IBT Staff Reporter

A rise in U.S. consumer confidence to its highest in six months and a much bigger-than-expected contraction in the country's trade deficit pointed to a firmer economic recovery on Friday.

(Updates with details on the numbers of banks closed

Prices to Buy Gold held firm in London on Friday, ending of what one London trader called another roller-coaster week some 1.7% lower for Dollar and Sterling investors but unchanged vs. the single Euro currency.

Declaring, “This game is not yet over!” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, was joined by her Congressional colleague, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, a few dozen first responders and about 50 supporters today in Lower Manhattan to demand that Congress pass the health and compensation act for the people who got sick working at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The United States recorded a larger-than-expected $150 billion budget gap last month, the largest shortfall for any November, Treasury Department data showed on Friday.

Drugstore chain Walgreen Co on Friday warned customers they may have received unauthorized emails seeking personal data after a breach of one of the company's customer lists.

Think of hedge fund hubs in the United States, and the names that tend to come to mind are New York and Greenwich, Connecticut. Yet when it comes to a major U.S. insider trading investigation, Boston is taking center stage.

Austrian banker Sonja Kohn was a criminal soul mate of Bernard Madoff for 23 years, running an international network of banks and funds to help perpetrate the biggest fraud in financial history, a court-appointed trustee for the Madoff firm said on Friday.

The trustee recovering money for the victims of Bernard Madoff's epic fraud sued Sonja Kohn, founder of Austria's Medici Bank, accusing her of playing a major role in the scheme. The lawsuit seeks $19.6 billion in damages.

Finland's Rovio Mobile, known for its Angry Birds puzzle video game, unveiled on Friday payment software that gives mobile telecom operators a chance to win a share of booming app store business.

Apple Inc is working on a smaller iPad tablet with built-in cameras that could ship early next year, according to manufacturers in Asia.

A Chinese auto sales company traded up slightly and a Chinese tech company fell in U.S. stock market debuts on Friday, a sign that not every Chinese companies will get a blank check in its initial public offering.

Norway's Nobel committee held its Peace Prize awards ceremony on Friday without the award's recipient, human rights activist Liu Xiaobo.

A jury on Friday convicted a former Goldman Sachs computer programer on criminal charges of stealing secret high-frequency trading code from Wall Street's most influential bank.

A rise in U.S. consumer confidence to its highest in six months and a much bigger-than-expected contraction in the country's trade deficit pointed to a firmer economic recovery on Friday.

The situation in the U.S. capital this weekend is fluid.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 at its highest level since the week Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, and breaching technical levels that suggest the year-end rally will persist.

NASA failed to delete sensitive data on computers and hard drives before selling the equipment as part of its plan to end the Space Shuttle program, an audit released on Tuesday shows.

China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba.com Ltd <1688.HK> said on Friday it would pay a HK$1.1 billion ($140 million) special cash dividend to shareholders, sending its shares sharply higher.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 at its highest level since the week Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, breaching technical levels that suggest the year-end rally will persist.

Before there was an Apple store under a giant futuristic cube near New York's Central Park or beneath a sleek glass cylinder in Shanghai, there was store 001 on the second floor of a 70s-era suburban California shopping mall.

General Electric Co raised its dividend for a second time this year, in a move the largest U.S. conglomerate said signaled its growing confidence in the rebound of its finance arm.

Sony Corp <6758.T> expects cash flow to improve by 100 billion yen ($1.20 billion) this fiscal year due to overhauling materials procurement and production, Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa told the Nikkei.

Chronology: Key events that highlight Apple's march this year

U.S. authorities could announce a series of arrests in the next phase of a long-running insider trading investigation as early as next week, CNBC said in a report on Friday.

Consumer sentiment in the U.S. rose more than expected during December, and an index of current conditions touched its highest level since January 2008, the Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan Survey said.

The United States recorded a larger-than-expected $150 billion budget gap last month, the largest shortfall for any November, Treasury Department data showed on Friday.

U.S. consumer sentiment rose more than expected in early December while an index of current conditions jumped to its highest level since January 2008, a survey released on Friday showed.

A jury convicted a former Goldman Sachs computer programer on criminal charges of stealing secret high-frequency trading code from Wall Street's most influential bank.