IBT Staff Reporter

No. 1 toy company Mattel Inc surprised Wall Street with a quarterly profit on strong demand for its classic brands and newer product lines, in yet another sign of a revival in consumer demand.

Global shares edged off 16-month highs on Friday as an unexpected jump in U.S. jobless claims and persistent uncertainty over a solution to Greece's debt crisis tempered optimism over the global economic recovery.

Credit Suisse is hiring Vedika Bhandarkar, a veteran investment banker at rival JPMorgan , to beef up its investment banking business in India.

Britain's consumer affairs watchdog has slapped a record 225 million pound ($349 million) fine on two tobacco firms and nine retailers accused of fixing prices on tobacco products between 2001 and 2003.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday after Google earnings failed to meet lofty expectations, but strong results from GE and Bank of America stemmed declines.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson swung to a surprise first-quarter pretax profit on Friday as its push into the growing smartphone market and hefty cost cuts boosted margins.

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Simply flipping through a book may not seem like the best to way to scan it, but a Japanese research group at Tokyo University has created new software that allows hundreds of pages to be scanned within minutes.

Around 60 percent of the $24.8 trillion credit derivatives market can rapidly move to central clearing and reduce systemic risk, but moving much beyond that could be counterproductive, according to market experts.

Good morning dear traders, how was your trading yesterday? This way I imagine a trading day: you put your orders into the trading platform and go for a walk with your dog. When you come back, the trade is completely running for you.

Thomas Cook , Europe's second-biggest travel firm, said on Friday it had raised over $1 billion through new sterling and euro bond issues with the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with equities poised to reverse recent strong gains after Google's results, and ahead of General Electric and Bank of America earnings.

Global shares softened from 16-month highs on Friday after an unexpected jump in U.S. jobless claims tempered optimism over the global economic recovery.

European finance ministers discussed Greece's debt difficulties on Friday but said Athens was for now seeking to remove any obstacles to the rollout of emergency aid if needed, rather than requesting it officially.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson swung to a surprise first-quarter profit as its push into the growing smartphone market and hefty cost cuts boosted margins.

Consumer spending on home entertainment products, including DVDs, Blu-ray discs and digitally distributed content, in North America fell 8 percent to $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2010, said the Digital Entertainment Group on Wednesday.

by Vikram S SubhedarAsian stocks retreated from 22-month highs, and higher-yielding currencies fell, as investors booked profits after risky assets ran up in recent sessions on the back of good economic data.

Credit Suisse is hiring Vedika Bhandarkar, a veteran investment banker at rival JPMorgan , as head of investment banking for India, the Swiss investment bank said on Friday.

Top Federal Reserve officials on Thursday showed little urgency about softening the central bank's commitment to hold rates low for a long time, suggesting the Fed will repeat the pledge when it meets late this month.

A top executive at the world's largest bond fund said on Thursday that money market mutual funds should not exist in their current form.

La Trobe University has attained $15, 000 of funding through the Higher Education Equity Support Program to establish the Rural Careers Access: Online Employer Portal for Shepparton Students project.

Kyrgyzstan's mass anti-government protests last week were essentially the culmination of more than a decade of disillusionment and dissatisfaction that accumulated in the nation's political, economic and social spheres from the period of Akayev to his successor Kurmanbek Bakiyev, with virtually every Kyrgyz concerned about rising prices and falling standards of living, both issues of little concern and dimly understood in Washington.

Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12 to14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex.

Google Inc, its YouTube video service, and Yahoo Inc on Thursday filed counterclaims against Xerox Corp in a lawsuit accusing them of infringing the document management company's patents on Internet searches.

Before you spit out the seeds in grapes, think again, it might have some good use.

Google Inc posted a 23 percent jump in quarterly revenue on a rebound in Web advertising, but its stock fell 5 percent as the company disappointed some investors accustomed to blowout results.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue as PC and server spending rebounded, but investors cashed out of a rally triggered by stellar Intel Corp results.

WEST Australians would automatically go on the Australian Organ Donor Register unless they opted out, under new donor laws set to be debated in State Parliament later this year.

The Australian dollar has opened relatively unchanged from yesterday following a mixed session offshore overnight.

The Australian Dollar opens steady on Friday at 0.9340 and was underpinned throughout yesterday's domestic session by stronger commodity prices and a solid start on local equities.