IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high in June but failed again to surpass its level of September 2008, when the spectacular failure of Lehman Brothers sent the world economy into a tailspin, a survey showed on Friday.

Technology shares fell on Friday after disappointing results from National Semiconductor, but a rise in defensive stocks, like healthcare, cushioned losses in the Dow and S&P 500.

OPEC cut its forecast for world oil demand in 2009 further on Friday but said the worst appeared to be over for the market, adding to signs of a turning point in the outlook for oil.

Siemens and StatoilHydro installed a wind turbine offshore in Norway using an innovative floating technology that is not limited, as existing technologies are, to being attached on the seabed, the companies said Friday.

Oil fell below $72 a barrel on Friday, a day after reaching a near eight-month high, pressured by a firmer dollar and views that prices have risen too far despite improving economic sentiment.

Oil pipeline and storage company Teppco Partners LP said its purchased marine assets, including 19 boats and 28 barges, from TransMontaigne Product Services Inc for $50 million in cash.

Digital TV will replace the six-decade long era of analog TV today which will leave more than 2.8 million unprepared homes across the country without TV service.

Norwegian browser maker Opera ASA said on Friday that Microsoft's plan to ship its Windows operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser was not enough to restore competition.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc said it will take as much as $3.4 billion of federal bailout money and sell up to $750 million of common stock to bolster capital after large losses on investments.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc said it will take as much as $3.4 billion of federal bailout money and sell up to $750 million of common stock to bolster capital after large losses on investments.

BlackRock, Inc announced it has agreed to buy Barclays Global Investors from Barclays Plc in a $12.9 billion cash and stock deal to create an the world’s largest asset management firm with combined assets of over $2.7 trillion.

U.S. import prices rose 1.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on Friday, but the gain was powered by petroleum prices and underlying import price pressures were more muted.

Australian Dollar: Cool winter winds may be blowing in Sydney but the Australian dollar is on fire at the moment and opens on Friday at 0.8190.

Spain's telecoms watchdog CMT said on Friday that 66 percent of net new broadband customers signed up with companies other than dominant operator Telefonica between February and April.

The two founders of struggling Irish sports broadcaster Setanta are in talks with a potential investor which could prevent the group from falling into administration, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Italy's founder and other shareholders said on Friday they would launch an offer to buy out and then to delist the software company, sending RGI shares up more than 2 percent.

Spain had 614,000 new homes sitting unsold at the end of 2008 -- lower than most analysts' estimates -- according to the first major survey of Europe's most over-stocked home market.

Ireland's new National Asset Management Agency would consider buying loans from Irish units of foreign-owned banks under the country's bad bank scheme, the finance ministry said on Friday.

Private equity firms are expected to bid for Goodbaby Group after its top shareholder hired Morgan Stanley to sell its stake in China's largest baby stroller maker, sources said on Friday.

BlackRock has agreed to buy Barclays Global Investors to create the world's biggest asset manager in a $13.5 billion deal that British bank Barclays hopes will put to rest concerns about its capital.

Three Boston businessmen, including a member of the family that used to own The Boston Globe, have emerged as suitors for the 137-year-old daily newspaper that The New York Times Co is trying to sell, the Globe reported on Friday.

KKR Financial Holdings LLC, a debt fund managed by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, said a debtholder swapped $3 million of convertible notes for 1.18 million shares in the company.

Contract drug manufacturer Patheon Inc posted a smaller quarterly loss on Friday as costs and restructuring expenses declined.

Global Payments Inc said it has bought the remaining stake in its British joint venture with HSBC Bank Plc for $307.7 million in cash.

India represents a sixth of humanity and its giant economy may help reshape global business, but its place in the world is still hindered by the country's struggles to find stability in its own dangerous neighbourhood.

The head of the Iraqi parliament's biggest Sunni Muslim bloc was killed at a mosque on Friday, officials said, an assassination which could undermine efforts for sectarian reconciliation in Iraq.

The murder at a mosque of the head of the Iraqi parliament's biggest Sunni Muslim bloc could frustrate efforts to seek reconciliation among the country's fractious sectarian and ethnic groups after years of conflict.

A court in army-ruled Myanmar has delayed the widely-condemned trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for at least two weeks, her lawyer said on Friday.

Several big banks bailed out by U.S. taxpayers are expected to begin repaying their government debt next Wednesday, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.