FALL

U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as uncertainty gripped markets following Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's refusal to step down after more than two weeks of civil protests throughout the country.

World stocks fell for the third straight day on Friday partly on growing tensions in Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak disappointed protesters hoping he would resign, though oil and the dollar advanced. Partly because of the Egypt crisis, Asian stocks were on the course for their biggest weekly loss in nine months, but European shares were more resilient, on track for a second straight week of g...

World stocks fell for the third straight day on Friday partly on growing tensions in Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak disappointed protesters hoping he would resign, though oil and the dollar advanced. Partly because of the Egypt crisis, Asian stocks were on the course for their biggest weekly loss in nine months, but European shares were more resilient, on track for a second straight week of g...

PepsiCo Inc cut its earnings growth targets for 2011 and beyond on Thursday, citing soaring commodity costs and uncertainty about when the economic recovery on paper will actually be felt by consumers.

World stock markets fell hard on Thursday, with Hong Kong shares losing 2% and London's FTSE100 dropping 0.9% by lunchtime. Indian stock markets have lost more than $20 million per minute so far in 2011, the Economic Times reports, with billionaire Anil Ambani blaming vicious and illegal rumors.

A fall in South African thermal coal prices to $113 a tonne this week has started to draw out Indian buyers who have been sidelined since November, Indian traders said on Thursday.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday on disappointing earnings from Cisco and Credit Suisse before weekly jobless claims data.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as downbeat earnings from Cisco and Credit Suisse weighed ahead of data on the struggling jobs market.

Asian shares fell on Wednesday after China's latest interest rate rise, but government bond yields rose and the dollar and Swiss franc eased as investors bet Beijing's policy tightening would not derail hopes of a sustained economic recovery.

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.