IBT Staff Reporter

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.

Shares in HSBC Holdings nudged higher early on Friday after U.S. activist investor Knight Vinke Asset Management made acall for Europe's biggest bank to review its strategy.

Clothing company Jones Apparel Group Inc said it expects after-tax proceeds, net of transaction expenses, of about $840 million as it completed the sale of its Barneys New York Inc unit.

PepsiCo Inc said on Friday it was launching new drinks, including the caffeinated Propel Invigorating Water and a lighter version of the Gatorade sports beverage.

Home builder Beazer Homes USA Inc said on Friday it received purported default notices related to some senior notes from the bank that serves as trustee for the notes, sending shares down as much as 15 percent.

The U.S. Congress is looking into Mattel Inc's procedures for alerting federal regulators about hazardous toys, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday.

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it may take decades to tackle software piracy in large emerging economies despite some recent progress and called on Asian governments to invest more in policing the practice.

Advantage Partners is closer to winning regulator's approval for its $2.5 billion acquisition of regional lender Tokyo Star Bank Ltd after several breakthroughs in recent weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Employers cut 4,000 jobs in August, the first time in four years that monthly hiring contracted, the government said on Friday in a report certain to boost pressure on Federal Reserve policy makers to cut interest rates.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current market turmoil is identical in many ways to that which occurred in 1987 and 1998, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Friday.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs defended his company's decision on Thursday to cut the price of the iPhone device by $200 this week, but offered existing buyers a $100 store credit and an apology after some complained of the sudden drop.

Chrysler added Toyota's top American executive to its ranks on Thursday, hiring James Press as its new vice-Chairman and President in a bid to steer the newly private, but struggling company as it attempts a comeback.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said on Thursday it will fire another 850 workers, or about 3 percent of its work force, as it scales back its mortgage lending efforts globally.

The commercial paper market has shrunk 13 percent in the past month as U.S. companies struggle to raise short-term capital, according to data released on Thursday.

Auto parts maker Delphi Corp said it would file a reorganization plan on Thursday that lays out a definitive agreement with former parent General Motors Corp and a path to exiting bankruptcy by the end of the year.

The dollar fell to a one-month low on Thursday as rising mortgage delinquencies and ongoing credit concerns stoked fear of slower U.S. economic growth ahead of a keenly awaited employment report.

Oil rose slightly on Thursday as profit-taking cut into an earlier rally driven by rising tensions between Syria and Israel and a drop in U.S. inventories.

U.S. stocks and Treasury bond prices fell on Thursday after a stronger-than-expected reading of the U.S. services sector and a lower jobless claims number suggested the U.S. economy may not warrant a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut.

European Central Bank kept options open on a future rate move on Thursday, stressing his anti-inflation commitment but saying volatile markets meant the ECB needed more time to think.

Asia-Pacific ministers agreed on Thursday to accelerate global free-trade talks, saying that negotiations were at a crucial and probably final phase.

Twenty-one years after Chernobyl, the industry says nuclear power is clean, safe energy alternative.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Thursday that Beijing took product safety very seriously, as Asia Pacific ministers agreed to set up a food safety taskforce to ensure the health and safety of the region's population.

China has been overwhelmed by the storm of criticism and level of interest in recent product safety problems, but it will be a good learning experience, a public relations executive said on Thursday.

Leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit appeared deadlocked on Thursday over what their Sydney Declaration on climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions should say.

Turmoil in the credit markets will take a toll on the U.S. economy but the full impact will not be clear for another two or three months, William Rhodes, senior vice chairman of Citigroup Inc, said on Thursday.