IBT Staff Reporter

The yield advantage of the two-year Treasury note over the comparable-maturity German bund increased 5.6 basis points to 6.2 basis points today. The bund yielded 12 basis points more than the Treasury note on Sept. 27. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

The employment portion of the Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing businesses rose to 52.7 in September from 47.9 the prior month, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said Oct. 3. Services industries make up almost 90 percent of the U.S. economy.

The dollar posted the biggest weekly gain against the euro in more than a month on signs the economy is weathering the housing slump.

Safety concerns following a spate of recalls of toys made in China are unlikely to have a big impact on holiday shopping, according to a new survey.

Several people were killed in a gunbattle between soldiers and suspected drug smugglers in northern Mexico on Friday,

Jim O'Shaughnessy, author of the 2005 business bestseller What works on Wall Street and star money manager at Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), is leaving the investment bank to set up his own asset-management shop -- but he won't leave empty handed.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila sacked his transport minister on Friday as the death toll from the latest air accident in the central African country rose to more than 50.

Willis Ochieng, 10, scavenges through smoking refuse piled as high as a house at one of Africa's biggest rubbish mountains, his friends sitting nearby sucking on dirty plastic bottles of noxious yellow glue.

Chile's leading brewer, CCU, has signed an agreement to buy Argentine brewer Inversora Cervecera (ICSA) for $88 million, CCU said in a statement late on Thursday.

Washington Mutual Inc, one of the largest U.S. mortgage lenders, said on Friday it expects a 75 percent drop in quarterly income on losses and write-downs on mortgage loans and securities.

Britain's Barclays is confident of an independent future, its chief executive said on Friday, dismissing speculation that its failure to win control of ABN AMRO could leave it vulnerable to takeover.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd shot up almost 10 percent on Friday as investors digested yet another solid set of quarterly results from the company, as well as a strong forecast for the upcoming quarter.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party dismissed the Myanmar junta's offer of talks as surreal on Friday, as a U.N. envoy warned of "serious international consequences" from its brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters.

The dream of a shorter shipping route through melting Arctic ice is, for now, too difficult, too dangerous and totally impractical.

The recording industry has won a major fight in its effort to stop illegal music downloading with a U.S. jury decision to impose $222,000 damages against a Minnesota woman who used a Web service to share music.

Merrill Lynch & Co said on Friday it would post a third-quarter loss after writing down $4.5 billion in collateralized debt obligations and subprime mortgage holdings.

Pakistan's Supreme Court the President could stand for a re-election vote but his eligibility was still in question.

Yahoo Inc would be worth far more to shareholders if it broke up its Internet businesses or embarked on a major overhaul, including a departure from Web search, but management is unlikely to do either, according to an analyst note issued on Friday.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said on Friday moderate growth should return to the U.S. economy after a period of weakness due to a prolonged housing slump and higher borrowing costs.

Oil fell on Friday after stronger than expected U.S. employment data boosted the weak U.S. dollar.

Treasury debt prices plunged on Friday after a much stronger reading on the labor market suggested the Federal Reserve might not need to cut interest rates later this month.

U.S. employers added 110,000 new jobs in September and hiring in the two previous months was revised up strongly, the government said on Friday in a report showing a more resilient labor market than previously thought. The surprisingly robust report on monthly hiring outside the farm sector sent bond prices higher and stock futures soaring.

Britain's Barclays has conceded defeat in the seven-month battle for Dutch bank ABN AMRO, as rivals led by Royal Bank of Scotland move in to clinch the world's biggest bank takeover.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd reported a second-quarter profit on Thursday that beat expectations, as it broke the 10-million subscriber mark and predicted strength for the rest of the year.

After months of negotiations between Deutsche Bahn and the train driver's union GDL didn't bring a conclusion, the GDL decided to strike again. And the nearly sole operator of the extensive German railway system Deutsche Bahn issued another lawsuit to avert the strike in response. The GDL announced a nationwide rail strike for tomorrows Friday, and the labor court in the city of Chemnitz will begin the trial this afternoon. It depends on the outcome of this trial if the GDL can proceed with their plans.

Stocks barely budged on Thursday as investors shied away from making big bets before Friday's jobs data that could shed light on the economy and the outlook for interest rates.

A growing sense of urgency is pushing world leaders to agree a new treaty to fight climate change but the U.S. presidential election might still foil hopes of a deal by the end of 2009, experts say.

World stocks held just below this week's record high on Thursday while the euro was steady as investors bet the worst of the credit crisis is over and looked to the European Central Bank chief for clues on monetary policy.

Gold rebounded to trade higher on Thursday after hitting two-week lows, as the metal's allure as an alternative investment rose with a drop in the dollar.