UNITED STATES

Stocks face more turbulence that could send indexes spiraling through key levels next week as doubts about the pace of the global recovery persist and fears over Europe's sovereign debt woes rattle sentiment.

Regulators considering new rules for U.S. stock markets should take care not to assume that certain types of high-frequency trading are harmful, speakers at a conference on algorithmic trading said on Friday.

The U.S. unemployment rate surprisingly fell to a five-month low of 9.7 percent in January and factory payrolls grew for the first time since 2007, hinting at a labor market recovery even though the economy lost 20,000 jobs.

A bizarre campaign ad by Senate candidate Carly Fiorina featuring what has been dubbed a Demon Sheep has transcended California politics to become an Internet sensation, but analysts wonder if it was such a good idea.

E*Trade Financial Corp will cut trading fees for low-volume customers, the U.S. online brokers said on Friday, making its move in a pricing war that erupted among rivals in recent weeks.

Facebook is taking full control of display ads on the world's No. 1 social networking website, cutting short an exclusive deal that had allowed Microsoft Corp to manage part of that business.

Toyota Motor's President Akio Toyoda apologized on Friday in his first public appearance at a news conference in Nagoya for its recall crisis.

U.S. companies' sales are expected to rise for the first time since the third quarter of 2008, but it may be too soon for investors to cheer the turnaround as proof the economy is about to take off.

Toyota Motor Corp's president apologized on Friday for safety problems and said the automaker would bring in outside experts to review quality controls, a highly unusual action for a company that has epitomized world-beating industrial standards.

The H1N1 strain is the dominant form of influenza globally, but some seasonal strains are starting to emerge in China and Africa, the World Health Organization reported.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Friday awarded Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and other executives stock bonuses worth $9 million each, an increase from last year when they received no bonuses at all, but for Blankfein far below the $67.9 million he got in 2007.

A dispute over control of $370 million in assets traced to accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford is holding up disbursement of the funds, but the liquidators and the receiver in the case are in talks to settle the matter, liquidators for Stanford's Antigua bank said on Friday.

Stocks erased a midday drop to end slightly higher on Friday, closing out a volatile week punctuated by mixed signals from the labor market data and growing anxiety over fiscal problems in Europe.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Friday awarded chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and other executives a stock bonus worth almost $9 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission.

BAE Systems Plc, the largest European defense contractor, said on Friday it will pay a $400 million fine to the U.S. government and plead guilty to a criminal charge as part of a settlement to end a more than two year investigation.

After declining for most of the day on continued worries of contagion from Greece's sovereign debt and a disappointing nonfarm payrolls report, U.S. stocks staged a comeback around 2:00 pm to close higher, led by commodities firms.

Six major powers on Friday discussed efforts to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment program but China made clear it wants them to keep talking rather than impose new sanctions on Tehran.

(Corrects final paragraph to show Dow briefly slipped below 10,000 on Thursday, but didn't close there)

(Corrects paragraph 2 to show Dow didn't close below 10,000 on Thursday, but did slip briefly below that level)

The Nasdaq turned positive late in the session on Friday, while the Dow and the S&P pared losses to nearly flat as investors snapped up technology and materials stocks.

The unemployment rate surprisingly fell to a five-month low in January and factory payrolls grew for the first time since 2007, hinting at a labor market recovery even though the economy lost 20,000 jobs.