INVESTMENT

Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, said on Friday it would restructure its relationships with hedge fund managers to better control its assets and urged them to base their fees on long-term instead of short-term performance.

President Barack Obama won support from top bankers on Friday for his efforts to rid financial institutions of bad debts, but differences remained over broader U.S. plans for the financial industry.

Wall Street capped a strong week on a down note on Friday as investors booked profits in the wake of the recent upward surge and bank shares dropped after bank executives indicated March had been a tougher month for the industry than the previous two.

Jack Dreyfus, the so-called Lion on Wall Street, died March 27 at New York Hospital, the asset management firm that he founded said on Friday.

U.S. stocks slid on Friday as investors booked profits in the wake of a recent surge, and bank shares dropped after several bank executives indicated March had been a tougher month than the previous two.

U.S. stocks tumbled further on Friday, with indexes sliding more than 2 percent after comments from JPMorgan Chase's chief executive that March was a little tough.

UBS said on Thursday a decision by Switzerland and other offshore centers to cooperate more on tax evasion did not weaken the Swiss bank's stance in an ongoing U.S. tax dispute.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday as investors booked profits following a recent rapid surge, while the energy sector dropped along with the price of oil.

Wall Street was set for a lower open on Friday as investors assessed the strength of a recent surge that has March on track to see the biggest monthly percentage gain since 1974.

In a dry quarter for deals, two massive pharmaceutical transactions helped catapult Morgan Stanley to the top of the league in global adviser rankings, bringing it up from the tenth spot a year earlier.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as investors reassessed a recent surge that has March on track to see the biggest monthly percentage gain since 1974.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday following the previous session's strong gains, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.6 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.6 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.7 percent at 1000 GMT (6 a.m. EDT).

Things are getting tense at Japanese brokerage Nomura Holdings .

Asian stocks dipped on Friday, but still headed for their best weekly gain in four months as hopes the global economy could not get any worse continue to bolster riskier assets.

Asian stocks rose on Friday, trying for a fifth day of gains, as hopes the global economy could not get any worse kept investors buying riskier assets, though U.S. and Japanese data left some doubts lingering.

EQUITIES PUSH TROUGH AND HOLD ABOVE KEY RESITANCE LEVELS AS BETTER THAN EXPECTED TREASURY AUCTION RESULTS SUPPORT CONFIDENCE FOR US RECOVERY STRATEGIES.

For years, U.S. hedge fund managers have worried that their loosely regulated and secretive industry would one day face tougher regulations.

Stocks rallied for a second straight day on Thursday, taking the Nasdaq back into positive territory for the year-to-date, on increasing optimism that the economy's worst days are behind after the government reported data that was less dire than expected.

American International Group Inc , which has received $180 billion in U.S. taxpayer money, was subpoenaed on Thursday by New York's top legal officer for information on its credit default swaps contracts, sources familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's role as market supervisor and investor protector should not be sacrificed as Congress considers creating one entity to oversee all risk in the financial system, the head of the agency said on Thursday.

U.S. securities regulators will bolster the regulation of money market funds and the protection of investors who entrust their funds to broker-dealers and investment advisers, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission told Congress on Thursday.