ECONOMY & MARKETS

U.S. consumer credit expanded in March at the fastest pace since late 2001, boosted by a rebound in credit-card use, and higher student and car loans, data from the Federal Reserve showed Monday.

The Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents the top U.S. chipmakers, lauded bipartisan approval in the U.S. Congress to boost funding for both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The debate over austerity versus growth is a false choice for policymakers, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday.

3i Group plc (London: III) the largest listed UK private equity company, is in talks with Spain's Ferrovial to sell its Enterprise maintenance and cleaning company, the Financial Times reported.

Analysts at Citigroup are slashing their estimates regarding just how much mining companies globally will spend this year, suggesting the industry is headed for a substantial slowdown, the Financial Times is reporting.

Spain, the euro zone's fourth-largest economy, said Monday industrial output decrease by 7.5 percent in March compared to the prior year, following sharp unemployment and shrinking gross domestic product, according to official data.

Germany's Economics and Technology Ministry reported Monday factory orders rose in March, spurred primarily by businesses looking away from the euro zone and to the United States and emerging markets. Orders rose 2.2 percent from February, spurred by a 4.8 percent growth in export orders from outside the currency zone.

British bank Barclays PLC (London: BARC) is making a grand entrance into the U.S. retail banking space, debuting an online savings account this week that pays substantially more in interest to accountholders than its closest competitors.

In an interim relief to the foreign investors, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said that the government would delay the implementation of the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) by one year.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday as elections in France and Greece stirred up new uncertainties about how the region will tackle its ongoing debt crisis.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade Monday are: GTSI Corp, Tata Motors, Frontier Communications, Yahoo, National Bank of Greece, Cognizant Technology Solutions, American International Group, Southern Community Financial, Huntsman Corp. and Genworth Financial Corp.

Futures on major US stock indices point to a lower opening Monday after key elections in Europe showed that voters rejected pro-austerity governments.

Asian stock markets declined Monday after election results from Greece and France fueled concerns about Europe reviving the debt crisis.

Asian stock markets plunged Monday as weaker-than-expected US employment report and election results from Europe weighed on investor sentiment.

Oil prices fell Monday to add to the sharp decline in the previous session as French and Greek election results raised doubts about those countries' commitment to the austerity measures to sort out Eurozone debt crisis.

Highlighting the economic data this week -- May 7-11 -- are the March trade-balance figures to be released Thursday. Economists expect the U.S. trade deficit to widen after its sharp narrowing in February.

The sharp decline in the Indian rupee coupled with strong demand for the dollar forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene and announce measures to ease the pressure on of the rupee.

Disappointing jobs growth in the U.S., together with shrinking manufacturing and services activity in the euro zone, had equities and commodities in retreat and bond yields down. News this weekend isn't likely to calm jitters, with elections in both Greece and France, which may get its first new socialist president since 1981.

Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network, has decided to pitch its initial public offering of 337.4 million shares at $35 apiece, which could raise as much as $13.6 billion, assuming over-allotment options.

European stocks plunged Friday on fears a victory by the Socialist candidate in France's presidential election could upend prospects of setting the continent's second-largest economy on a sound footing.

Output for the eurozone manufacturing and services sectors shrank in April more than initially reported, according to Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data released Friday by Markit, the London firm that publishes a monthly independent surveys that gauges economic activity worldwide. Business conditions deteriorated at a faster rate towards the end of the month, said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, explaining the downward revision from preliminary estimates released April 23....

The U.S. economy added far fewer jobs than expected in April, while the unemployment rate edged down as more people gave up hope of finding jobs, reinforcing the fear that the job market recovery could be losing steam.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a higher opening ahead of key U.S. monthly nonfarm payrolls and unemployment data from the government.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade Friday are: DigitalGlobe Inc, Linkedin Corporation, Veolia Environnement, Deutsche Bank, The Dow Chemical Company, Northstar Realty Finance Corp and Seadrill Ltd American International Group Inc.

Asian markets were down Friday as more negative outlook by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and weaker-than-expected US Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing report weighed on investor sentiments.

Hong Kong's Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd (0016.HK) said Friday that its former chairman Walter Kwok was arrested Thursday night by the Independent Commission Against Corruption in connection with corruption charges.

The top aftermarket NYSE gainers Thursday were: Dolby Laboratories, Heckmann Corp, Leapfrog Enterprises, Cincinnati Bell, LinkedIn Corp and Active Network. The top aftermarket NYSE losers were: TAL International Group, Proto Labs, Northstar Realty Finance, InvenSense and Assisted Living Concepts Inc.

Asian stock markets declined Friday as weaker-than-expected data on the U.S. services sector and disappointing April retail sales fueled concerns that the recovery in the world's largest economy is slowing.

French bank BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR) reported Friday 9.6 percent rise in profits in the first quarter from a year ago, boosted by the sale of more than half of its stake in real estate firm Klepierre.