IBT Staff Reporter

Research In Motion Ltd faces a tough battle to win back market share in the United States, Wall Street analysts said on Friday, a day after the BlackBerry maker gave a weak outlook.

New questions will focus on getting opinions/learning more about one's friends.

Wall Street advanced on Friday with Oracle's upbeat outlook lifting tech stocks, though weak trading volume hinted the rally lacks enthusiasm.

Brent oil steadied near $116 in choppy, thin trade on Friday as traders gauged the threat to supply from Middle East unrest and Libya fighting as well as concerns over demand in quake-hit Japan and debt-laden Europe.

Russian oil major Rosneft said on Friday it would push ahead with its plans to form a strategic alliance with BP, despite an arbitration court ruling putting the deal on hold.

Hundreds of customers queued outside Apple stores in Asia and Europe to buy an iPad 2 tablet computer amid fears that shortages in the United States would be repeated abroad.

Consumer sentiment in March fell to its lowest level in more than a year as gasoline and food prices rose, a survey released on Friday showed.

There are several differences between the facility at Indian Point and the Fukushima reactor, and those differences show that while Indian Point, like other nuclear power plants, has risks, they are different risks than those at Fukushima.

European leaders agreed a new package of anti-crisis measures at a two-day summit, but were forced to delay increasing their rescue fund and acknowledged they faced new threats from a government collapse in Portugal.

The collapse of an asset bubble will not necessarily lead to higher unemployment as long as monetary policy is loose enough, a top Federal Reserve Bank official said on Friday.

The economy grew more quickly than previously estimated in the fourth quarter as businesses maintained fairly solid spending and restocked shelves to meet rising demand, while corporate profits increased 3.3 percent, a government report showed on Friday.

Global banking regulators are discussing how to use extra capital cushions as a means of stopping very big lenders getting even larger, a source familiar with the talks said on Friday.

The economic recovery is on solid ground but there are still enough sources of weakness to justify keeping interest rates very low, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart said on Friday.

Cher’s former Miami Beach home is now on the market for $10.2 million with a price cut of $4.7 million.

A deadly 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit the mountainous area along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and Laos on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The tremors were felt in Bangkok, Hanoi, and some areas of China.

The smartphone is specifically designed for business aviation.

Retailers must answer the call to make mobile shopping easier and more engaging or they risk getting disconnected from the majority of mobile device users.

Despite fears of Westboro Baptist Church protesters crashing Liz Taylor's funeral, the service occurred without a hitch.

Graffiti art and placards reveal a divided world over the Libyan crisis, with some protestors backing Gaddafi, some opposing Gaddafi and some others opposing the U.S.-led action in particular.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Friday there were signs that liquidity was not just abundant, but excessive in the United States.

Oil steadied on Friday, with Brent crude close to $116, but analysts saw the risk of higher prices as unrest bubbled across the Middle East and western powers kept up a military campaign in Libya.

Technology stocks led Wall Street higher on Friday after Oracle's upbeat outlook, putting all three major stock indexes on track to end the week in positive territory after two weeks of declines.

[Investors] don't believe in the gold story anymore, declared Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital on Wednesday, announcing the bank's latest commodity investment survey of institutional players. Not one single respondent chose Gold Bullion as the likely best performer in 2011, Norrish said.

Shares of companies active in Friday's early trade are: Research In Motion, Finish Line, Accenture, JetBlue Airways, Holly, Western Refining, Embraer, Hitachi, SYNNEX and HealthSpring.

The doors of the Geneva Motor Show have just slid open and immediately throngs of reporters and camera crews scramble to reach Fiat's stand. The Italian carmaker is unveiling the Freemont, one of its first models to borrow from the Chrysler playbook since it took a stake in the Detroit auto giant after its 2009 bankruptcy.

Moody's credit rating for Portugal depends heavily on the country maintaining strong commitment to consolidating its finances, the rating agency said on Friday.

Arsenal Dutch striker Robin van Persie has blasted Premier League competitors Chelsea and Manchester City branding the two big spending clubs as big mouths.

The late legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor got a private burial Thursday at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Calif.

Reports are coming from Japan that one of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have suffered a breach to the reactor containment vessel.