IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.4 to 0.5 percent.

Tighter bank financing is the big threat to shipping companies, and many are looking at alternative sources of funding such as private equity to fill gaps amid a worsening credit squeeze, a transport survey showed on Friday.

State Street Corp has hired former Bank of America Corp's executive Dan McNicholas as head of sales for its alternative investment servicing business in the Asia Pacific region.

Greek workers went on strike against austerity measures on Friday, docking ships and halting public transport, hours after euro zone finance ministers said Athens needed to make more cuts to convince them to release a financial bailout.

Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba plans to take private its Hong Kong-listed unit, two sources familiar with the matter said, as part of a complex deal that would strengthen founder Jack Ma's control and give key stakeholder Yahoo cash and a direct stake in one of Alibaba's operating businesses.

British bank Barclays warned it may miss its medium-term profitability target after it ended 2011 with its worst quarter for three years as the euro zone debt crisis hit bond trading, dragging its annual profit down on the year before.

If anyone can pull off the labyrinthine deal between Alibaba Group and Yahoo Inc, it is Jack Ma, who founded the e-commerce group and within a decade unlocked China's huge online shopping potential.

Stocks and the euro fell while safe-haven government bonds rose on Friday as final approval of a long-awaited Greek debt deal remained elusive, keeping alive the threat of a messy default.

Trying to track China's economic course during the Lunar New Year can leave analysts howling at the moon. January auto sales tumbled, yet oil imports were the third highest on record. A measure of factory activity picked up, but trade data was weak.

Wynn Resorts Ltd, the $15 billion gaming empire of Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn, may be forced to give its biggest shareholder access to its financial papers, a U.S. judge has ruled, the latest turn in a case that has transfixed the casino world with implications for the company's control.

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group plans to take its Hong Kong-listed unit private, two sources familiar with the matter said, and is working with Yahoo on an asset-swap deal that may result in Yahoo owning a direct stake in one of Alibaba Group's operating businesses.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a veteran prosecutor with acute political instincts and a reputation for thick skin, gambled big in the settlement negotiations with banks over illegal foreclosures.

Crystal Morello's family pleaded for months with their lender for a cheaper mortgage on their family home in Belleville, Michigan. But time ran out last summer, and they left before they were evicted.

There's a whole lot of box-office promise in The Vow -- a romantic drama starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams on track to gross more than $30 million in North America this weekend.

Britain's Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa have bumped Lady Gaga off the international fashion map.

A Different Kind of Truth is a pretty ponderous name for a not very ponderous album -- Van Halen's first in 28 years with David Lee Roth as frontman. If they'd been in as cheeky a mood titling it as they were in recording it, maybe they could have gone with: 1985.

Adele may be a safe bet to clean up at Sunday's Grammy Awards, but if music fans think that means a night of few surprises, they should ask Justin Bieber.

Angry musicians will protest outside Sunday's Grammy Awards ceremony over a decision to cut 31 ethnic and minority musical categories from the music industry's top awards.

The Grammys in recent years have targeted young audiences even as older acts won key awards to the surprise of some music fans, but this Sunday's honors will shine its spotlight on Adele, whose popularity crosses all age boundaries.

Paul McCartney finally got his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Thursday, becoming the last of the four Beatles to get the honor.

Lady Gaga: Singer. Songwriter. Pioneer in meat-based attire. General curiosity. And now, social-media mogul in training.

A man who was convicted of stalking and threatening pop star Madonna in the 1990s walked away unnoticed from the California mental health facility where he was being held and remains at large, Los Angeles police said on Thursday.

It has been reported that the successor to iPad 2 is most likely to be debuted at an Apple media event in the first week of March at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The second round of bids for the highly sought after Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is due around February 23, according to several people familiar with the process.

Los Angeles County officials who have been widely mocked since reports surfaced that they had imposed a $1,000 fine for throwing Frisbees and footballs on the beach said on Thursday that the rule change had been badly misunderstood.

A Tennessee couple who defriended a woman on Facebook were murdered in their home by the jilted woman's father and another man, police said on Thursday.

Affordability will be a deciding factor in the U.S. Air Force's drive to develop a new long-range bomber, the top general in the service said on Thursday, underscoring that he was not looking for an extravagant design.

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group plans to take its Hong Kong-listed unit, Alibaba.com , private, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Greece's debt crisis on Thursday dominated the first day of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's visit to the United States, as he urged the International Monetary Fund to be more lenient with Athens in bailout talks to prevent a big potential explosion.