South Africa's rand weakened to a near six-month low against the dollar on Friday, falling through key support and dragging local bonds down with it before recouping some losses as demand for longer dated paper picked up.
Visa Inc said on Wednesday quarterly profit rose 16 percent to $884 million, slightly beating expectations, as consumer spending ramped up and the company processed more transactions abroad.
Japan's Sony Corp is expected to post a 15 percent fall in October-December profit on Thursday, hurt by a stronger yen and tough price competition in the flat TV market.
British carpet and floor covering retailer Carpetright Plc said it expects full-year profits to be below last year and below market expectations, citing lower third quarter sales due to adverse weather conditions and fragile consumer confidence.
BP's existing Russian partners won a UK court bar on its planned Arctic oil venture with state-controlled Rosneft on Tuesday, prompting conciliatory offers from the British oil company.
Israel, which has been at peace with Egypt since 1979, has expressed its support for the beleaguered regime of President Hosni Mubarak, while its allies in Europe and the U.S. have more aggressively pushed Mubarak to enact reforms in the face of a massive uprising.
Brent crude futures climbed near $100 a barrel on Monday and Asian stocks fell, hit by fears of unrest throughout the Middle East sparked by deadly protests in Egypt.
The ruling elite of Syria are likely monitoring the cataclysmic events in Egypt with both astonishment and fear
Microsoft Corp shares fell more than 4 percent to a six-week low on Friday, dragging down much of the tech sector, as investors fretted about the strength of the company's core Windows franchise and the broader threat to personal computers from tablets.
China is making a progress in balancing its trade position as companies target domestic consumers, and its trade surplus will fall to $150 billion this year, China's central bank adviser said.
Microsoft Corp shares fell 3.5 percent on Friday as its better-than-expected profit was overshadowed by worries it is failing to cope with threats from hot areas like tablet computing.
SanDisk Corp reported a higher-than-expected profit on strong demand for mobile devices, but shares of the flash memory supplier fell 3 percent as margins disappointed investors.
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as harsh weather conditions in some parts of the country kept workers at home and caused a backlog in the processing of claims, a government report showed on Thursday.
AT&T Inc set a disappointing profit target after adding fewer wireless subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter, hinting at the troubles it may face once Verizon Wireless starts selling Apple Inc's iPhone.
Retail sales in debt-stricken Spain fell sharply in December 2010, recording a decline in sales for the sixth consecutive month.
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc
posted a profit for the fourth quarter, but its shares fell almost 4 percent after it warned it would revert to a loss again in the current quarter, as it faces new competition from the Apple Inc iPhone.Singer Jimmy Buffett has been released from a Sydney hospital on Wednesday after suffering a head injury the previous day, according to a statement from his official website.
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc
posted a profit for the fourth quarter, but its shares fell almost 4 percent after it warned it would revert to a loss again in the current quarter, as it faces new competition from the Apple Inc iPhone.Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc
warned it would post a quarterly loss again in the current quarter, as it faces new competition from the Apple Inc iPhone, sending its shares down almost 6 percent.American singer Jimmy Buffett has been hospitalized in Sydney, Australia after he tumbled off the front of the stage during a concert on Tuesday.
Eastman Kodak Co reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss and a 25 percent drop in revenue on poor digital and licensing sales, sending shares down as much as 19 percent.
Verizon Communications' quarterly revenue was slightly behind Wall Street's expectations, even as it reported stronger-than-expected wireless subscriber growth.
