IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. stock index futures trimmed losses on Friday ahead of key monthly jobs data that could provide clues on the direction of the economy and the sustainability of a recent run-up.

Oil edged down on Friday from a six-week high as markets looked to U.S. July employment data for clues on whether the United States could be emerging from recession.

American International Group Inc , the insurer that received $180 billion of federal bailouts, posted its first profit in seven quarters on Friday, sending its shares up 9 percent in premarket trade.

U.S. stock index futures were lower on Friday as investors braced for key monthly jobs data for clues on the direction of the economy and the sustainability of a recent run-up.

Royal Bank of Scotland reported more losses on Friday as investment banking profits failed to offset bad debts and the state-owned lender warned of more poor results to come before its own and the economy's recovery.

Canadian auto parts company Magna International Inc , one of the two bidders vying to buy carmaker Opel from General Motors, on Friday reported a second quarter loss, hurt by steep declines in global auto production.

Oil edged down on Friday from a six-week high as markets looked to upcoming U.S. July employment data for clues on whether the U.S. economy could be emerging from recession.

Top Japanese tire maker Bridgestone tumbled to an operating loss in the second quarter, hit by the economic slump and a stronger yen, but raised its full-year outlook again after a surprise upgrade in June.

Toyota Motor Corp will decide by the end of this month whether to pull out of a California plant it has operated with General Motors since 1984, a top executive said on Friday.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Friday, as investors braced for key monthly jobs data.

State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland posted a 1 billion-pound ($1.7 billion) net loss in the first-half on Thursday, as bad debts soared to 7.5 billion pounds, and warned of more poor results to come as its recovery would take time.

Oil edged down on Friday from a six-week high in the previous session, as markets awaited U.S. July employment data later on Friday, a major indicator of how well the U.S. economy is doing pulling out of recession.

Asian stocks dipped on Friday as investors grew cautious before a key U.S. jobs report, while the Australian dollar got only a brief lift despite signals from the central bank that interest rates could rise over time.

Twitter and Facebook suffered service problems from hacker attacks on Thursday, raising speculation about a coordinated campaign against the world's most popular online social networks.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor won approval on Thursday to become the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court in a Senate vote that President Barack Obama said broke another social barrier.

The U.S. Senate approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a $2 billion extension of the cash for clunkers autos sales incentive program.

Reformists kept up pressure for leadership change in the dominant Palestinian party Fatah on Thursday, and Saudi Arabia said no Palestinian state could emerge unless such internal divisions were healed.

The new head of the Tamil Tigers, the separatist group defeated by the Sri Lankan military after 25 years of war, is being held in the capital Colombo, the military said on Friday, declining to say where he was arrested.

Bonfires were lit across Georgia overnight to mark a year since the former Soviet republic's five-day war with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia.

The Nasdaq-listed Chinese search engine Baidu Inc has topped Yahoo! to become the world's second most popular search engine in June, the US marketing research company ComScore released in its report this week.

Dutch telecoms group KPN confirmed its offer of $1.55 per share for iBasis shares it does not yet own after iBasis repeatedly objected to the bid on Thursday because it was inadequate.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP reported higher quarterly earnings on Thursday, topping Wall Street expectations, and said it was sitting on its biggest cash pile ever, with $29 billion to deploy.

Abu Dhabi-owned energy company TAQA Bratani Ltd plans to boost North Sea oil and gas production by buying up mature oilfields and greatly increasing their efficiency, the head of the company's UK arm said on Thursday.

Blackstone Group LP's restructuring advisory business is booming as more companies hit the wall every day and need advice, the private equity firm's COO said on Thursday.

The U.S. Senate approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a $2 billion extension of the cash for clunkers autos sales incentive program.

Citigroup Inc may give control of its Phibro commodities business to Andrew Hall, the energy trader making headlines for demanding a $100 million payday under his contract, The New York Times said on Thursday, citing a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

Fannie Mae, the largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding, on Thursday reported a $14.8 billion quarterly net loss that it said would force it to go to the U.S. Treasury trough a third time for money to stay in business.

Investors overlooked weak July sales results from some U.S. apparel chains and sent the shares of battered names such as Gap Inc , Limited Brands Inc and Zumiez Inc up on hopes of improvement later this year.

The number of U.S. workers submitting new claims for jobless benefits fell sharply last week, fanning hopes the fragile labor market was on the mend and that the broader economy was stabilizing.