IBT Staff Reporter

China chalked up its largest trade deficit in at least a decade in February at $31.5 billion, as imports soared 39.6 percent on a year earlier at more than twice the pace of export growth, leaving analysts cautious about seasonal distortions to trade activity.

China chalked up a $31.5 billion trade deficit in February, its largest in at least a decade, as exports and imports rebounded from a seasonal slowdown caused by Lunar New Year holidays, customs data showed on Saturday.

A previously announced $25 billion settlement between five major banks accused of abusive mortgage practices and government officials will be filed in federal court on Monday, people familiar with the matter said late Friday.

Apple Inc's faster and sharper-looking new iPad is drawing the notice of the traditional video game industry, as developers are envisioning games for it that have more in common with the visceral 3D shooter Call of Duty than FarmVille.

Apollo Global Management LLC co-founder Leon Black will take home $104.2 million in 2011 dividends, salary and share of profits from the private equity firm, more than twice what he got in 2010, thanks to the firm's record investment payouts.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. have nixed a tentative $1 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson, holding out for a bigger settlement with the drugmaker for alleged improper marketing of its Risperdal schizophrenia drug, the Wall Street Journal said.

General Electric Co will keep its focus on boosting its dividend and improving margins as it faces what Chief Executive Jeff Immelt expects to be an extended period of economic instability.

The director of a video sensation that calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of a Ugandan militia group, agreed on Friday with skeptics who have called the film oversimplified, saying it was deliberately made that way.

The director of a video sensation that calls for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of a Ugandan militia group, agreed on Friday with skeptics who have called the film oversimplified, saying it was deliberately made that way.

Greece averted the immediate threat of an uncontrolled default on Friday when a sufficient number of private creditors agreed on a bond swap deal that will cut the country's public debt and clear the way for a new bailout.

Bank regulators approved Capital One Financials acquisition of HSBC's $30 billion U.S. credit card business, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced on Friday.

Employers added more than 200,000 workers to their payrolls for a third straight month in February, a sign the economy was strengthening and in less need of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

NetJets Inc, a private jet-sharing company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc , was sued for $366.3 million by the government to recover unpaid taxes, four months after sued the government for nearly twice as much.

Hackers have published the blueprints to a 2006 version of Symantec Corp's widely used Norton Antivirus software on the Internet, according to the software maker.

Bank regulators approved Capital One Financial's acquisition of HSBC's $30 billion U.S. credit card business, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced on Friday.

A senior Morgan Stanley banker pleaded not guilty on Friday to hate crime, theft and assault charges stemming from an incident last December that police say escalated from a dispute over a $200-plus cab fare to a knife attack on the driver.

Former New York Times Co Chief Executive Janet Robinson received a total payout of nearly $24 million after she left the newspaper publisher at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Stocks advanced on Friday as investors brushed off the technical default by Greece and focused instead on another strong monthly jobs report.

A computer hacker-turned-FBI informant known as Sabu combined daring online attacks against governments and major companies with a life of petty crime and drugs, according to a copy of his plea agreement.

The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , responding to political pressure, on Friday slashed salaries for the chief executives of the two firms and ruled out bonuses for many top executives.

Google Inc has been pressuring applications and mobile game developers to use its costlier in-house payment service, Google Wallet, as the Internet search giant tries to emulate the financial success of Apple Inc's iOS platform.

Chris Hughes, one of the co-founders of Facebook and a former online strategist for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, has purchased a majority stake in The New Republic, the magazine said on Friday.

Stocks were on track to end the week higher on Friday after a strong monthly jobs report, but gains were trimmed in late afternoon trade on news of a credit event in Greece.

State and local regulations in shale oil- and natural gas-rich plays across the United States provide sufficient oversight, compared to the dysfunctional federal layers that could hinder development as well as the economic recovery, Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said on Friday.

Stocks pared gains in late trading on Friday, as worries about Greece increased after news that a derivatives group has declared a Greek credit event.

Oil major ConocoPhillips, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Coca Cola and giant energy trader Mercuria are among a crop of previously unnamed, high-profile former clients of bankrupt futures brokerage MF Global, an examination of claims filed in the case shows.

A new compensation plan for housing-giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced on Friday by their government regulator will eliminate executive bonuses and target CEO pay at $500,000.

Ford Motor Co will offer lump-sum payouts as an option for future salaried retirees in the United States as part of its push to decrease the risk presented by its pension obligation.

Search engines users disapprove of personal data being collected for search results or for targeted advertising, according to a Pew survey released on Friday that underscored the public's growing concern with web privacy.