MORGAN STANLEY

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Medivation, Qualcomm, THQ, Qiagen, and Tesla Motors. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Dendreon, WebMD Health, Gentiva Health Services, Encore Capital Group, Fushi Copperweld, and Savient Pharmaceuticals.

The major US banks were particularly hammered.

U.S. and European shares took a breather on Friday after a strong rally on a long-awaited euro zone rescue deal, but a weak sale of Italian bonds showed investor confidence in the agreement was shaky.

U.S. stocks closed out a fourth week of gains in quiet fashion on Friday, edging higher as the market took a breather after rallying 3 percent on Europe's deal to stem its debt crisis.

Groupon Inc. is considering raising the price range of its initial public offering, as underwriters grow more confident about demand after completing the East Coast leg of a two-week road show to woo investors.

Japanese factory output fell in September for the first time since the devastating March earthquake, a sign the economy's recovery from the disaster is tailing off in the face of slowing global growth, the strong yen and Europe's lingering debt woes.

In the U.S., bank stocks performed especially superbly.

The Volcker rule has created a new battlefield over Wall Street pay that banks fear will send their star traders and hedge fund advisers fleeing.

Ford Motor Co. posted lower third-quarter earnings after misjudging the threat of higher commodity costs and writing down the value of hedge positions.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, supported by strong earnings from blue chip companies.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.03 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.1 percent at 0925 GMT (5:25 a.m. EDT).

Health insurer Cigna will buy HealthSpring for about $3.8 billion to jump-start its business selling Medicare plans for the elderly.

Are banks beyond repair? The largest U.S. financial companies did little to answer that question, delivering a mixed bag of quarterly results.

Groupon is finally moving forward with its IPO, which was filed back on June 2. The company has solved some of its profitability and sustainability issues, but is it enough?

U.S. stocks closed decidedly in the negative territory on Wednesday as high expectations regarding the Eurozone bailout were dimmed.

The United States pushed through its toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets in a tight vote on Tuesday, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.

Nasdaq index futures fell on Wednesday after technology heavyweight Apple missed earnings expectations, while the broader market was little changed after a big run-up in the last session on a report Europe may beef up its crisis fund.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday after strong gains in the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down 0.3 to 0.9 percent.

If there's nothing to fear but fear itself, as President Franklin Roosevelt contended during the Great Depression, then the world economy in 2011 has reached an interesting juncture between sentiment and reality.

The United States pushed through its toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets in a tight vote on Tuesday, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.

The U.S. is poised on Tuesday to push through the toughest measures yet to curtail speculation in commodity markets, likely shifting the focus of a fierce four-year debate from the regulators to the courts.