IBT Staff Reporter

Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest petroleum products retailer, is unlikely to be affected by the surge in global oil prices as the average price of Indian imports was still around $63 to $64 a barrel, its chairman said on Friday.

Norwegian oil group DNO International and Australian exploration company Audax signed a letter of intent (LOI) on the Chorbane Exploration Permit in Tunisia, they said on Friday.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Saturday it expected some flaring at its Scotford facility in Alberta, Canada, due to the restart of units after planned work, according to a notice filed on a community information line.

Countries must adopt a much more sophisticated approach to developing biofuels as a green energy option if they are to benefit the economy, the environment and society as a whole, the United Nations said Friday.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp dragged stock futures lower.

I confess, my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, the latest version of Microsoft's Windows franchise, was just that: a copy.

Bank of America Corp posted a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss as improvement in its Merrill Lynch investment banking unit failed to offset consumer credit woes, sending its shares down 4.5 percent .

Toymaker Mattel Inc reported a smaller-than-expected decline in quarterly revenue, helped by gains in its Hot Wheels and American Girl brands as it heads into the crucial holiday shopping season.

Citigroup Inc is considering listing its Brazilian or Latin American units to raise cash for expansion, Valor Economico newspaper said on Friday.

Yang Rong, a Chinese automobile tycoon who fled the country after being accused of economic crimes, said he plans three multi-billion-dollar U.S. plants to make 3 million clean-technology vehicles per year by 2017.

Canada's dollar fell versus theU.S. currency early on Friday after domestic inflation data didnot alter expectations that the Bank of Canada can keep itspledge to leave interest rates steady through mid-2010.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co (GE.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) dragged stock futures lower.

First Horizon National Corp (FHN.N), the largest bank in Tennessee, reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by a 46 percent decrease in provision for bad loans.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp dragged stock futures lower.

General Electric Co reported a 42 percent drop in profit, as a global economic slump hammered its hefty finance arm and eroded demand for the heavy equipment it manufactures.

The largest U.S. mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp (MTG.N) said it may not be able to repay amounts owed under its notes due in 2011, and posted a worse-than-expected third-quarter loss due to an increase in delinquencies.

Britain's top share index was lower at midday on Friday, led by banks after quarterly earnings numbers from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and General Electric (GE.N) disappointed.

European equities slipped from one-year highs on Friday as General Electric (GE.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) results disappointed and hurt momentum that was built after IBM (IBM.N) and Google (GOOG.O) earnings figures.

Canadian consumer prices fell in September from a year earlier due largely to tumbling gasoline prices and while there was other evidence of emerging inflation pressures, it was not expected to be of concern to the Bank of Canada.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co (GE.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) dragged stock futures lower.

BofA's Big Loss; GE's Woes; Banks Battle for Fixed Income Supremacy

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp dragged stock futures lower.

French IT services provider Atos Origin (ATOS.PA) confirmed on Friday it was in the race to buy Italian electronic payment company SIA-SSB, but said it still could not provide investors with estimates for 2010 results.

News, details on bond issues in the European markets on Friday:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Free Democrats (FDP) are trying to bridge differences on a range of policy issues before finalising their coalition pact by the end of next week.

European shares turned negative on Friday after earnings results from Bank of America (BAC.N) disappointed investors.

Goldman Sachs Group (GS), the former investment bank known for aggressive risk taking, is facing a frontal assault on its traditional dominance of fixed income trading from an unlikely source: commercial bank JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM).

Mattel Inc reported a lower quarterly profit that met Wall Street estimates on Friday, hurt by the weak economy and a dearth of movie-inspired toys.

Facebook's chief operating officer said the social networking company was targeting a bigger ad market than the search ad market that has made Google Inc rich.