ECONOMY & MARKETS

Gold touched a two-month low in Europe on Friday, pressured by a firmer appetite for assets seen as higher risk on expectations the economic recovery was gaining traction, but a retreat in the dollar prevented a steeper drop.

Shares of Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) suffered a brief sell-off yesterday afternoon when it was revealed that renowned billionaire investor Warren Buffett was resigning from the company’s board after three decades of service.

US stocks advanced in early trade on Friday as upbeat quarterly results from General Electric and Google and strong German IFO business sentiment data boosted investor sentiment.

As the market will be concerned in the near-term with the management shuffle, an analyst at Jefferies hinted at a possibility that Eric Schmidt could become the Chief Executive of Apple.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Danvers Bancorp, Drugstore.com, Cytori Therapeutics, Glu Mobile, and Micron Technology. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Acorda Therapeutics, VIVUS, Synaptics, MannKind, and Biogen Idec.

Singapore Exchange will start operating the world's fastest trading engine on August 15 that can handle 1 million order book changes per second per partition, said a media report.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: General Electric, Google, Micron Technology, Sara Lee, American International Group, Schlumberger and Biogen Idec.

Ambulatory surgery centers operator NovaMed Inc. (NOVA) said it agreed to go private and be acquired by an affiliate of Surgery Center Holdings, Inc. for $13.25 a share in cash.

The Japanese cabinet office said on Friday the economy is showing signs of growth momentum and that the exports sector has been helped by China's growth and strong recovery in the U.S.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a higher opening on Friday with futures on the S&P 500 up 0.15 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.11 percent and Nasdaq100 futures up 0.15 percent.

GE reported 52 percent growth in its quarterly profit that blew past estimates on growth in Technology Infrastructure and NBC Universal Businesses and lower costs

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Friday are: General Electric, Bank of America, Schlumberger, BB&T, Air Products and SunTrust Banks.

The companies that reported earnings after the markets close on Thursday are: Google, AMD, Capital One, International Game Technology, Wipro, Consolidated Edison, Maxim Integrated, Flextronics, Intuitive Surgical, Polycom...

New GDP figures at purchasing power parity (PPP) seem to suggest that China may have already overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest economy.

FBR Capital Markets lowered its 2011 profit view of Advanced Micro Devices, after the company ousted its Chief Executive Dirk Meyer.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Friday are: Bank of America, Advanced Micro Devices, Google, General Electric, Intuitive Surgical, Schlumberger, International Game Technology, Emulex and Capital One Financial.

Business confidence in Germany continued to improve further in January, posting a gain for an eighth consecutive month.

UK retail sales slid 0.8 per cent in December as food, petrol and clothing sales remained under pressure and the adverse effects of the snow dented high street spending.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: Warner Music Group, American Reprographics, GMX Resources, Energy Transfer Partners and Aspen Insurance Holdings. The top after-market NYSE losers on Thursday are: International Game Technology, Emulex, Medley Capital, Jones Apparel and Kinross Gold.

The Irish Times reported on Friday EU finance ministers have opened tentative talks on the restructuring of Greek sovereign debt but analysts have pointed out that the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) will not be enough to take Greece through a successful debt restructuring.

Close on the heels of a China central bank adviser hinting at an imminent rate hike, a state-controlled newspaper has said more rate hike is on the cards, probably as early as in February, confirming the dominant view that Beijing will pull out all the stops to address what is becoming a serious political problem.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Danvers Bancorp, Intuitive Surgical, Clinical Data, Polycom, SinoTech Energy, and Google. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Morgans Hotel Group, Seattle Genetics, Matrixx Initiatives, Synaptics, and DealerTrack Holdings.

India's food inflation eased for the second straight week due to lower fruit and vegetable prices, data showed on Thursday, but an acceleration in headline inflation in December is likely to put pressure on the central bank to raise rates at a policy review next week.

Stocks closed modestly lower, but well above intra-day lows, as the tech sector incurred the heaviest losses on fears of Chinese interest rate hikes.

Reports that some financial institutions have started to exit their gold positions have been circulating this week, says French bank and London bullion dealer Natixis in its latest commodity analysis. Physically-backed ETF trust funds shrank almost 1% this week on Natixis' data - the sharpest weekly drop since we started keeping records in 2008.

Bill Draper speaks to IBTimes about his views on venture capital investments.

Plans for a delayed 300 MW wind farm in Kenya can now proceed after lenders agreed to rely on the government's assurance that it backed the plan, instead of proper guarantees, the chairman of the project said.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday led by losses in the technology sector and on worries that China's rapid growth may lead to more aggressive measures to tackle inflation.

Mauritius private equity group Ciel Capital plans to venture into Kenya, east Africa's biggest economy, in the first half and is in talks with key players in various sectors, a senior partner said.