IBT Staff Reporter

Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc raised its 2011 profit forecast on Friday and announced a deal to sell a unit that makes antifreeze and other car maintenance products.

Sliding profit margins at Amazon.com prompted mixed reactions from analysts on Friday, a day after it posted quarterly results, though most of them stuck to their top ratings on the world's largest online retailer.

Stocks fell from 29-month highs on Friday as Amazon and Ford reported weak results and investors worried about escalating protests in Egypt against the government.

Bringing Terremark aboard for $1.4b will add to Verizon's expanding cloud services.

Amazon.com founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos trimmed his stake in the world's biggest online retailer to under 20 percent last year, a regulatory filing showed on Friday, a day after the company reported quarterly results.

Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc raised its 2011 profit forecast on Friday and announced a deal to sell a unit that makes antifreeze and other car maintenance products.

They are young, street smart and their pride at being Egyptian trumps any religious loyalty. They have mobilized behind a single aim: the toppling of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.

LinkedIn Corp, whose professional networking site has 90 million users, plans to raise up to $175 million in an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing.

In the Android camp at CES 2011, it was Motorola Xoom which stole the show; however there were a few tablets in the Windows camp too, which sported super-heavy specifications that are capable of taking the might of Xoom and one such contender is ASUS Eee Slate EP121.

Gold Bullion prices failed to rally from last night's tumble in Asian and London trade on Friday, extending the month's sharp losses and hitting to four-month lows in the US Dollar and six-month lows against the Swiss Franc and commodity currency Aussie and Canadian Dollars.

Concerns that roaring demand for tablets and smartphones like Apple's iPad and iPhone will leave Microsoft in the dust are simply overdone, Microsoft International's president told Reuters.

Ford Motor Co's fourth-quarter earnings fell far short of Wall Street expectations on higher costs to launch new vehicles like the Explorer, increasing commodity prices and an unexpected loss in Europe, sending its shares down 11.5 percent.

Russia said on Wednesday that NATO should investigate last year's computer virus attack on a Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran, saying the incident could have triggered a nuclear disaster on the scale of Chernobyl.

Stocks were little changed on Friday with the Dow on track to post its ninth straight winning week after data showed the economic expansion gathered speed in the fourth quarter.

The China Gold Association estimates... that the demand for gold in the first half of the year will rise by 15 percent year on year, citing growing demand for alternative investments and protection against inflation, said Commerzbank in a note.

Hedge fund SHK Asset Management liquidated a U.S. gold futures position this week valued at over $850 million, more than 10 percent of the main U.S. futures market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson personally made more than $5 billion in profit in 2010, which may likely be the largest one-year earnings in investment history, the Wall Street Journal said.

Britain's Andy Murray booked the remaining spot in the Australian Open final with a pulsating 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 7-6 victory over Span's David Ferrer, setting up a potentially explosive final against Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

News Corp's much-awaited tablet-only paper, specifically crafted for Apple's iPad is due to be launched on Feb. 2 at a price of 99 cents per week.

Japan's prime minister vowed on Friday to push ahead with tax reforms to curb bulging public debt, but an uncooperative opposition and divisions within his own party on policy make the chances of success slim.

Eric Schmidt, Goggle’s outgoing Chief Executive has expressed his intention to expand the firm’s business in china, said a report by BBC

The global crackdown on movie piracy continues as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), in partnership with Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, swooped in on as many as 51 international torrent websites.

Fretful central bankers and hard-pressed consumers hoping companies will swallow rising input costs look set to be disappointed as evidence grows that prices will increase in coming months.

The companies that reported earnings before the markets open on Friday are: Ford Motor, Chevron Corp., Honeywell International, Dominion and Dover.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Friday as data showed the economic expansion gathered speed in the fourth quarter, though a touch below forecasts.

US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday said it has got Congressional-mandated cap of 65,000 H1-B visa applications, which is the most sought after by Indian professionals, for the current fiscal.

In a shock announcement, Liverpool confirmed that they rejected an offer from Premiership rivals Chelsea for their star striker Fernando Torres.

Stock index futures were little changed on Friday, with the Dow on track for a ninth straight week of gains, as investors awaited a key reading on economic growth to see if recent gains could be extended.

Amazon.com investors got a wake-up call on Thursday when the world's biggest online retailer said its profit margins were sliding as it spends money on massive new distribution centers and acquisitions.