IBT Staff Reporter

Gold prices held just below $1,200 an ounce in Europe on Friday, little changed from the previous session, as the dollar stayed in a holding pattern ahead of hotly awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls data later in the day.

A European Union financial stability fund with the potential to raise up to 440 billion euros ($580 billion) to help EU countries weather debt problems is now fully operational, officials said on Friday.

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's top automaker, aims to sell about 17 percent more cars in India this year as the fast-growing south Asian country boosts consumer spending, a top official said on Friday.

The H1N1 swine flu virus underwent a mutation and used a new trick to spread efficiently in people, another signal to help experts predict whether a flu virus can cause a pandemic, researchers said Friday.

The irony is that if Steve Mock had his own kids he may never have stumbled upon his creative concept for entertaining them.

Canadian auto parts maker Magna International swung back to profit in the second quarter, with sales up about two-thirds on the back of a revival in the battered North American car market.

General Motors Co has begun work on an initial public offering of stock that could be the largest ever for the U.S. market, the automaker's Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama lambasted Republicans on Thursday for opposing his auto company bailouts and unveiled a new loan guarantee for Ford Motor Co to help meet his goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years.

American International Group Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Friday and said it had started talks on disentangling itself from the U.S. government, sending its shares up 3.6 percent in premarket trading.

A daily vitamin D supplement may help young men enjoy more sick-free days during cold and flu season, a small study suggests.

Two studies published on Thursday show new ways to fix damaged hearts, one by turning structural heart cells into beating cells and another by restoring a primordial ability to regenerate lost tissue.

Employment probably fell for a second straight month in July as more temporary census jobs ended and private hiring remained too weak to boost a fragile economic recovery, according to a Reuters survey.

When it comes to your job interview, you want to leave it with nothing but positive energy. You want to leave the interviewer thinking that you will most certainly be a positive addition to his or her company.

Stock index futures edged higher on Friday as investors awaited a key report on the labor market to provide direction.

A European Union financial stability fund with the potential to raise up to 440 billion euros ($580.7 billion) to help countries weather debt problems is now fully operational, officials said on Friday.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Beatles songs to go on sale at iTunes or other online retailers, Yoko Ono said on Thursday.

Lebanon hopes BlackBerry maker Research In Motion will give the country a program that would allow it to access information used on the smartphone device, the telecommunications minister said.

Visitors to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising will now be able to grasp the scale of devastation inflicted on the Polish capital by Nazi German forces in World War Two with the help of a 3D film.

American International Group Inc reported a quarterly loss on Friday after a year-ago profit as the bailed-out insurer was hurt by a large goodwill impairment charge.

Apple Inc is in talks to buy Chinese software maker Handseeing, an executive at the Chinese company said on Friday, a deal that would mark the iPhone maker's first acquisition in the country.

New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level since early April, highlighting a weak labor market and the fragile economic recovery.

Stock index futures were little changed on Friday as investors awaited a key report on the labor market to provide direction.

Anyone puzzled by the reluctance of U.S. companies to hire workers in the midst of what looks like a business-led recovery needs to talk to Robert Harvell.

Companies hired more workers in July but the gains are too slow to reduce unemployment and spur the economy significantly, reports showed on Wednesday.

India and China, the power engines of the East, are now the force behind the rising gold demand. If Chinese and Indian customers stop buying the yellow metal, the bullion market will collapse within days. So much is the power of rising middle class in China and India that they are rising in both number and percentage terms dramatically, as these nations are developing on every front.

Crude oil traded near $82 a barrel on Friday before a report expected to show U.S. employment declined in July, as investors watch for clues to the pace of economic and energy demand recovery. The return of crude's inverse correlation with the U.S. currency has been supporting oil, which has recently failed to track stock markets lower, analysts said. European stocks were little changed on Friday.

The dollar struggled near a 3 1/2-month low versus a currency basket on Friday as investors braced for U.S. data expected to show a fall in jobs for a second month, underlining the fragility of the labor market. Currencies were generally little changed as traders steered clear of big positions before the much-anticipated data, leaving the dollar stranded close to a three-month low against the euro and an eight-month trough versus the yen hit earlier this week.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Friday ahead of U.S. monthly jobs data.

A healthier loan book drove higher second-quarter profits at Royal Bank of Scotland , echoing a pattern set by rivals' results this week, and the bailed-out group said its revival plan was on track.