CHINA

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Immersion, Sapient, Novatel Wireless, Orthovita, Marchex, Limelight Networks, Rubicon Technology, Mercer International, Hansen Natural, and XOMA.

Brent crude dipped toward $107 a barrel on Friday and U.S. crude fell below $97, extending losses from a record rout in the previous session that wiped as much as 10 percent from the price.

Telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent stuck to its annual targets after posting in-line sales in the first quarter, helped by booming demand in North America and strong sales of wireless equipment.

Brent crude rose 1.3 percent to more than $111 a barrel on Friday and U.S. crude climbed back above $100 as oil rebounded from a record rout in the previous session that wiped as much as 10 percent from the price.

China staked out areas of contention with the United States on Friday ahead of strategic talks in Washington next week, including the pace of yuan reform and concerns about U.S. debt levels, but Beijing also stressed the two sides' co-dependency.

China reiterated on Friday that it is not deliberately seeking a trade surplus with the United States, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said, days before talks with the United States.

Vale , the world's biggest producer of iron ore, posted a record profit in the first quarter as revenue more than doubled and the company booked a one-off gain from the sale of some aluminum assets.

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers, cutting back a bloated management bureaucracy he helped build, has kicked off a sweeping overhaul to revive the networking equipment maker's flagging fortunes.

In Hebei, China, a teenager named Lui Shi Ching, 16 years old, has carried his friend to school daily for the last 8 years. His friend Lu shao has a congenital disorder which makes it difficult for him to walk.

A tripling of profits by General Motors Co was marred by incentives to lift car sales, raising doubts about the automaker's ability to maintain momentum since emerging from bankruptcy.

Oil plunged more than 8 percent on Thursday, heading for the third biggest daily drop in dollar terms on record, as concerns about economic growth and monetary tightening spurred a sell-off in commodities.

Cisco Systems Inc CEO John Chambers, cutting back a bloated management bureaucracy he helped build, has kicked off a sweeping overhaul to revive the networking equipment maker's flagging fortunes.

China has found some U.S.-made passenger cars benefited from unfair subsidies, damaging its carmakers, although Beijing side-stepped a potential trade row with the United States by not hitting them with duties.

Cisco announced changes to its management structure.

The Made in the USA label may be poised for a comeback, a new study argues.

China has officially criticized U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration for the military operation that led to the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Oil plunged more than 8 percent on Thursday, heading for the third biggest daily drop in dollar terms on record, as concerns about economic growth and monetary tightening spurred a sell-off in commodities.

Oil plunged nearly 7 percent on Thursday, heading for the biggest daily drop in dollar terms since the 2008 financial crisis, as concerns about economic growth and monetary tightening clobbered commodities.

Shares of General Motors Co fell as much as 4.7 percent on Thursday as investor concerns over weak pricing at the No. 1 U.S. automaker outweighed a giant leap in quarterly net profit.

Faltering economic growth and edginess about the impact of costly oil fueled a fourth day of aggressive selling across commodities as Brent crude headed to its biggest weekly fall in a year while silver extended an historic slide.

General Motors Co is expected to report on Thursday first-quarter operating earnings more than double a year earlier, driven by a recovery in the U.S. market and strong sales in Asia.