IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as disappointing results from Microsoft Corp and American Express Co curbed sentiment a day after a rally took the Dow industrials above the key 9,000 mark.

Billionaire Bill Gates on Friday urged India to move away from low-cost labor toward high-end research and development to keep its giant IT sector competitive.

De Beers, the world's top diamond producer, said demand should pick up in the second half meaning it will not need more shareholder loans, when reporting tough markets had all but wiped out first-half profit.

Billionaire Bill Gates on Friday urged India to move away from low-cost labor toward high-end research and development to keep its giant IT sector competitive.

Schlumberger Ltd , the world's largest oilfield services provider, reported a 57 percent drop in quarterly earnings on Friday and said revenue declines were slowing, but it did not expect any rebound in spending by its oil- and gas-producing customers this year.

For the past six months or so, Wall Street has been bracing for what many fear may be the next shoe to drop on the already battered U.S. economy: a U.S. commercial real estate bust that could rival the housing market collapse.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Friday as disappointing results from Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc curbed sentiment a day after a rally took the Dow industrials above the key 9,000 mark.

Stock index futures rose slightly on Friday despite disappointing results from Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc , a day after a rally took the Dow industrials above 9,000.

Vodafone , the world's largest mobile phone firm by revenues, reported a slight decline in quarterly organic sales in line with muted expectations and reiterated its full-year outlook, lifting its shares on Friday.

The tech sector's road to recovery just got a lot bumpier.

World stocks pushed up to 9-month highs on Friday, cutting demand for government bonds as euro zone manufacturing and services reports beat expectations, fuelling optimism about economic recovery.

Vodafone , the world's largest mobile phone firm by revenues, reported a slight decline in organic sales, in line with muted market expectations, as strength in India and Africa compensated for European weakness.

Samsung Electronics , the world's biggest maker of memory chips and LCD screens, joined other top tech names to rein in growing optimism over the sector's recovery, even after delivering best quarterly profit in 2- years.

China's Beijing Auto said intellectual property issues were behind its failure to reach an deal with General Motors over its Opel unit.

Samsung Electronics , the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, posted its best quarterly profit in 2-½ years thanks to a turnaround in its memory chip business but maintained caution for the rest of the year.

U.S. criminal authorities are probing whether Corey Ribotsky, Managing Member of NIR Group, a Roslyn, New York hedge-fund, defrauded investors about their returns and the holdings of his various funds, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Samsung Electronics , the world's biggest maker of memory chips and LCD screens, joined other top tech names to rein in growing optimism over the sector's recovery, even after delivering best quarterly profit in 2- years.

Asian stocks hit a fresh 10-month peak on Friday, with Hong Kong vaulting back to levels last seen before the collapse of Lehman Brothers as investors rushed into equities following upbeat corporate earnings around the world.

Chinese Internet search leader Baidu Inc expects sales to grow faster than market forecasts in the third quarter, helped by rising customer acceptance of its new advertising system.

Asian stocks hit a 10-month peak on Friday, with Hong Kong vaulting back to levels last seen before the collapse of Lehman Brothers as investors rushed into equities following upbeat corporate earnings around the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the country would upgrade the defense of its allies in the Perisan Gulf if Iran develops a nuclear bomb, during a visit to Thailand for an Asian security conference on Wednesday.

CIT Group Inc , which is looking at selling off some assets, is most likely to sell its aviation-finance and rail-finance operations, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Microsoft Corp posted the first-ever drop in annual sales of Windows and its quarterly revenue fell a steeper-than-expected 17 percent as its business continued to be hurt by the weak global PC and server markets.

Corrects Microsoft's profit excluding items to 36 cents per share from 38 cents per share in first bullet point and paragraph 7

Amazon.com Inc reported on Thursday that net profit fell 10 percent to $142 million in the second quarter, or 32 cents per diluted share, compared with a net income of $158 million, or 37 cents per share in the second quarter of 2008.

Shares of American Express fell nearly 5 percent in after hours trading after reporting second quarter results on Thursday.

Sony Corp will likely invest more than 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in a planned liquid crystal display TV panel venture with Sharp Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

Network equipment maker Juniper Networks Inc's reported a double-digit fall in revenue and a decline in gross margin as it struggled with weak technology spending, and gave an outlook that disappointed investors looking for stronger signs of a recovery,

Chipmaker Broadcom Corp reported better-than-expected revenue quarterly revenue, but concerns about gross margins and expenses coupled with a sell-off in technology stocks helped push its shares lower on Thursday.