IBT Staff Reporter

Three unions representing workers at AMR Corp's American Airlines would support a merger with US Airways Group Inc, calling it the best strategy and fastest option to complete a restructuring at bankrupt AMR.

Stocks were poised for a higher open, putting the S&P 500 on track to snap a 2-day drop, after better-than-expected results from Microsoft and General Electric Co propelled what has been a solid earnings season to date.

Stocks were poised for a higher open, putting the S&P 500 on track to snap a 2-day drop, after better-than-expected results from Microsoft and General Electric Co propelled what has been a solid earnings season to date.

McDonald's Corp reported higher quarterly profit on Friday, paced by strong sales at established restaurants in the United States and Europe.

Nokia lost a court case on Friday after a regional court in Mannheim, Germany, found the Finnish mobile phone company had violated patents belonging to German patent firm IPCom.

Major emerging powers stood ready on Friday to pledge money to bolster the International Monetary Fund's crisis-fighting war chest, though Brazil was holding out for promises that their voting power at the global lender would increase.

Apple is to hire 500 people in Ireland in the latest boost to the indebted euro zone country's multinational sector, one of the few bright spots in a struggling economy.

For 30 years the Grateful Dead recorded music and toured the world with their unique blend of rock, folk and psychedelic songs, gathering an army of followers known as Deadheads.

Stock index futures rose on Friday, indicating the S&P 500 may snap a 2-day decline, after better-than expected results from Microsoft and General Electric Co propelled a solid earnings season.

Stock index futures rose on Friday, indicating the S&P 500 may snap a 2-day decline, after quarterly results from Microsoft and General Electric Co propelled a solid earnings season.

Stock index futures rose on Friday, indicating the S&P 500 may snap a 2-day decline, after quarterly results from Microsoft and General Electric Co propelled a solid earnings season.

Hungary is considering a new tax on phone calls and Internet usage which could yield up to 50 billion forints ($221.38 million) a year and would help plug budget holes, website Origo.hu reported on Friday, citing economy ministry sources.

General Electric Co reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts' expectations, helped by strong sales of jet engines and energy equipment, as well as profit growth at its finance arm.

German business sentiment unexpectedly rose for the sixth month in a row in April in a sign that Europe's largest economy continues to outpace peers and shrug off persistent worries about the euro zone debt crisis.

China is poised to boost quotas on outbound investment schemes to $100 billion and cut barriers to moving foreign currency in and out of the country in a series of swift but small steps to crank open its tightly controlled capital account.

Shareholders of Olympus Corp <7733.T> approved a new board on Friday, hoping for a fresh start at the camera and medical device maker that hid $1.7 billion of investment losses in Japan's biggest corporate scandal in decades.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.2 to 0.4 percent.

Major emerging powers stood ready on Friday to pledge money to bolster the International Monetary Fund's crisis-fighting war chest, though Brazil was holding out for promises that their voting power at the global lender would increase.

German 10-year bond yields hit record lows on Friday and riskier assets came under pressure on growing fears about the euro zone debt crisis and uncertainty over global growth.

Nestle , the world's biggest food group, reported forecast-beating first-quarter organic sales growth of 7.2 percent on Friday as emerging market demand and price rises helped offset sluggish growth in the developed world.

Asian shares fell and commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian dollar slipped on Friday after disappointing U.S. economic data stirred doubts about the strength of the recovery.

Large U.S. manufacturers are much more likely than their smaller peers to move production to the United States from China, according to a survey.

Inside a dimly lit barn in northeast Indiana, where the air smells faintly of corn and earth, the future of China's food supply is squealing for attention.

Shareholders of Olympus Corp <7733.T> voted in a new board on Friday but the firm's British ex-CEO, whose dismissal six months ago unveiled the biggest scandal in corporate Japan for decades, threatened to have the result annulled.

Dupont and Dow Chemical are among chemical firms working with global automakers who are bracing for a crunch in production, after a German chemical plant explosion cut a chunk of supply of a nylon resin used in brake and fuel systems.

Peering from a hotel window 50 floors above Japan's bustling capital, Michael Woodford eyes the Olympus Corp building where he was fired six months ago. To the right, he sees the flat he had to quit that day before he was told to take a bus to the airport.

The International Monetary Fund's bid to win a big boost in funding to handle the euro-zone debt crisis hit a speed bump on Thursday when Brazil demanded more power at the IMF for emerging economies as a condition for lending it extra cash.

Verizon Wireless plans to put its marketing weight behind Microsoft Corp's next mobile phone software to help develop a strong competitor to Apple Inc and Google Inc, according to the chief financial officer of Verizon Communications.

A federal judge has narrowed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's $8.6 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co , potentially reducing how much creditors of what was once the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank may ultimately recover.