IBT Staff Reporter

China has confirmed that Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso will make a trip to Beijing next week. It is his first official visit to China since taking office in September.

A deadly swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing at least 16 people and raising fears of a possible pandemic. World Health Organization officials said the flu has killed about 60 Mexicans.

Diversified U.S. manufacturers 3M Co and Honeywell International Inc have joined the growing throng of industrials that said the economy has deteriorated more quickly than expected and cut their 2009 profit forecasts.

Ford Motor Co posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it was on track to at least break even in 2011 and did not expect to seek U.S. government loans, sending its shares up as much as 20 percent.

European ambassadors approved a European Union plan to ban imports of furs and other products from culled seals on Friday, moving the 27-nation bloc one step closer to a trade clash with Norway and Canada.

Stocks rose on Friday on better-than-expected results from companies, including American Express and Schlumberger, as economic data raised hopes the economic cycle may have hit a trough.

U.S. banks undergoing stress tests that need more capital will be encouraged to first go to their current stakeholders, possibly through conversions of preferred stakes to common equity, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair said on Friday.

The top deputy to the confessed swindler Bernard Madoff is trying to negotiate a plea bargain with federal prosecutors under which he would disclose intimate details of his boss's giant Ponzi scheme, Fortune magazine said on Friday.

A Swiss insurance worker lost her job after surfing popular social network site Facebook while off sick, her employer said on Friday.

Arch Coal Inc said quarterly profit dropped 62 percent due to weak coal demand and higher costs, and the company forecast full-year earnings well below Wall Street expectations.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp named former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta as chief executive of the MySpace online social network on Friday, replacing co-founder Chris DeWolfe.

Seven people have been diagnosed with a new kind of swine flu in California and Texas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

UBS is aggressively seeking out business in the biotech sector, risking its capital to win deals amid cut-throat competition.

Xerox Corp forecast a weaker-than-expected second-quarter profit and cut its full-year profit outlook nearly in half as its customers delay purchasing printing equipment and supplies.

U.S. banks undergoing stress tests that need more capital will be encouraged to first go to their current stakeholders, possibly through conversions of preferred stakes to common equity, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair said on Friday.

Global finance chiefs pointed to glimmers of hope that a deep recession might be easing but warned ahead of Friday meetings that they must clean up bank balance sheets to pave the way for recovery.

U.S. telecoms carrier AT&T Inc has set the size of a planned two-part bond at 1.85 billion pounds ($2.7 billion), IFR reported on Friday.

The inventory of new U.S. homes for sale at the end of the March plummeted at a record pace, government data showed on Friday, bringing a glimmer of hope of improvement in the housing market even as data on durable goods sales showed weakness in the economy as a whole.

Stocks extended gains on Friday on better-than-expected results from companies, including American Express and Ford, and reassuring economic data boosted hopes the recession is showing signs of abating.

Former vice president Al Gore testified before the Congress on Friday that he supports a climate legislation which he says, will solve problems with the economy, climate and national security.

U.S. software company Microsoft still sees value in a potential partnership with Yahoo even though it is no longer wants to buy it, chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Friday.

Stocks rose on Friday on better-than-expected results from companies including American Express and Ford as reassuring data on manufacturing and housing boosted hopes the recession is showing signs of abating.

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes dropped 0.6 percent in March, but the stock of homes for sale at the end of the month still plummeted at a record pace, Commerce Department data showed on Friday.

Stocks extended gains on Friday, sending benchmark indexes up more than 1 percent, as a report on March new home sales suggested some stabilization in the housing market.

American Electric Power (AEP) one of the largest electric utilities in the country, reported earnings of $360 million or 89 cents per share for 2009 first quarter, compared to $573 million or $1.43 per share in the same period last year.

With a week remaining for Chrysler LLC to clinch a deal with Italy's Fiat , the U.S. automaker is readying a bankruptcy plan but still focused on reaching an alliance with the support of the Obama administration, people with knowledge of the discussions said on Thursday.

North Korea will stay away from international nuclear disarmament talks, Russia's foreign minister said on Friday after visiting the secretive state and pressing Pyongyang to return to the sputtering discussions.

Grammy-nominated gospel singer and composer the Rev. Timothy Wright died yesterday at Bronx Veterans Hospital at the age of 61.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International Inc reported a 38 percent drop in profit and cut its full-year earnings forecast to more closely match analysts' expectations, citing the weak economy.