GLOBAL MARKETS

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: Big Lots, Tyco International, Tesoro, Ford Motor, Oracle, Expedia, Cephalon, Dean Foods and Kraft Foods.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Expedia, MannKind, Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, ARM Holdings, JA Solar Holdings, Palomar Medical Technologies, LM Ericsson Telephone, Motricity, and Whole Foods Market.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Orthovita, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Panera Bread, Wright Medical Group, Body Central, JDS Uniphase, Akamai Technologies, Microsoft, Netflix, and Shire.

Gold prices eased a touch on Friday, pressured by gains in the dollar and softer investment demand for the metal after a raft of well-received economic data boosted interest in other assets.

It is official. Nokia will be adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as its new smartphone operating system (OS), a move that could be the beginning of a new era for the Finnish mobile giant.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: Chipotle Mexican, Cambrex, Emulex, Liz Claiborne and Nexen. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Och-Ziff Capital Management, Leapfrog Enterprises, Regal Entertainment, Trueblue and Ingram Micro.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Orthovita, Falconstor Software, Panera Bread, Neurocrine Biosciences, and Stamps.com. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Expedia, Blue Nile, Hoku, MannKind, and Optimer Pharmaceuticals.

Following is the full text of an open letter published by Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Soaring oil prices will help France's Total (TOTF.PA) produce bumper annual profits on Friday, when investors hope for details on how much Europe's third-largest oil group will invest to revive output.

Stocks finished narrowly mixed, amidst much speculation that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would voluntary resign from his office. (He later announced that will stay on until September elections).

On Thursday, yields on the Portuguese 10-year sovereign debt reached an all-time euro-era high of 7.6 percent.

World stock markets fell hard on Thursday, with Hong Kong shares losing 2% and London's FTSE100 dropping 0.9% by lunchtime. Indian stock markets have lost more than $20 million per minute so far in 2011, the Economic Times reports, with billionaire Anil Ambani blaming vicious and illegal rumors.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday despite better-than-expected jobs data with tech stocks particularly remaining weak as disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment

Ford Motor Co sued Ferrari for trademark infringement after the Italian sports care maker named its 2011 Formula 1 racing car the F150.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Thursday despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data as disappointing earnings from Cisco Systems weighed on the sentiment.

Gold eased below $1,360 an ounce in Europe on Thursday as the rising dollar pressured prices, and with Asian buying still light after the Lunar New Year holidays.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Sequenom, Whole Foods Market, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Clearwire, and Xenoport. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Idenix Pharmaceuticals, EZchip Semiconductor, Amkor Technology, TriQuint Semiconductor, Akamai Technologies, and Cisco Systems.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Whole Foods, Sprint Nextel, FMC Technologies, Akamai Technologies, Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse, Lennar Corp and PepsiCo.

Robert W. Baird upgraded its rating on shares of Diodes Inc. (NASDAQ: DIOD) to outperform from neutral on attractive valuation. The brokerage raised its price target on shares of the supplier of components to chipmakers to $32 from $20.

In order to phase India into the global Eurofighter Typhoon program as a significant manufacturing and engineering partner, the Eurofighter partners will promote strategic relationship between India and Europe.

Social network giant, Facebook, has confirmed its plans on Tuesday to move its headquarters to Sun Microsystems' former campus in Menlo Park, California.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Thursday are: Cisco Systems, Allstate Corp, Lions Gate Entertainment, PepsiCo, Sprint Nextel, Philip Morris International and Wynn Resorts.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Wednesday are: Encana Corp, EnerSys, Lions Gate Entertainment, FXCM and Goodyear Tire & Rubber. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Terex, LIN TV, Allstate, China Green Agriculture and Cypress Sharpridge Investments.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Select Comfort, Whole Foods Market, 1-800-Flowers.com, SuccessFactors, and LeCroy. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Pacer International, TriQuint Semiconductor, Amkor Technology, and Akamai Technologies.

U.S. stocks finished narrowly mixed after Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that unemployment may remain at elevated level for several years, although he downplayed inflation risks.

The New York Stock Exchange (which also owns Euronext) and Germany’s Deutsche Borse have said they are in advanced talks to merge in a transaction that would result in the biggest stock exchange in the world valued at $24-billion.

South Africa's rand crept higher against the dollar on Wednesday, partly aided by a firmer price for gold, but remains one of the worst emerging market performers so far this year, as the central bank continues to accumulate foreign reserves.

Resource-rich African governments risk unrest if they hold back the benefits of soaring global commodity prices from their own people, delegates to a major mining conference were told on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks declined in early trade on Wednesday as investors preferred to take profits after the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its highest level since June 2008 on Tuesday.