UNITED STATES

Leap Wireless International Inc said on Friday that its chief financial officer had resigned as the company continues to review an unsolicited takeover bid from MetroPCS Communications Inc for about $5.4 billion in stock.

Shares in HSBC Holdings nudged higher early on Friday after U.S. activist investor Knight Vinke Asset Management made acall for Europe's biggest bank to review its strategy.

Home builder Beazer Homes USA Inc said on Friday it received purported default notices related to some senior notes from the bank that serves as trustee for the notes, sending shares down as much as 15 percent.

The U.S. Congress is looking into Mattel Inc's procedures for alerting federal regulators about hazardous toys, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday.

Advantage Partners is closer to winning regulator's approval for its $2.5 billion acquisition of regional lender Tokyo Star Bank Ltd after several breakthroughs in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Thursday it will fire another 850 workers, or about 3 percent of its work force, as it scales back its mortgage lending efforts globally.

The commercial paper market has shrunk 13 percent in the past month as U.S. companies struggle to raise short-term capital, according to data released on Thursday.

Auto parts maker Delphi Corp said it would file a reorganization plan on Thursday that lays out a definitive agreement with former parent General Motors Corp and a path to exiting bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The dollar fell to a one-month low on Thursday as rising mortgage delinquencies and ongoing credit concerns stoked fear of slower U.S. economic growth ahead of a keenly awaited employment report.

Oil rose slightly on Thursday as profit-taking cut into an earlier rally driven by rising tensions between Syria and Israel and a drop in U.S. inventories.

U.S. stocks and Treasury bond prices fell on Thursday after a stronger-than-expected reading of the U.S. services sector and a lower jobless claims number suggested the U.S. economy may not warrant a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut.

European Central Bank kept options open on a future rate move on Thursday, stressing his anti-inflation commitment but saying volatile markets meant the ECB needed more time to think.

Asia-Pacific ministers agreed on Thursday to accelerate global free-trade talks, saying that negotiations were at a crucial and probably final phase.

Twenty-one years after Chernobyl, the industry says nuclear power is clean, safe energy alternative.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Thursday that Beijing took product safety very seriously, as Asia Pacific ministers agreed to set up a food safety taskforce to ensure the health and safety of the region's population.

Leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit appeared deadlocked on Thursday over what their Sydney Declaration on climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions should say.

Turmoil in the credit markets will take a toll on the U.S. economy but the full impact will not be clear for another two or three months, William Rhodes, senior vice chairman of Citigroup Inc, said on Thursday.

Seven investment vehicles run by Citigroup controlling roughly $100 billion of assets said on Thursday the credit quality of their portfolios remained very strong and they had succeeded in funding themselves in August.

The European Commission has taken the unusual step of sending questionnaires to Google customers before the company officially seeks permission to take over a rival, two business sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Movie-on-demand service Vudu, which launched on Wednesday, aims to lure customers from video rental shops and digital cable television with over 5,000 movies from major and independent studios ready to download.

Major retailers, led by discounters Wal-Mart Stores and Target Corp, turned in better-than-expected August sales on Thursday, as consumers went back-to-school shopping despite higher gas prices and the nation's housing meltdown.