GLOBAL MARKETS

European stock index futures fell Friday, putting shares there firmly on course to post their biggest quarterly decline since the months following the collapse of Lehman Brothers three years ago.

Asian stocks fell Friday, extending the worst monthly performance since the most volatile days of the global financial crisis in October 2008, with Chinese shares racking up sharp losses.

Gold prices tanked 11 percent so far in September, shaking the confidence of some investors and spectators. “Gold is not a safe-haven asset” and “gold is no longer a one-way bet” are common exclaims.

Major markets around the world are in liquidation mode, meaning investors long risk-assets are still trying to sell out of their positions, Craig Ferguson, a currency hedge fund manager at Antipodean Capital Management in Melbourne, told Bloomberg TV.

When Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm, takes on the euro crisis and Greece, you know it's going to offer a fresh perspective.

New Zambian President Michael Sata fired his respected central bank governor on Thursday and his new mines minister floated plans to boost tax receipts from mining companies, rattling investors in Africa's biggest copper producer.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Wednesday are: Janus Capital Group, Complete Production Services, Federated Investors, Dice Holdings and Imperial Holdings. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Advanced Micro Devices, Great Plains Energy, Seadrill, Chesapeake Energy and Continental Resources.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Zhongpin, Dynamic Materials, ImmunoGen, NASDAQ OMX and Silicon Motion Technology. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Hanwha SolarOne Co, CNinsure, First Solar, Steven Madden and Central European Media Enterprises.

stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 up 0.9 to 1.2 percent.

The speculated release of the iPhone 5 smartphone by Apple (AAPL) will likely juice the shares of AT&T's (T) by attracting hundreds of thousands of younger adult subscribers to AT&T's stable. Those extra subscribers should also help T improve its network quicker -- something the company needs to do.

U.S. stocks are in a bear market, Mikio Kumada, global strategist at LGT Capital Management in Singapore, told Bloomberg TV.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke speech Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic 'Ideas for Tomorrow' Series:

Reebok FTC lawsuit settlement only most recent claim of deceptive advertising: a pictorial history

One may be tempted to think that a bailout from the European Central Bank (ECB) will send the euro higher against the U.S. dollar because it will calm Eurozone debt crisis fears.

Authorities have arrested four Dutch men in three countries in connection with an alleged $200 million Ponzi scheme linked to a firm called Quality Investments BV.

Caution ahead of an audit of Greece's finances drove major world stock markets lower on Wednesday, while prices of commodities like oil and copper fell.

Europe's never-ending debt saga has investors girding for volatile, unsteady currency markets for years to come.

Investor hopes for a bigger bailout fund for euro zone debtors gave way to worries about the details Wednesday, sending European shares lower and ending a three-session rally.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Tuesday are: OMNOVA Solutions, Jabil Circuit, Hewlett-Packard, Synnex Corp and Talisman Energy. The top after-market NYSE losers are: Walgreen, Commercial Metals, Ship Finance International, Ship Finance International and Standard Pacific Corp.

Despite the worsening European debt crisis, forex services firm Faros Trading recommends investors to go long the battered euro against the surging U.S. dollar.

Wall Street honchos laugh at the Occupy Wall Street protestors from their spots along the balcony of Cipriani Club Residences.

Reaction to the Icahn rumor may reflect the immense amount of investor frustration over a company that has rapidly lost its way.

The brunt of job cuts will likely occur in Europe and The United States.

Gold prices are plunging in September partly because struggling Eurozone sovereign states are dumping [it] in the open market, speculated Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies.

The long-beleaguered search engine company Yahoo! Inc. would probably be better off selling off pieces of itself rather than submit to a takeover in whole, given that the separate segments of the firm probably have more value than the sum of the individual parts. However, any such potential transaction won’t happen overnight.

More U.S. retailers looking for fresh markets are turning to Canada, lured by their northern neighbor's resilient economy, strong currency and the familiarity with their brands.

European government officials and financial institutions are starting to make dramatic steps needed to manage their way through a debt crisis that threatens to drag the world economy into recession.

Zimbabwe will soon probe foreign-owned firms to establish their level of compliance with a law requiring them to sell at least a 51 percent shareholding in their Zimbabwean operations to locals, an official said on Tuesday.

India's commodity exchanges are poised for steady growth over the next few years after annual turnover more than quintupled to $2.5 trillion since futures trading started in 2003, but political hurdles hinder more dramatic development.