INVESTMENT

Gold hovered just below $1,000 on Friday, taking a break after its strongest two-day performance since March as safe-haven demand stoked renewed investor buying.

California Controller John Chiang's office said on Thursday it had issued the last of its IOUs, which were intended to allow the state government to preserve its dwindling cash during its recent budget crisis.

US TREASURIES pulled back on Thursday. Pressure from covering of recent long positions, announcements of next week's Treasury auctions and an apparent stabilization of equity prices ahead of Friday's reports on US payrolls prompted many with long positions to cover ahead of the long weekend.

The U.S. manufacturing sector's return to expansion should be music to equity investors' ears, but bankers say past experience as well as the circumstances of the current rebound suggest a good deal of caution is warranted.

The two main U.S. regulators policing the securities and futures markets were urged on Thursday to align their rules for ferreting out fraud, protecting investors and punishing wrongdoers.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi plans to price a five-year dollar-denominated benchmark bond later on Thursday after securing commitments in excess of $2 billion, a senior official of the bank said.

Dutch financial group ING has up to five bids for some or all of its for-sale private bank assets, a source familiar with the process said on Thursday, with offers for the full package running close to $2 billion.

China plans new rules to allow foreign companies to set up local units in the form of a locally registered partnership, in a landmark move to attract investment, a draft proposal seen by Reuters showed on Thursday.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, following a four-day losing streak.

A U.S. federal judge ruled that Morgan Stanley and two credit rating agencies must defend fraud charges in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of masking the risks of an investment linked to subprime mortgages, and which eventually collapsed.

Cerberus Capital Management LP will prohibit investors in two new hedge funds from withdrawing money for three years, the Financial Times said on Wednesday quoting executives from the firm.

U.S. securities regulators missed numerous red flags that may have led to Bernard Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme and never did a thorough and competent probe despite complaints dating to 1992, a federal watchdog has concluded.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as jitters about the economy prompted investors to unload some shares for a fourth-straight day even after a sharp drop in the previous session.

A former Bear Stearns Cos hedge fund manager accused of insider trading urged a federal judge to reject evidence suggesting he improperly tried to use money as collateral to build a condominium and repeatedly ignored conflict-of-interest rules on in-house trades.

South Africa's Treasury said it was processing an exchange control application from MTN for a proposed tie-up with India's Bharti Airtel, in the clearest indication yet that the deal is proceeding despite some shareholder opposition.

Stock index futures added to losses on Wednesday after a private employment report showed U.S. firms cut more jobs than expected in August.

Stock index futures were flat on Wednesday ahead of private labor market data, even as BP Plc shares rose after it reported a giant oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

As shares of bailed-out banks bottomed out earlier this year, stock options were awarded to their top executives, setting them up for millions of dollars in profit as prices rebounded, according to a report released on Wednesday.

At least 20 top hedge funds boosted their positions in financial institutions in the latest quarter in a sign that Wall Street is ready to bet on more risky sectors in the hope of longer-term rewards.

Credit Suisse's Private Banking head Walter Berchtold said the bank is on the look out for acquisitions, but would not comment on whether this included a bid for private banking assets of ING .

Reports that Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) is in talks with the U.S. Treasury to repay $20 billion of its federal bailout was met by the market with joy -- and a little skepticism.