IBT Staff Reporter

Italy's three-year debt costs fell below 5 percent but its first bond sale of the year failed to match the success of a Spanish auction the previous day, reflecting the heavy refinancing load Rome faces over the next three months.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 23 percent, in line with Wall Street expectations, as the European debt crisis depressed trading and corporate deal-making.

Fast food chain McDonald's has signed up to sponsor the Olympics for a further eight years, meaning athletes and fans will be offered its burgers and fries in the official restaurants at Games venues until 2020.

Dutch financial services group ING cut a target for its bank unit and said another would take longer to achieve than expected due to bank taxes and higher capital requirements, which could also delay the repayment of remaining state aid it owes.

Fast food chain McDonald's has signed up to sponsor the Olympics for a further eight years, meaning athletes and fans will be offered its burgers and fries in the official restaurants at Games venues until 2020.

Investors have approved a year-long extension of a $4.7 billion property megafund from Morgan Stanley , a company spokesman told Reuters on Friday.

Four years ago, Ron Paul was a fringe candidate. Now, he is a legitimate contender for the Republican nomination. The International Business Times talked to some of the new Paul converts about what won them over.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.05 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.16 percent at 1039 GMT.

Telecom operators globally are expected to cut spending on their networks this year, hitting equipment makers that were only just beginning to recover from intense price wars and the last economic downturn.

Italy's three-year debt costs fell below 5 percent at the first bond auction of the year spurring hopes the troubled borrower would be able to make it through a refinancing hump in the first months of the year.

Private equity firm TPG Capital is willing to invest about $1 billion in Japan's Olympus Corp in a joint deal with Sony Corp or another suitor circling the scandal-hit firm, a person familiar with TPG's thinking said.

Japan's Inpex Corp <1605.T> gave the go-ahead on Friday for a $34 billion liquefied natural gas export project that will make Australia the world's top exporter of the fuel by 2017, overtaking Qatar.

European shares and the euro rose on Friday on expectations debt-scarred Italy's first bond sale of the year would go well, but unease over Greece's debt swap deal and prospects for the broader euro zone economy capped gains.

Novartis AG is cutting nearly 2,000 jobs in the United States ahead of the patent loss of top-selling blood pressure drug Diovan as it braces for tough market conditions and a slump in sales of another key drug.

Bank of America Corp , the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, has informed U.S. regulators that it is willing to draw back from some parts of the country if its financial problems worsen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation.

China's official reserves slipped to $3.18 trillion in the final quarter of 2011, signaling that the days of rampant export-led accumulation of foreign currency are numbered and that new monetary policy steps may be needed to counter capital outflows.

Enraged Chinese shoppers pelted Apple Inc's flagship Beijing store with eggs and shoving matches with police broke out when customers were told the store would not begin sales of the popular iPhone 4S as scheduled.

Apple Inc said on Friday it will stop selling its latest iPhone in its retail stores in Beijing and Shanghai to ensure the safety of its customers and employees.

Leaders of a congressional subcommittee are urging the Department of Homeland Security to extensively monitor social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to detect current or emerging threats.

Apple Inc's flagship Beijing store was pelted with eggs on Friday when hundreds of enraged shoppers, many of whom had waited in line overnight, were told the store would not begin sales of the iPhone 4S as scheduled.

A federal judge refused on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit accusing General Electric Co and its chief executive of misleading investors about the conglomerate's financial health and exposure to risky debt during the 2008 financial crisis.

Samsung Electronics ruled out making a bid for the healthcare business of Japan's troubled Olympus Corp on Friday, though a source close to the South Korean firm said it remained open to some form of non-equity partnership.

The great white shark is lurking in cyberspace, in the form of an iPhone application launched this week that allows users to track a dozen of the predators as they roam around the Pacific Ocean.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co is not interested in acquiring the healthcare business of Japan's troubled Olympus, Samsung's chief executive told Reuters on Thursday.

Eastman Kodak Co is in advanced talks with Citigroup Inc to obtain financing that would be used if the money-losing photography company files for bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News said on Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The author of the Stop Online Piracy Act vowed to press ahead with his bill despite fierce opposition from internet giants such as Google and Facebook, faulting opponents for putting their profits ahead those lost by victims of counterfeit products.

Telecom startup LightSquared is asking for an investigation of a possible conflict of interest by a member of an advisory board that has already warned against its technology because of interference with the global positioning system.

Oprah Winfrey feels a new freedom after leaving her wildly successful daily TV talk show behind and taking a new course seeking interviews with newsmakers on their own turf.

A top federal prosecutor has a message for companies: If you've been hacked, tell us.