IBT Staff Reporter

Jessica Simpson made a positive comeback on Thursday night, following a week of media frenzy over her figure.

Rio Tinto Group agreed to sell assets in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay to Vale de Rio Doce for $1.6 billion in cash, the company said in a statement Friday.

Several important Japanese indicators were released overnight including industrial production, unemployment rate and inflation (see below for details). The releases make horrible reading.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said its fourth-quarter net income fell 33 percent to $7.82 billion, on lower oil prices in the last months of 2008, but managed to break its own profit record for a U.S. company.

Looking ahead, the chairman of Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche Holding said Friday it expects to have financing ready when its needed in the company's hostile takeover bid for U.S.-based Genentech.

Bonus payments on Wall St. have become controversial in the midst of an economic crisis with a top level executive today saying that they are reasonable but need changes to ensure the long-term interests of the business.

Overall, the dollar continues to strengthen overnight. The only exception among the majors is the pound, which rose after some very good economic reports coming from the U.K. Ahead, the market is likely to become very volatile, especially during the U.S. open, when some important releases are scheduled.

Release Explanation: Measures the number of jobs created, or the percentage of employed/unemployed in the labor market. Over time the Employment Data will affect all economic releases, it does however take time for labor trends to form.

Release Explanation: CPI measures the average price of a fixed market basket of goods and services purchased by consumers, and therefore give an overall read of Inflationary pressures. It is the most widely used Inflation indicator of Central Banks

On Thursday Somali pirates hijacked a tanker and its crew of 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian in the Gulf of Aden, a diplomat said.

On Thursday a representative for actor Patrick Swayze denied widespread reports that the actor had halted treatment for pancreatic cancer after doctors told him there was nothing more to be done.

Indian police alleged Thursday that two auditors working for an Indian unit of PriceWaterhouseCoopers colluded with the company's Chairman to perpetrate fraud at Satyam Computer Services.

Pharmaceutical firms added to uncertainty in their industry on Thursday after Astrazeneca announced major job cuts and Eli Lilly & Co. reported a fourth quarter loss.

The Swiss government told investment bank UBS it may have to slash bonuses by more than 80 percent after taking state aid, the Financial Times reports.

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. recorded higher than expected results during the fourth quarter, as profit grew 8.7 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted a fourth quarter net loss of $2.81 billion or 44 cents a share in the fourth quarter

Bank of America is planning to defer 2008 bonus payments to some staff at its capital-markets and investment banking units, the Financial Times reported quoting executives familiar with the matter.

The number of unemployed American workers receiving benefits from the government hit the highest level since 1967, when the government began to keep the records.

Eli Lilly and Co. had a net loss of $3.629 billion in the fourth quarter citing charges from the acquisition of ImClone Systems Inc.

President Barack Obama called Wall Street corporate decisions to pay employees more than $18 billion in bonuses last year 'shameful' and 'the height of irresponsibility' even as the firms receive billions of dollars in bailout money to move beyond the current economic crisis.

Georgia Basketball Coach, Dennis Felton has been fired, after the team lost by 26 points at Florida for its seventh straight defeat.

Chef Sam Kass, 28, joins the White House, as part of President Obama's kitchen cabinet, a spokeswoman for first lady Michelle Obama, Katie McCormick Lelyveld said Wednesday.

Actress Cobie Smulders, 26, who plays Robin Scherbatsky on CBS sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother', has been engaged to her actor boyfriend Taran Killam, People reports.

I head to the Red Mountain Spa outside St. George, Utah in search of energy, adventure, pampering, and time with my daughter. A spa holiday can be so many different experiences. Which would I find the week before Christmas at this desert retreat?

My private balcony on this long admired cliff of Anacapri is welcoming. I can make out Mt. Vesuvius in the distance and the Bay of Naples spreads below me. The Italian sun blesses the island with its steady rays and I remain still on my perch to take it all in. This moment of suspension is provided by the Caesar Augustus Hotel.

The Riviera Maya is as idyllic and exotic as it sounds. Nestled on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, this region characterized by powdery white sand beaches, turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea and lush....

This was the luxury journey to end all luxury trips: staying at at four of the best resorts in New Zealand – three of them judged among the best hideaway spots in the world.

Who wouldn't love sailing on a luxury cruise ship – especially over the holidays? We recently spent 16 days sailing in ultra-luxurious style on Regent Seven Seas Cruises, on the Mariner, from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal (www.rssc.com)

We've sailed on many cruise lines, but we hadn't, until now, sailed with Princess Cruises. We were in for a most enjoyable treat, and now, after having had such a marvelous experience, we highly recommend this ship to others. Using some of the terminology given to precious gems of all kinds, we will illustrate our many points based on this analogy. One thing's clear – the sparkling brand new R...