UNITED STATES

Greece's prime minister announced plans on Friday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week as signs grow that diplomatic efforts are under way to resolve his country's debt crisis.

Bank of America Corp's investment banking chief Thomas Montag was the company's highest paid executive in 2009, after the company assumed his contract as part of its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, according to the company's proxy filing on Friday.

New allegations that Toyota withheld emails and electronic records in previous passenger injury cases are causing a top lawmaker to question the car maker's response to complaints of unintended acceleration in its vehicles.

Citigroup Inc's board is reshuffling, with former AT&T and Xerox executives Michael Armstrong and Anne Mulcahy stepping down and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo in line to join.

Two top Fed officials on Friday offered divergent signals on interest rates, with one arguing they should remain near zero for at least six months and another wishing to raise them sooner rather than later.

The top senator on antitrust matters has written to NBC to express concern that some of its Internet coverage of the Winter Olympics is limited to pay television subscribers.

When Barack Obama merely mentioned how much he liked his BlackBerry, the unofficial endorsement was said to be worth as much as $50 million. While not in the same stratosphere, a small comic book startup is using caricatures of the president, First Lady Michelle Obama and other big names to drive up sales.

In the last trading session of February, the stock market drifted higher for close with a modest gain as investors digested a revision of the fourth quarter U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report.

Stocks rose on Friday, capping their best monthly advance since November as data showed the economy grew a tad better than expected in the fourth quarter.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday she was encouraged by signs that North Korea may be getting ready to return to stalled talks on its nuclear program.

The economy grew a touch more than initially thought in the fourth quarter, but a surprise drop in January home sales to a seven-month low and weaker consumer sentiment underscored the headwinds for the recovery.

New York Governor David Paterson withdrew on Friday from the state governor's race, battered by questions of impropriety for his role in an assault case involving one of his top aides.

Google, the US search giant, unveiled a new way to filter search results based on a user's location.

The U.S. stock market edged up Friday on mixed economic data. The strength of the energy and health care sectors helped lift the broad market.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Friday an erratic recovery dictates low rates for at least six months, while prominent economists said unsettled U.S. financial conditions are more of a drag on the economy than generally believed.

American International Group Inc reported a quarterly loss of $8.9 billion, hurt by loss reserves and efforts to repay the U.S. government, as it struggles to find its feet more than a year after its $182.3 billion rescue.

Stocks looked set to make their best monthly advance since November on Friday in a seesaw session as a drop in the U.S. dollar offset economic reports that came in mostly weaker than expected.

Citigroup Inc's board is reshuffling, with former AT&T and Xerox executives Michael Armstrong and Anne Mulcahy stepping down and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo in line to join.

Oil jumped 2 percent to near $80 a barrel on Friday as an upward revision in U.S. gross domestic product for the fourth quarter helped revive lackluster sentiment.

Sprint Nextel Corp started offering a 50 percent discount on Palm Inc's Pixi phone on the same day the handset maker cut its revenue target, raising profitability concerns.

Shares Rosetta Stone Inc surged as much as 32 percent Friday, a day after the language-training software maker posted a strong quarterly profit, as investors cheered the solid growth in its international business and the push toward a recurring-revenue model.