recovery.

U.S. stocks turned lower on Friday, as a weaker-than-forecast reading on consumer sentiment outweighed an unexpected increase in retail sales.

The Greek debt crisis is poised to undermine already dwindling investment flows into south-eastern Europe's emerging economies, adding to barriers to recovery in one of the continent's most fragile regions.

Australia's competition watchdog has delayed rulings on the $12 billion takeover tussle for AXA Asia Pacific by National Australia Bank and AMP Ltd.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp on Friday said it rejected activist investor Carl Icahn's unsolicited bid to increase his share in the Independent movie studio.

Kraft Foods Inc will be grilled by British parliamentarians next week amid claims the U.S. group backtracked on plans to keep a Cadbury plant open.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the private equity giant said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - St. Patrick's Day, which will be celebrated next week, has become a worldwide phenomenon with festivities that occur not only in the United States and Ireland, but also in the Caribbean, New Zealand and Japan.

(Reuters) - Congressional Democrats drew closer on Thursday to agreement on a broad healthcare overhaul that could clear the way for a final vote in the next few weeks, but vowed not to be bound by White House deadlines.

(Reuters) - Several drug firms have agreed on a landmark deal to supply up to 200 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations, according to the global immunization alliance that is overseeing the deal.

U.S. stock futures point toward a higher opening on Friday as U.S. retail sales beat expectations and prospects of a financial reform bill look dim.

(Reuters) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu has done it. So has genome pioneer Craig Venter.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday, a day after the S&P hit a 17-month closing high and as retail sales rose unexpectedly in February.