IBT Staff Reporter

The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 climbed to session highs on Friday, with investors encouraged by a consumer survey that added to hopes that the U.S. economy may be stabilizing and fueled expectations for more upbeat first-quarter corporate results.

Citigroup Inc reported a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss for shareholders as cost-cutting and improved investment banking and trading results helped offset red ink from consumer banking and credit cards.

Two influential investor advisory groups recommended on Friday that Bank of America Corp shareholders vote to strip CEO Kenneth Lewis of his chairman role, adding to pressure on the bank's leader following the controversial buyout of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Two influential investor advisory groups recommended on Friday that Bank of America Corp shareholders vote to strip CEO Kenneth Lewis of his chairman role, adding to pressure on the bank's leader following the controversial buyout of Merrill Lynch & Co.

U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, called on Friday for an Arab peace initiative to be part of a planned U.S. drive to create a Palestinian state.

Steven Rattner, who leads the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the executives involved with payments being probed by New York state and federal regulators in an alleged pension kickback scheme, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the investment firm executives involved with payments now under scrutiny in a state and federal investigation into an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that innovation in credit markets must not be stifled, but complexity designed to confuse customers and drive up lending fees would not be tolerated.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that innovation in credit markets must not be stifled, but complexity designed to confuse customers and drive up lending fees would not be tolerated.

General Motors Corp Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said on Friday the automaker could still restructure out of court, but warned it was more probable GM may need to seek bankruptcy protection to complete that process.

Corrects list of core brands planned for GM in paragraph 3 to include Buick, remove Pontiac

Stocks fell on Friday as investors paused to reassess the sustainability of the recent spate of upbeat profits and whether or not the banks have turned a corner, following mixed results from Citigroup .

EBay Inc may be hungry to jettison its ill-fitting acquisition of Skype and refocus on its core markets and payment businesses. But selling off in an initial public offering the Web communications company that now boasts more than 400 million members worldwide may not be the best outcome for existing shareholders.

After nearly two years in the financial wilderness, what was once America’s largest bank is making a profit again, reporting its “best overall quarter” since the financial crisis began, with a net income of $1.6 billion for the first three months of 2009, Chief executive Vikram Pandit said in a company report released Friday.

U.S. consumers have more confidence in the economy than what they had for the past seven months, but overall sentiment is still dismal, according to a survey released on Friday by University of Michigan and Reuters.

Oil company Shell has amassed up to 10 cargoes or about 6 million barrels of Forties benchmark crude oil from the North Sea, possibly for storage, over the past two weeks, traders said on Friday.

A court in Sweden has jailed four men behind The Pirate Bay for one year after finding them guilty of assisting in making copyright content available.

Mattel Inc posted better gross margins on Friday as it kept a tight lid on costs and inventory in the first quarter, cheering investors to overlook a wider-than-expected loss for the period.

Sony Ericsson will take some time developing a phone using Google's Android operating system, its chief executive said on Friday, but declined to say when such a handset would be available.

Media General Inc reported a wider net loss on Friday and an 18 percent drop in revenue because of falling newspaper advertising sales, sending its shares down 10 percent.

Most businesses are keeping up efforts to improve the energy efficiency of their information technology, despite having less available capital due to the slowdown, a survey by research group Gartner Inc. shows.

Four men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing websites, were each sentenced to a year in jail on Friday for breaching copyright, and ordered to pay $3.6 million in compensation.

Stocks fell on Friday as investors paused to reassess the sustainability of the recent spate of upbeat profits and whether or not the banks have turned a corner, following mixed results from Citigroup .

The push to add more renewable wind and solar megawatts to the U.S. electric mix will force changes in the way the power grid operates to keep electricity flowing reliably, said an industry watchdog on Thursday.

U.S. consumers have more confidence in the U.S. economy than they have had since the sudden collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, which caused the near-implosion of the global banking system, a survey showed on Friday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO Friday that planned military exercises in Georgia were an attempt at muscle-flexing by the Western alliance that could hinder efforts to mend ties.

Leaders from across the Americas gathered for a summit on Friday after the United States and Cuba said they were ready to talk to try to end a conflict that has marked the hemisphere for half a century.

General Electric Co reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as strength at its energy equipment business offset falling earnings at its hefty finance arm and the NBC Universal media unit.

Pakistan secured more than $5 billion in fresh aid over two years at a donors conference on Friday after President Asif Ali Zardari vowed to step up the fight against militants.