IBT Staff Reporter

Belgian financial investor RHJ International offered 275 million euros ($387.6 million) for a 50.1 percent stake in General Motors' Opel business in a last-ditch effort to beat out rival suitors.

Belgian financial investor RHJ International offered 275 million euros ($387.6 million) for a 50.1 percent stake in General Motors' Opel business in a last-ditch effort to beat out rival suitors.

Dow Jones futures were down 0.01 percent by 4.38 a.m. ET while S&P 500 futures ticked down 0.05 percent and Nasdaq futures rose 0.3 percent, suggesting a mixed start for U.S. stocks on Friday after four days of gains.

World stocks hit a one-month high on Friday on growing optimism that the earnings season may turn out to be better than expected, while investors set their eyes on giants such as Citigroup for clearer market trend.

The fate of four signed basketballs given by NBA great Shaquille O'Neal to Sichuan earthquake survivors sparked an Internet storm in China this week.

Oil fell below $62 a barrel on Friday amid lingering skepticism over the pace of a global economic recovery, but prices are on track to snap four straight weeks of decline to post a weekly gain.

Asian shares extended gains on Friday on hopes the global recession is receding after key U.S. companies beat earnings expectations, but deadly blasts in Jakarta weighed on Indonesian stocks and the rupiah.

Investors were looking to Bank of America and Citigroup for a fresh dose of earnings optimism on Friday, after strong reports from JPMorgan Chase and IBM raised hopes for a global recovery.

Symbian, the mobile phone web OS Company for a large number of the world's phones will begin working on the development of mobile applications.

The new General Motors Co is looking to the fast-growing Far Eastern markets, especially China, the Detroit News reported on Wednesday.

Most Asian shares extended gains on Friday as key U.S. earnings reports beat expectations, fueling hopes that the global recession is receding, but deadly explosions at two Jakarta hotels weighed on Indonesia stocks and the rupiah.

The original recordings of the first humans landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and re-used, but newly restored copies of the original broadcast look even better, NASA officials said on Thursday.

Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe on Thursday sued a woman for defamation on Thursday after news reports that claimed Rowe was willing to accept millions of dollars in exchange for giving up her custody rights to her two children with the dead pop star.

Six people were killed in nearly simultaneous explosions at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the Marriott Hotel in central Jakarta on Friday, Indonesian police said.

Oil fell toward $61 a barrel on Friday amid lingering skepticism on the pace of a global economic recovery, but prices are on track to snap four straight weeks of decline to post a weekly gain.

U.S. sales of video game equipment and software fell 31 percent to $1.17 billion in June, research group NPD said on Thursday, the largest decline since 2000.

Google Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations, but the weak economy and slump in advertising spending took a toll on revenue growth and the price of its search ads.

The two main regulators of U.S. financial markets should merge, the chief executive of America's largest options exchange says in remarks to be delivered to a congressional panel on Friday.

Web video site YouTube will be profitable for Google Inc in the near future, the Internet search leader said on Thursday.

With the smell of fat bonus checks again wafting down Wall Street, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress on Thursday moved closer to a clampdown on U.S. corporate executive pay.

IBM sharply raised its full-year earnings forecast as it benefits from focusing more on higher-margin businesses in software and services, sending its shares up as much as 3 percent.

Although most people in New Jersey support a law forbidding texting while driving and think it should be more strictly enforced, one in five said they have sent a text while behind the wheel, according to a new study.

Web video site YouTube will be profitable for Google Inc in the near future, the Internet search leader said on Thursday.

U.S. oil prices rose on Thursday, tracking a late-day rebound on Wall Street and bolstered by a report showing strong economic growth in China, the world's second biggest consumer of energy.

Belgian financial investor RHJ wants Opel to break even in 2011 on an operating basis by closing the carmaker's Antwerp plant, idling production in Eisenach and cutting 3,900 jobs in Germany, a newspaper reported.

The result of Michael Jackson's death reports will be released publicly early next week, according to Los Angeles coroner's office.

Hong Kong saw the volume of total goods exports fall 12.6% and that of imports drop 16.2% year on year in May, the Census & Statistics Department said on Thursday, adding that the volume of goods re-exports fell 11.8% while that of domestic exports dived 35.5%.

China would loosen its controls on overseas investment procedures and foreign exchange management of domestic companies to boost outbound investment, China's foreign exchange regulator said on Wednesday.

Many of CIT Group Inc's businesses, including trade and transportation finance, could be of interest to potential buyers as the commercial lender stares at the possibility of bankruptcy.