GLOBAL MARKETS

China holds a large amount of U.S. debt. Xinhua, the official press agency of China, issued a commentary on Aug. 6 titled After historic downgrade, U.S. must address its chronic debt problems. The commentary stated that the days when debt-ridden Uncle Sam could leisurely squander unlimited overseas borrowing seemed to be numbered because S&P slashed the country's AAA rating for the first time.

The U.S. stock market was obliterated last week. The S&P 500 Index dropped 92.9 points, or 7.2 percent, which was its worst performance since November 2008.

Market capitalization, also called market cap, means the total dollar market value of a company's all outstanding shares. It represents the aggregate value of a company or stock.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has lowered the long-term U.S. credit rating to AA+ from AAA, saying that in its opinion, a recently passed deficit cutting plan by the U.S. government fell short of the goal of stabilizing the government's medium-term debt dynamics.

U.S. Treasuries are officially no longer risk-free.

U.S. stocks ended a horrendous week with a volatile session that left many questions unanswered.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 Index closing below 1,200, as better than expected U.S. July jobs data and a deal Italy struck with the European Central Bank (ECB) were not enough to cheer investors.

The 4.78 percent plunge suffered by the S&P 500 index was its worst one-day drop since February 2009 and one of the worst losses (on a percentage basis) of the past 80 years.

U.S. consumer credit borrowing in June jumped to highest numbers since August 2007, the Federal Reserve announced today.

The Dow Jones endured several severe ups and downs on Friday after the announcement of a relatively positive jobs and unemployment rate reports.

U.S. stocks got a break on news that Italy has struck a deal with the European Central Bank (ECB) for the latter to buy Italian government bonds in the open market.

U.S. stocks rebounded Friday afternoon on news that the European Central Bank is ready to provide support to Italian and Spanish bonds if those countries commit to specific reforms.

U.S. stocks slumped on Friday as the all-important July jobs data failed to cheer investors.

Traders appear to be focusing on the European debt crisis, which is reaching emergency levels.

The company?s shares fell by as much as 14 percent in London trading at one point

Solid July job gains calmed U.S. markets on Friday, but Wall Street remained nervous among talk that the nation may be falling into a double-dip recession.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: MannKind, priceline.com, ASM International, Web.com Group, and Qiagen. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Imperial Sugar, MIPS Technologies, Hansen Medical, First Solar, and Tesla Motors.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Friday are: CF Industries Holdings, PG&E, Freeport-McMoRan Copper, Merck & Co, TECO Energy, First Solar, eBay, Nvidia, Halliburton and Regions Financial Corp.

FBR Capital Markets have upgraded shares of Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) to "outperform" from "market perform," saying that the company's focused enterprise product strategy and hand holding in the channel/sales reps are paying dividends in the field.

Markets remained jittery Friday even as Dow futures rose ahead of a jobs report that was slightly better than expected.

Overseas stocks are plunging following the devastating sell-off in the U.S. Thursday, ahead of a crucial July jobs report out of Washington.

U.S. stock index futures point to a lower opening on Friday as investors are cautious ahead of key U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls and unemployment data from the government.

The decision by Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS) and Misys plc (London: MSY) to abandon takeover discussions has sent the Misys share price into a tailspin, inevitably accompanied by a degree of unwind of risk-arbitrage positions, Jefferies said in a note to clients.

The U.S. stock market had a mini-meltdown on Thursday ahead of Friday's all-important Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs report as fears about the global economy slipping into another recession weighed on the sentiment.

British software firm Misys plc (London: MSY) said takeover discussions with Fidelity National Information Services Inc (FIS) have been terminated. Misys decided to reject FIS offer and withdraw from further discussions with FIS, as the offer materially undervalued the company.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: AMERCO, Shutterfly, priceline.com, Carrizo Oil & Gas, and Spreadtrum Communications. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: MIPS Technologies, Cogo Group, Rubicon Technology, Penson Worldwide, and TTM Technologies.

They are a rag-tag bunch, often working from home or tiny offices scattered round the world, from rural Texas to Beverly Hills and a suburb near Australia's Bondi Beach.

The U.S. and European markets got killed on Thursday.

Fears of a new recession caused the stock market to take a deep plunge on Thursday making it the worst day since the financial crisis in 2008. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 512.76 points, or 4.13 percent, closing at 11, 383.68.