UNITED STATES

Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) units rose 13 percent in their first day of trading on Friday, as the first major U.S. private-equity firm went public and minted billions of dollars of new wealth for its founders.

Stocks tumbled on Friday, wrapping up their worst week since a global sell-off in February amid fears that trouble at two Bear Stearns hedge funds may signal worse problems lie ahead for credit markets.

Most major global equity indexes fell and safe-haven Treasuries rose on Friday as concerns lingered before the weekend that troubles in U.S. credit markets might spread.

Furniture retailer Pier 1 Imports, Inc. reported a wider than expected fiscal first quarter loss Thursday. It also said it may need to close down more stores than originally planned.

Media companies fear that video recording software will facilitate piracy and rob them of lucrative advertising revenue just as they are making more TV shows, movies and video available online.

Researchers at a U.S. company trying to push the margins of stem cell research said on Friday they had grown human embryonic stem cells using a non-controversial method that did not harm the embryos.

Cablevision Systems Corp. said on Thursday it will have the capability to carry more than 500 channels of high definition television programming by year-end as competition mounts from satellite TV and telephone operators.

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said on Thursday it has suspended plans to sell Manhunt 2 after the title was slapped with restrictive ratings for its extreme violence.

Key trade representatives from the U.S. , EU Brazil, and India could resume talks.

Archer Daniels Midland Co., the largest U.S. ethanol producer, is considering a purchase of Brazil's Cosan SA as ADM prepares to enter Brazil's sugarcane ethanol business, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Friday.

Zimbabwe's currency plunged to new depths on Friday as the U.S. ambassador to Harare predicted galloping inflation will force President Robert Mugabe from office before the end of the year.

Jones Apparel Group Inc. is near a deal to sell the Barneys New York high-end clothing chain for $825 million to Dubai's private equity firm Istithmar, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Blackstone Group LP priced its initial public offering at the top end of the range on Thursday, even as lawmakers pushed for its delay, raising $4.13 billion in the largest U.S. IPO since 2002.

Blackstone Group LP's (NYSE: BX) initial public offering raised billions of dollars for its employees, but the private equity firm's shares might have performed even better if it weren't for the potential tax headaches, analysts said on Friday.

If Boeing Co. has been rocked by this week's stack of new plane deals announced by rival Airbus, it certainly isn't showing it.

The London Stock Exchange's offer for Borsa Italiana is worth about 1.6 billion euros ($2.14 billion), sources close to the situation said on Friday, a shade above a reported rival bid from NYSE Euronext and giving Borsa heavy board representation.

Despite slow sales in the past four years, Americans believe their homes are worth more now than a year ago.

U.S. officials said India and Brazil were to blame for the breakdown on Thursday of trade talks that some were billing as a final chance to spur the Doha round toward completion.

Oil jumped more than a dollar to top $71 a barrel on Friday on fears a strike by Nigerian unions could intensify and disrupt shipments from the world's eighth-largest exporter.

A sustained push above 5 percent on the yield of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note could roil markets, deepen housing woes and slow the U.S. economy.

U.S. farmers need rain to help them cash in on demand for ethanol, the alternative fuel made from corn.