IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.6 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.7 percent at 0924 GMT (4:24 a.m ET).

Japan's Olympus Corp risks collapsing under a massive accounting scandal, but the company's big and profitable medical business is likely to emerge from any wreckage unharmed.

Gulf airlines and lessors could splash out more than $20 billion on Airbus and Boeing jets at next week's Dubai air show, underscoring the region's role as the industry's chief paymaster amid Europe's worsening sovereign debt crisis.

Private equity firms including KKR and TPG Capital are looking to potentially buy minority stakes of up to 20 percent in Yahoo Inc with an eye to eventually taking over the whole company, people with knowledge of the situation said.

The U.S. government on Thursday delayed approval of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline until after the 2012 U.S. election, bowing to pressure from environmentalists and sparing President Barack Obama a damaging split with liberal voters he may need to win reelection.

Greeks lauded the nomination of new prime minister Lucas Papademos on Friday and expressed hope his government could put the economy back on track and calm political turmoil that has threatened to force Athens out of the euro zone.

Every summer for three months, the Hudson Bay ice breaks up and ships load Canadian Prairie grain for export, putting more than 100 people to work in the tiny northern Manitoba town of Churchill.

Stanley Cup champions Boston powered their way to a fourth consecutive win on Thursday with a 6-3 victory over the high-flying Edmonton Oilers at TD Garden.

The top three seeds progressed in the Paris Masters, although with varying degrees of comfort as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray progressed to the quarterfinals.

Chelsea fans will be hopeful of fresh transfer rumours being true, as Spanish winger Santi Cazorla is the latest to be linked with the London side.

Chinese banks wrote 587 billion yuan ($92.5 billion) of new loans in October, much more than expected and a sharp jump from September, evidence of selective policy easing by the government to keep the world's second-largest economy on an even keel.

Diplomatic deadlock is curbing China's will to provide cash to help end the euro zone crisis after Europe spurned the simplest of Beijing's three key demands, two independent sources have told Reuters.

A Russian court threw out two multi-billion dollar lawsuits against BP on Friday, handing the British oil company a key victory in legal battles surrounding its Russian oil venture TNK-BP.

MF Global's liquidators are struggling to sell the Asian business as one concern because of problems unwinding trading positions, so they may now sell the various country units separately.

Asian shares rebounded on Friday and the euro clawed higher, with European stocks also expected to make gains after brighter corporate news lifted U.S. stocks and debt-laden Italy was able to fund itself at a bond auction.

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica stuck to shareholder return targets on Friday, despite a challenging operating environment which saw profit fall a more-than-expected 69 percent in the first nine months of the year.

Chinese banks wrote 587 billion yuan ($92.5 billion) of new loans in October, much more than expected and a sharp jump from September, evidence of "selective" policy easing by the government to keep the world's second-largest economy on an even keel.

European shares rose on Friday while the euro held onto modest gains as investors bought beaten-down riskier assets, with markets focused on whether debt-laden Italy could implement tough austerity measures crucial to avoid a euro zone meltdown.

Japanese banks backed by more than $6 billion in spare cash are in talks to buy assets from European banks, sources familiar with the discussions said, as euro zone leaders try to coax foreign capital to help overcome the bloc's debt crisis.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda looked to be struggling on Friday to win backing from his own party for Japan to join talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact that could transform the Japanese economy.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda looked to be struggling on Friday to win backing from his own party for Japan to join talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact that could transform the Japanese economy.

The banking sector, enduring rounds of deep job cuts, faces the grim prospect of having nowhere to turn to for immediate employment in the industry, as nearly all branches of finance have pulled back on hiring.

A representative for Mel Gibson denied talk about the actor fathering a baby with reality-show star Laura Bellizzi, as Star reported Thursday. The buzz about Gibson supposedly getting Bellizzi pregnant, his representative insisted in a statement that appeared on the Daily Mail's website, was complete and utter rubbish, 100 percent untrue.

Screen Gems has acquired the remake rights for the Indonesian action movie The Raid, the studio announced Wednesday.

F. Scott Frazier, who wrote The Numbers Station and Line of Sight, has sold his newest spec script to the British production company/financier Between the Eyes, TheWrap has learned.

Asia Pacific countries pressed Europe on Thursday to act more forcefully to quell its debt crisis, setting the tone for a summit overshadowed by growing alarm over the fallout from euro-zone upheaval.

Millions of people are expected to join the various ceremonies that commemorate Armistice Day which remembers the sacrifice of the war dead, later today.

Sitting in China's copper and steel warehouses is a hidden risk to the world's second-largest economy -- banks' indirect exposure to a property market that is showing signs of stress.

Sitting in China's copper and steel warehouses is a hidden risk to the world's second-largest economy -- banks' indirect exposure to a property market that is showing signs of stress.