IBT Staff Reporter

Gold hit a 16-month high above $700 per ounce on Friday, boosted by a falling dollar after U.S. data showing a surprise contraction in U.S. non-farm payrolls for the first time in four years.

Oil prices rose on Friday as tight supplies in the United States countered worries about a possible economic recession in the world's top energy consumer.

The dollar slid to a 15-year low against major currencies on Friday as data showed U.S. payrolls fell last month for the first time in four years, raising recession fears and pressure for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

Payrolls shrank in August for the first time in four years, the government reported on Friday, prompting calls for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates before credit market turmoil drags the economy into recession.

Sony Corp needs to establish an unwavering marketing strategy for its PlayStation 3 game machine to drive growth of its console business, the head of Japanese videogame publisher Square Enix Co Ltd said.

Apple Inc's hefty iPhone price cut pits it in direct competition with handsets from Motorola Inc and Palm Inc, which are struggling to convince Wall Street they can turn around their aging brands.

Nippon Steel Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. have agreed to price rises of more than 10 percent for car-use steel, media said, raising the prospect of steelmakers' earnings upgrades later this year.

China's booming economy is creating more than 70 millionaires a day, but foreign banks don't have enough products, client managers or offices to tap into the market for top-end private wealth services.

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's third-largest PC maker, said on Thursday its nascent overseas consumer market will grow eventually to match the dominate position it enjoys in its home market.

The U.S. Senate voted 79-12 on Friday to slash government subsidies to student loan firms and use the money saved to boost student aid by $20 billion and reduce the federal deficit.

Exchange owner OMX wrote to a Swedish regulator saying it had not tried to interfere with Borse Dubai's takeover bid, according to a copy of the letter.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, which has one of the largest U.S. student lending operations, said on Friday it will hire up to 150 Indianapolis-based workers from Nelnet Inc to expand its loan-origination operations.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc, one of the largest independent U.S. mortgage lenders, plans to cut 1,000 jobs and halve its dividend, and may report a third-quarter loss, as loan volumes decline and credit markets remain tight.

Asia-Pacific officials agreed on Friday to a draft climate statement which reaffirms a U.N. treaty on fighting global warming, while urging non-binding aspirational targets for greenhouse gas reductions, a delegate said.

Chrysler has lured another high-profile executive, this time from Asia, into its ranks on Friday, following a similar move a day earlier as the company seeks to revive its struggling operations.

Bush administration officials on Friday sought to ease fears the U.S. was tipping into recession after a government report showed the economy shed jobs for the first time in four years last month.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday said he was not totally surprised about the decline in jobs in August given housing troubles and less government hiring, but he still sees the U.S. economy as healthy.

Stocks tumbled on Friday, driving major indexes down nearly 2 percent, as data showing the first monthly drop in payrolls in four years stoked fears on Wall Street that the economy was headed into recession.

Leap Wireless International Inc said on Friday it will review MetroPCS Communications Inc's unsolicited offer to buy Leap for about $5.4 billion in stock.

Motorola Inc. is aiming to cut its quarterly research and development expenses for mobile devices 15 percent to help it return to profitability, the head of the company's handset business said on Friday.

Consumers may face high heating bills this winter if refinery outages prevent companies from rebuilding inventories before the cold sets in.

A surprise decline in payrolls in August could frighten already jittery consumers into shutting their wallets tight, a move that could push sales down to recession levels during the key holiday shopping season.

Two strong earthquakes rattled Taiwan's capital and the north of the island on Friday, disrupting communications though no casualties or serious damage were reported.

Asia-Pacific leaders will fire a shot in the battle against corruption at their weekend summit, endorsing a code of conduct banning companies from paying bribes to speed up deals or making dubious political contributions.

The Bush administration granted authority late on Thursday for long haul Mexican trucks to operate anywhere in the United States, launching a one-year pilot program that some members of Congress, labor and consumer groups assert shortchanges safety.

At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Bush said he would consider a peace treaty with North Korea if it gave up nuclear arms.

U.S. regulators plan to probe how the major credit-rating agencies are paid and their independence from Wall Street firms that issue bonds, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday.

Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc said on Friday that 2007 earnings would come in 4 percent to 6 percent lower than last year because of tough times for U.S. consumers, sending its shares down 7 percent.

Leap Wireless International Inc said on Friday that its chief financial officer had resigned as the company continues to review an unsolicited takeover bid from MetroPCS Communications Inc for about $5.4 billion in stock.