IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stocks faltered on Friday as weak oil futures pressured energy shares and a jump in the savings rate raised worries the economic recovery will not make much headway if consumers continue to be frugal.

Wall Street looked set for a weak open on Friday with investors ready to take profits after stocks gained more than 2 percent in the previous session.

Opportunistic property investor NewRiver Retail has suspended plans for a 250 million pound ($406.3 million) listing on London's Alternative Investment Market stock exchange, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

Canadian grain-handling company Viterra Inc said it will raise C$300 million ($261.5 million) through a senior-note offering and plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, that could include acquisitions.

The new bosses at Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline are playing a cautious acquisition game, 13 and seven months respectively after taking control of the two big European drugmakers.

Canada's Emera Inc said it agreed to buy Irving Oil's interests in Bayside Power LP, located in New Brunswick, to complement its operations in the region.

The king of pop died on Thursday in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest, his death has dominated world headlines as everyone pours out their tributes to the deceased singer.

Possible plans by Volkswagen to cooperate with Suzuki Motor raised an enthusiastic response among investors on Friday, but traders said the main focus at VW remained firmly on Qatar.

UBS has moved closer toward ending state involvement in the bank after it raised $3.5 billion of new capital, but must still settle U.S. legal problems and stem client withdrawals to return to health.

Canada's Magma Energy Corp, a geothermal power company active in the western United States and South America, has raised C$100 million ($87 million) in an initial public offering taken up by investors around the world, sources close to the deal told Reuters.

Celebrities mourned the death and celebrated the life of pop star Michael Jackson who died on Thursday after going into cardiac arrest. The following are released statements released by them through their websites or from media reports.

Michael Jackson and Charlie's Angels star Farrah Fawcett died in the same day with both leaving a legacy behind and many fans deeply saddened by the news.

Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) plunged by more than half in the second quarter to $402 billion, but the green shoots of economic recovery may soon kick-start fee revenue from an eleven-year low.

Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor, wants speedy reforms at the world's biggest carmaker but many want him out of the fast lane.

KB Home , the No. 5 U.S. homebuilder, posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday and reported a year-over-year decline in orders, sending its shares down nearly 8 percent.

U.S. stocks faltered on Friday as investors booked profits and energy shares pulled back alongside oil prices.

Citigroup has been ordered by Japanese regulators to stop marketing financial products at its retail bank for a month, a slap that is unlikely to squeeze revenue but will further tarnish the U.S. bank's reputation in a key market.

KB Home, the No. 5 U.S. homebuilder, posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Friday, but said it saw signs that negative trends in the housing market were moderating.

U.S. consumer spending rose last month for the first time since February as government stimulus pushed incomes sharply higher, the Commerce Department said on Friday, supporting the view the economy was close to pulling out of recession.

Michael Jackson's death dominated news bulletins, radio airwaves and social networking sites the world over on Friday as tributes poured in for a man called the King of Pop and natural heir to Elvis.

Ireland recognized the legal rights of same-sex couples for the first time Friday in a civil partnership bill that gave people in long-term relationships many of the statutory rights of married couples.

One person captured on Internet videos helping Neda, the young Iranian woman killed last week who has become an icon of the protests, was identified by a British newspaper on Friday as a doctor who has since fled Iran.

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will debate how to fix the global economy and fight climate change on Friday in a White House meeting that is likely to highlight a range of differences between the two leaders.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a weak open on Friday with investors set to take profits after a gain of more than 2 percent in the previous session.

Oil slipped below $70 a barrel Friday after Nigeria said it would halt a battle with rebels during a 60-day amnesty period for militants and release a suspected rebel leader if he accepted an amnesty offer.

U.S. consumer confidence rose in June to the highest since February 2008, as expectations grew that the worst economic recession since the Great Depression may be ending, a survey showed on Friday.

(Corrects in 2nd paragraph to say 15 orders were canceled, not 30)

German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said in a newspaper interview on Friday that discussions about troubled car maker Opel remained open but that a solution needed to be found fast.

Freddie Mac , the second-largest U.S. home funding company, on Friday said its mortgage investment portfolio shrank by an annualized 9.9 percent rate in May, while delinquencies on loans it guarantees accelerated.