IBT Staff Reporter

Ford Motor Co. is ahead of where it expected to be in reducing an overhang of excess production capacity at this point in its turnaround effort and has made encouraging progress in stabilizing its U.S. market share, a senior executive said on Friday.

Shares of Office Depot Inc. fell nearly 5 percent on Friday, a day after the office supplies retailer said a soft U.S. economy will hurt its domestic sales and quarterly earnings.

Bank regulators tightened standards for mortgage lending on Friday in a bid to curtail risky practices that have been blamed for a record level of foreclosures.

Sanofi-Aventis SA is withdrawing its application to sell obesity drug rimonabant -- its biggest new drug hope -- in the United States, the French drugmaker said on Friday.

In a sign of the growing influence that restaurants have on how and where consumers spend their money, a major retail trade group has included for the first time six restaurant companies on its list of the top 100 retailers, released on Friday.

Shares of Apple Inc. and AT&T Inc. firmed more than 1 percent on Friday ahead of the release of the iPhone, amid expectations of growing demand for advanced, multi-feature wireless devices.

Commerce Bancorp Inc. on Friday announced the sudden departure of Chairman and Chief Executive Vernon Hill and said it had agreed with federal regulators on governance changes after coming under fire for its business dealings with insiders.

Oil rose to $71 a barrel on Friday as investors focused on falling gasoline inventories in top consumer the United States and a regional drop in crude stocks.

Japanese officials gathered on Friday to commemorate the latest step in the nation’s agriculture export push, as Japan resumed rice shipments to China this week following a four year ban.

A founder of payment processor NETeller Plc pleaded guilty on Friday to a conspiracy charge over the handling of billions of dollars in illegal gambling proceeds.

The filmmaker said he was barred from the New York Stock Exchange for an interview.

Liz Claiborne Inc. President Trudy Sullivan is leaving the company to become the chief executive of Talbots Inc., the apparel companies said on Friday.

A California judge has dismissed misdemeanor fraud charges against Hewlett-Packard Co.'s former ethics chief and two private investigators involved in the computer maker's hunt for the source of boardroom leaks, a prosecutor said on Friday.

Apple Inc.'s iPhone hits store shelves on Friday in a consumer spectacle that has whipped gadget fans into a frenzy over a device that challenges business as usual in the mobile phone industry.

Forty-five years ago, Private First Class Joe Dresnok got fed up with the U.S. Army and decided to try his luck on the other side of the demilitarized zone, in North Korea.

NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker has said the General Electric Co.-owned media group was constrained from matching News Corp.'s $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co. Inc. due to the size of the premium.

Marriott International Inc., the top U.S. hotel operator, said on Friday it would more than triple its hotel portfolio in India by the end of 2010 as it cashes in on rising business and leisure travel.

The yen faced fresh losses on Friday, while bonds were flat as investors put this week's wave of risk aversion behind them, comforted by a relatively neutral statement from the Federal Reserve.

Stock futures eased on Friday suggesting a fall on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday but flagged persistent price pressures, reducing the chances of a rate cut.

Ousted HealthSouth Corp. Chief Executive Richard Scrushy, acquitted two years ago in a major corporate fraud case, and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman were both sentenced to prison on Thursday for bribery.

The dollar strengthened against the low-yielding yen on Friday after the Federal Reserve reiterated its concern over persistent price pressures, suggesting little chance of an interest rate cut soon.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Thursday he is not too worried that its new iPhone mobile telephone will dampen sales of the popular iPod music and video players.

A tentative deal between News Corp. and Dow Jones & Co Inc. would give an independent board the power to approve the hiring and firing of top editors at The Wall Street Journal, three sources said on Thursday.

The U.S. economy grew slightly faster than previously estimated in the first quarter, but still at the weakest pace in more than four years and inflation was higher as well, data on Thursday showed.

KB Home, the No. 5 U.S. home builder, posted a quarterly net loss on Thursday, partly on land value-related charges that reflect the continuing decaying U.S. housing market.

Japanese teens in wizard costumes went into a frenzy at the premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' on Thursday, cheering actor Daniel Radcliffe whose coming of age is a big story on- and off-screen.

Court ruled the U.S. bank's 'Chinese Walls' were not breached when it traded shares in a company it knew was a takeover target.

General Mills Inc. on Thursday said quarterly profit edged higher, though increased marketing spending and higher commodity costs tempered the increase.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher market open on Thursday ahead of a packed agenda that includes the latest interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve.