UNITED STATES

U.S. envoy John Negroponte spoke to Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday and said moderate forces should work together to put the country back on a democratic path.

Package delivery company FedEx Corp cut its earnings forecast for the current quarter on Friday, citing higher fuel prices and weaker demand for ground shipments too small to fill a truck.

Starbucks Corp shares fell nearly 7 percent on Friday to their lowest in more than 4 years, sparked by the coffee shop chain's admission that customer traffic slowed for the first quarter in its history.The seller of premium coffee, which coaxed U.S. consumers into drinking stronger, more expensive coffee, said U.S. traffic at its established locations fell 1 percent in the quarter as economic worries and 2 percent price rises spooked consumers.

Hedge fund Pardus Capital Management LP, lobbying for a merger between Delta Air Lines Inc and UAL Corp, plans to pitch its proposal to other investors on Friday, sources close to the situation told Reuters.

Let the holiday shopping madness begin ... please? That is the silent plea coming from U.S. retailers, which are gearing up for Black Friday, the chaotic and competitive day after Thanksgiving (November 22) when stores offer eye-popping, limited-time deals to kick off the holiday shopping season.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Friday said a strong dollar is in the nation’s industry, but noted that parts of the subprime housing market will likely worsen over the next few months.

Hedge fund Pardus Capital Management LP, lobbying for a merger between Delta Air Lines Inc and UAL Corp, plans to pitch its proposal to other investors on Friday, sources close to the situation told Reuters.

U.S. stocks on Friday fell for a third day following lowered earnings forecasts by Starbucks Corp and FedEx Corp.,making investors uneasy about the outlook for consumer spending.

Mergers and acquisitions by Indian firms in Europe and the United States are expected to double in three years, a survey said on Friday.

Gold regained strength on Friday as bargain hunters and investors resurfaced to take advantage of the metal's sharp drop the previous day.

Fears that the credit crisis could deepen rattled global stock investors on Friday and boosted demand for traditionally less risky assets.

The yen strengthened on Friday as jittery investors took cues from falling stock markets to continue a move out of relatively risky carry trades funded by cheap borrowing in the Japanese currency.

Stock index futures on Friday signaled a bounce-back after recent losses, while investor worries about weakening consumer spending and credit market losses could limit gains.

Oil rose above $94 a barrel on Friday, rebounding from losses the previous session after a surprise build in weekly U.S. crude stocks.

U.S. sales of Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 (PS3) more than doubled in the weeks following a price cut and the launch of a lower-priced version, the company said on Friday, in a sign of changing fortunes for the game console.

Profits from opium cultivation are fuelling the insurgency in Afghanistan, the United Nations said on Friday, in a new call on NATO to crack down on the country's burgeoning drugs trade.

The malls are full, the cars are fast, the fashions are sharp -- conspicuous consumption is king as Saudis enjoy the benefits of oil at almost $100 a barrel.

As banks work to clean up some of the subprime mortgage mess, they are finding new obstacles in unraveling the massive paper trail used to pool individual loans into mortgage-backed securities.

An unusual provision in Merck & Co Inc's settlement agreement concerning the painkiller Vioxx means many plaintiffs may have little choice but to accept the deal, the Wall Street Journal said Friday in its online edition.

Iran called on its Western foes on Friday to apologize to the Islamic Republic after the release of a U.N. nuclear agency report which Tehran said showed it had been telling the truth about its atomic plans, according to state media.

Tests of a new technology for capturing greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants have achieved 95 percent cuts in a step towards new ways to fight climate change, a Norwegian company said on Friday.