Cyber activists striking at companies seen as enemies of WikiLeaks tried to block the website of online payment firm Moneybookers on Friday but denied their campaign was intended to damage economic activity.
Wall Street was set for a slightly higher open on Friday following encouraging data out of China and as a two-year high in the S&P 500 had investors betting on a year-end rally.
Cyber activists striking at companies seen as enemies of WikiLeaks sought to block the website of online payment firm Moneybookers on Friday but denied their campaign was intended to damage economic activity.
China's central bank on Friday said it was raising lenders' required reserves by 50 basis points, effective Dec 20, its sixth increase this year.
European central bankers told euro zone governments on Friday not to count on the ECB to solve the single currency bloc's debt crisis alone as the leaders of Germany and France met to plot strategy before a key EU summit.
One of China's largest social networking companies, Oak Pacific Interactive, has hired investment banks for an initial public offering in the United States in the first half of next year, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.
WikiLeaks said on Friday it had no links to cyber attacks on global companies seen as enemies of the website and neither supported nor condemned the online campaign.
World stocks edged higher on Friday as investors grew more confident about the prospect for economic recovery following robust U.S. and Chinese data while Treasuries stabilized after a sell-off earlier this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rise 0.1 to 0.3 percent, pointing to a firmer start on Wall Street on Friday.
Chinese imports and exports jumped in November, bank lending topped forecasts and property investment powered ahead, a series of numbers that could clear the way for the central bank to raise interest rates as soon as this weekend.
Japanese stocks fell on Friday after a rise to a seven-month high earlier in the day prompted profit taking, although they outperformed the rest of Asia this week, while U.S. Treasuries steadied on the view yields had risen too high, too quickly.
A strong turnout by shoppers for Black Friday boosted U.S. video game sales 8 percent last month, marking the strongest November on record, but sales for the whole year are likely to be flat at best, according to retail research firm NPD Group.
Japanese stocks slipped from a seven-month high on Friday on profit taking, though were poised to outperform the rest of Asia this week, while U.S. Treasuries were steady on the view yields had risen too high, too quickly.
China's imports and exports were much stronger than expected in November, robust numbers that could clear the way for the central bank to raise interest rates as soon as this weekend.
A group of former WikiLeaks collaborators who quit the project are to launch a new campaigning site next week to protest against its founder, a Swedish newspaper said on Thursday.
A plan to give wireless networks more flexibility than their landline counterparts in proposed Internet rules is being questioned by Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn.
Short interest slipped on the New York Stock Exchange but was little changed on the Nasdaq in late November, two weeks before a sharp rally for stocks, according to data released by the exchanges on Thursday.
Four companies will join the benchmark S&P 500 index after the closing bell on December 17, S&P said in a statement on Thursday.
Foreign central banks' overall holdings of marketable securities at the Federal Reserve fell in the latest week, data from the U.S. central bank showed on Thursday.
Citigroup Inc appointed on Thursday U.S. president Barack Obama's former budget director as a global banking vice chairman.
Stocks edged up on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a two-year high, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.
Outside the US and UK - where today's no change decision from the Bank of England left interest rates near 33-year lows beneath inflation - emerging economies are also flirting with sub-zero real rates of interest, Japanese investment bank Nomura's London office notes.
Ford Motor Co plans to add 1,800 autoworker jobs and invest $600 million to overhaul its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, which will make the next generation of its Escape small SUV.
U.S. stocks edged up on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a two-year high, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.
Manny Gomez created a shopping list on Amazon.com just to keep track of some auto parts he wanted to buy. But as the holidays approached, he thought it wouldn't hurt to share the list with family and friends.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay voiced concern on Thursday at reports of pressure being exerted on private companies to halt financial or Internet services for WikiLeaks.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended slightly higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hovering around two-year highs, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year.
Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of cyber activists who targeted Visa and other Internet payment sites that sought to block the WikiLeaks website after its release of U.S. diplomatic cables.
Manny Gomez created a shopping list on Amazon.com just to keep track of some auto parts he wanted to buy. But as the holidays approached, he thought it wouldn't hurt to share the list with family and friends.
Ford Motor Co will invest $600 million to overhaul a Kentucky plant to make the next generation of its Escape small SUV, in a sign of the gradual recovery for the U.S. auto industry from its near collapse in 2009.
