IBT Staff Reporter

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom hopes this year to agree with U.S. energy major ExxonMobil Corp over gas supplies to a new far eastern pipeline, a senior Gazprom executive said on Friday.

Top U.S. auto dealership group AutoNation Inc posted a 29-percent drop in quarterly earnings but forecast an improving U.S. vehicle market after slashing inventory costs and seeing a sharp gain in July sales.

German carmaker Audi's cash pile grew over the first half of the year, and now accounts for nearly 80 percent of parent Volkswagen's war chest.

Continental AG won a vote to repair its stretched finances but may lose its chief executive and faces pressure to sell its tires business as a power struggle with its main shareholder drags on.

Economy stabilizing, Tax Row Deal, Chevron's plunge

The U.S. government's $1 billion cash for clunkers auto sales incentive program reached its funding limit unexpectedly after an avalanche of business exhausted its funds, an Obama administration official said late Thursday.

The recession has delivered a disproportionate blow to blacks and Hispanics, yet minorities may be more optimistic about the economy than most Americans and many feel they have earned a place at the corporate table.

U.S. employment costs rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.4 percent in the second quarter, as the deep recession and high unemployment held back worker pay and benefits, a Labor Department report showed on Friday.

Utility company American Electric Power said its earnings during the second quarter surged to $316 million or 67 cents per share, a 12 percent increase from its earnings in the same period last year, of $281 million or 70 cents per share.

Eating omega-3-rich seafood may be a mood-lifter for women who are feeling depressed during pregnancy, suggests a study of British women.

Hundreds of red-shirt supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rallied Friday, aiming to win more than a million signatures for a petition seeking a royal pardon for the fugitive leader.

Japan's main ruling party, facing possible defeat in elections next month, tried to upstage the opposition on Friday with its own policy pledges to boost household income and revive the struggling economy.

The de facto Honduran government insisted Thursday that it would not allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, dampening hopes of a deal to end a political crisis after last month's coup.

A Myanmar court on Friday postponed the verdict in the high-profile trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to August 11, her lawyer said.

California's new budget deal may brake the recent decline in the state's rating but the one-time nature of many of the measures taken to close a $24 billion deficit leave the state in bad shape, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

Stocks headed for a lower open on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy contracted for the fourth straight quarter and consumer spending dropped sharply, fanned fears that a recovery would be weak.

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned his political rivals on Friday that their efforts to drive a wedge between him and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would come to nothing.

U.S. President Barack Obama directed federal agencies on Thursday to enact new rules governing federally funded research on human embryonic stem cells.

Teaching new mothers how to breastfeed could save 1.3 million children's lives every year, but many women get no help and give up trying, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The Aussie experienced a stunning turnaround in Asia yesterday rallying consistently throughout the day from 0.8140 to enter offshore exchange back above 82 cents. The local housing market continues to prove resilient as building approvals and housing finance data both came in higher than expected.

Two Boston groups offered early bids on Thursday to buy the Boston Globe from The New York Times Co, the Globe reported on Friday

The United States government and Swiss bank UBS AG have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues in their tax evasion dispute, a U.S. Justice Department attorney said on Friday.

The White House is facing uncomfortable questions about its strategy for selling President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul to Americans, after a series of opinion polls showed eroding support for it.

The U.S. government's $1 billion cash for clunkers auto sales incentive program reached its funding limit unexpectedly after an avalanche of business exhausted its funds, an Obama administration official said late Thursday.

Power company Constellation Energy Group Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly results helped by strong margins in its wholesale and retail businesses, and increased its earnings forecast for the full year 2009.

President Barack Obama's drive for U.S. healthcare reform suffered another setback on Thursday when Senate Finance Committee leaders said the panel would not vote on a compromise plan before senators leave for a month-long August recess next week.

The U.S. economy contracted at a slower-than-expected pace in the second quarter as the slump in business and residential investment moderated sharply, according to government data on Friday that backed views the recession was winding down.

President Barack Obama played bartender-in-chief on Thursday at a beer summit of the main players in a racially charged case that he hoped would be a positive lesson in a national dialogue on race.

Stock index futures edged higher on Friday as investors bet that key economic data will show the economic slump is ebbing.