FALL

Verizon Communications' quarterly revenue was slightly behind Wall Street's expectations, even as it reported stronger-than-expected wireless subscriber growth.

Texas Instruments Inc fourth quarter profit and revenue rose as weak demand for chips used in consumer products like televisions appeared to be offset by strong sales to industrial customers.

(Corrects December same-store sales results for Europe)

Shares of Synaptics Inc fell 11 percent on Friday, a day after the touchpad maker said sales to its core market dropped during the second quarter hurt by weaker-than-anticipated PC sales.

Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a second straight quarterly loss, driven by a $2 billion writedown of its mortgage business.

Nigerian interbank lending rates fell to an average of 4.92 percent this week from 9.25 percent last week as budgetary allocations to the three tiers of government boosted liquidity, traders said on Friday.

LG Display, the world's No.2 LCD flat screen maker, posted its first quarterly loss in seven quarters, hit by a $289 million price fixing fine and as panel prices plunged on weak demand from television makers.

Global equities and commodity prices fell on Thursday after robust Chinese economic growth prompted fears the world's second-largest economy would try to choke off excessive demand that is fueling inflation.

Reports that some financial institutions have started to exit their gold positions have been circulating this week, says French bank and London bullion dealer Natixis in its latest commodity analysis. Physically-backed ETF trust funds shrank almost 1% this week on Natixis' data - the sharpest weekly drop since we started keeping records in 2008.

U.S. initial jobless claims fell more than expected last week and showed their biggest decline since February, in a hopeful sign for the U.S. labor market.

Shares of network-gear makers fell in Thursday morning trade, a day after a leading company forecast weak second quarter, raising concerns about the pace of growth in internet traffic.

Seagate Technology Plc reported sharply lower profit on Wednesday as sales of its computer hard drives and storage devices fell and it recorded restructuring costs as it gears up for a massive share buyback after the failure of a private equity takeover deal.

The S&P 500 was on track to post its worst day in about two months on Wednesday as disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo deflated hopes for strong bank earnings.

Stocks mostly fell on Wednesday as disappointing results from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo deflated hopes for strong bank earnings in the last quarter.

The number of unemployed people in the UK rose by 49,000 to 2.5 million during three months to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday.

A sharp drop in bond trading revenue pushed Citigroup Inc fourth-quarter profit far below expectations, highlighting Chief Executive Vikram Pandit's challenges in fully reviving the bank.

Citigroup Inc posted a $1.3 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday, as losses on bad loans fell, but the bank missed estimates on its earnings as it struggled with a slump in revenue.

Citigroup Inc posted a $1.3 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday, as losses on bad loans fell, but the bank missed estimates on its earnings as it struggled with a slump in investment banking revenue.

South African stocks fell on Monday, snapping a four-day advance, with paint company Freeworld Coatings sliding 4 percent after saying a proposed takeover bid by Japan's Kansai Paint was unfair to shareholders.

Stock index futures extended their fall on Monday, pulled lower by Apple Inc after the company's CEO Steve Jobs said the company's board had granted him leave to concentrate on his health.

Hasbro Inc reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter sales as demand for its toys slackened late in the holiday season but backed its forecast for earnings and revenue growth in 2011.