ECONOMY & MARKETS

In the September 2011 market turmoil, commodities prices are getting hammered. Even gold, which earlier in the year seemed to decouple from everything else and rise higher and higher, has fallen.

Still burdened by an ongoing phone-hacking scandal at its British subsidiaries, Rupert Murdoch's company is aggressively buying back shares in an effort to buttress its share price. Assuming the shares remain at about $17, one analyst estimates News Corp. will have repurchased almost $2.2 billion in shares by as early as Nov. 7.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is on track to record a weekly decline of more than 800 points -- its worst weekly swoon in two years. But the important question for the typical investor is, 'Where's the Dow likely to head in the next six months?'

When legendary investor Jim Rogers was asked if a recession is coming soon, he said recessions come “because, because, because.”

Republicans in the House of Representatives regrouped Friday to approve a must-pass spending bill, but the prospect of a government shutdown loomed as Democrats said it would go nowhere in the Senate.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: SIGA Technologies, Motricity, American Superconductor, Clean Energy Fuels, and Vodafone Group. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Pan American Silver, DryShips, Randgold Resources, TriQuint Semiconductor, and ARM Holdings.

European shares fell on Friday after a fresh pledge of support from leading global economies to shore up the financial sector failed to placate markets, leaving them on course for a fifth straight month of losses.

Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) named Meg Whitman as president and chief executive officer, while Ray Lane has moved from non-executive chairman to executive chairman of the board.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday after steep declines the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 up by between 0.6 and 0.8 percent.

European shares were poised to claw their way off 26-month lows on Friday, but Asian stocks slid on fears of renewed recession in the developed world and as a pledge from the G20 to preserve financial stability left investors largely unimpressed.

The world's major economies on Thursday pledged to prevent Europe's debt crisis from undermining banks and financial markets, and said the euro zone's rescue fund could be bolstered.

Two significant speeches from senior Reserve Bank officials in the past day or so have added to the arguments and view the central bank has about the current state and direction of the Australian economy, which appeared in this week's minutes of the September 6 RBA board meeting.

Gold is not a safe-haven asset, contrary to what some gold bugs believe. Perhaps the clearest recent evidence of is its huge declines since early September in response to the European debt crisis and the struggling U.S. economy.

Hedge fund industry veteran Barton Biggs warned of a global double-dip recession and a 20 percent market drop if the governments do not fix the problem.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted in Thursday trading, dropping more than 3 percent at certain times after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke introduced Operation Twist to jump-start the slumping economy.

South Africa's rand briefly hit a new 26-month low against the dollar on Thursday, and bonds trimmed losses, after a central bank statement was largely viewed as dovish but the currency stabilised in late trade after two days of hefty losses.

South Africa's Reserve Bank left its repo rate unchanged on Thursday and struck a dovish note as it balanced its concerns for domestic economic growth with an expected increase in inflation stemming from a sharply weaker rand.

A global banking crisis will erupt unless Europe properly deals with Greece's debt problems, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday, notably hardening his criticism of European authorities.

The U.S. stock market rallied from last July until the end of April this year. It stalled from May to mid-July, after which it began to plunge.

The company said that about 75 percent of the acquisition will be financed by debt, with the remaining facilitated by stock issuance (amounting to $4.6-billion in new shares).

China's manufacturing sector contracted for a third consecutive month in September while a measure of inflation picked up, suggesting the world's No.2 economy may not be able to provide much of a counterweight to flagging U.S. and European growth.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Netflix, Yahoo!, and Vical. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Logitech International, Westport Innovations, Melco Crown Entertainment, Travelzoo, JDS Uniphase, and SodaStream International.

Commodities skidded on Thursday as investors scrambled to liquidate after a U.S. Federal Reserve warning, coupled with signs of slower growth in China and Europe, stoked worries about slowing demand for fuels and metals.

Jefferies reiterated its positive stance on Digital China Holdings Ltd. as the underlying fundamentals of the company's business look strong particularly in the context of an uncertain macro environment.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Herman Miller, AuthenTec, MCG Capital, Star Scientific, and Integrated Electrical Services. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Rex Energy, Digital River, Stratasys, Casey's General Stores, and ViaSat.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures down between 1.4 to 1.8 percent at 0923 GMT.

World stocks hit a fresh one-year low on Thursday and investors poured money into safer currencies and government bonds after the Federal Reserve gave a grim outlook for the U.S. economy and China's manufacturing slowed.

After the Federal Reserve announced its Operation Twist, bank stocks plunged.

During his brief stay at HP, Apotheker decided to dramatically shift the company’s strategy.