Sony and Toshiba reported losses for the last quarter and Nintendo lowered its profit forecast as the earnings season revealed the extent of the erosion in demand.

The company posted strong earnings in a brutal climate that has punished nearly every other retailer, both online and offline.

The recession in the U.S. has revealed a downside to globalization, and poorer countries fear their access to credit will be stymied.

Japan's industrial output declined 9.6% in December - the biggest fall since records began - as exports slumped.

Reuters - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG launched a hostile bid for Genentech on Friday and lowered its offer for the remaining 44 percent of the U.S. biotechnology company it does not already own.

Reuters - Honda Motor Co lowered its annual profit forecasts for a fourth time this year, while rival Toyota Motor Corp's losses are growing as sliding global car sales force the industry to scale back production further.

Reuters - Fannie Mae reached an agreement to work with one of its former critics, Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America, to prevent foreclosures by reworking home mortgages to make them easier to afford, the Wall Street Journal said.

Honda lowered its profit forecast for the fourth time this year, foreshadowing what is expected to be a dismal earnings season for Japanese automakers.

Hitachi is to cut up to 7,000 jobs, as it warns it expects to make an annual loss of 700bn yen ($7.8bn) due to a big fall in global sales.

Friday is the last day at work for staff at Honda in Swindon for four months as an extended shutdown takes effect.

Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods from US factories fell in December for the fifth month in a row.

Pre-tax profits at specialist software provider Misys jump to £67m in the six months to the end of November

Reuters - Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG cut the price of its bid for outstanding shares in Genentech on Friday, confounding investor hopes of a sweetened offer for the 44 percent of the U.S. biotech company Roche does not already own.

Reuters - Japan sank deeper into recession with industrial output tumbling and inflation slipping to almost zero, while U.S. data later on Friday was also expected to mirror the worsening financial crisis.

Mexican cement maker Cemex posts its first quarterly loss in a decade amid lower demand and a strong dollar.

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) expects to report a loss for the current financial year amid falling demand for international travel.

The number of new mortgages approved for home buyers picked up slightly in December, says the Bank of England.

World leaders must have the 'confidence to act' to deal with the global recession, Gordon Brown says.

Reuters - Roche cut the price of its bid for outstanding shares in Genentech , going hostile and dashing investor hopes of a sweetened offer for the 44 percent of the U.S. biotech group its does not already own.

Reuters - Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up between 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent, pointing to a positive start on Wall Street.

Reuters - Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are considering further cuts in staff, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The plight of Japan?s economy deepened Friday as the NEC Corporation, the computer maker, announced 20,000 job cuts and Honda lowered its profit forecast.

The HSBC chairman says the current financial rules must be 'fundamentally revised' as they had deepened the financial crisis.

Unemployment across the nations that share the euro rises to its highest level in more than two years, as more firms lay off staff.

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) expects to report a loss for the current financial year amid falling demand for international travel.

Consumer confidence is at its lowest ebb since the late 1970s, a survey claims, with young people among the gloomiest.

Reuters - S&P stock futures extended declines on Friday after quarterly results showed sales at Honeywell and Procter and Gamble fell short of estimates.

Reuters - Japan sank deeper into recession with industrial output tumbling at a record pace and inflation near zero, while data was expected to show the U.S. economy contracting at its fastest rate in 26 years.

Gross domestic product shrank at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the government reported, the sharpest contraction in 26 years.

Slowing consumption hurt profits at Chevron and Exxon, which reported a fourth-quarter profit of $7.8 billion, though its profit for the year was $45.2 billion, a U.S. record.

Quarterly profit rose 53 percent, helped by the sale of the Folgers coffee business, but sales in the period dropped 3 percent.

With clients watching costs, law firms are rethinking the billable hour, with some firms adopting flat fees instead.

Quarterly earnings rose 2.6 percent to $707 million as lower costs offset falling sales in most of the manufacturer?s divisions amid a worsening recession.

Earnings still beat Wall Street?s expectations despite a softening U.S. coal market that has Arch expecting to cut its domestic production this year.

The company said it expects to take write-downs of as much as $5.9 billion to reflect the declining value of its newspapers.

US economic output fell 3.8% in the last three months of 2008, the worst quarterly contraction in more than 26 years.

Spain needs to learn from others to cut unemployment

The Office of Fair Trading asks 16 firms offering sale and rent back deals to backup claims made in adverts.

Reuters - Exxon Mobil Corp , the world's largest publicly traded company, said on Friday its fourth-quarter net income fell 33 percent as a steep drop in crude oil prices hurt results.

Reuters - Wall Street inched higher at the open on Friday after data showed the economy shrank less than expected in the fourth quarter, but still contracted at the fastest pace in nearly 27 years.

Reuters - Sliding car sales dealt fresh blows on Friday to the earnings of top auto makers caught in the worst industry downturn in decades.

Reuters - Procter & Gamble Co posted a profit that missed Wall Street estimates on Friday and cut its full year earnings forecast due to weaker demand, pushing shares down more than 3 percent.

Gross domestic product shrank at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the government reported, the sharpest contraction in 26 years.

Exxon?s fourth-quarter income fell 33 percent as prices dropped, but its profit for the year was $45.2 billion, a U.S. record.

The move by Roche dashes investor hopes of a sweetened offer for the 44 percent of the U.S. biotech group its does not already own.

Shares could not hold their early gains as investors reacted to new earnings reports as well as the government?s latest G.D.P. data.

The recession in the U.S. has revealed a downside to globalization, and poorer countries fear their access to credit will be stymied.

The challenge for the Obama administration is transforming the economy when Wall Street and Silicon Valley aren?t able to.

The largest U.S. mall owner reported a 6.5 percent increase in quarterly funds from operations, citing cost controls and curtailed spending on development.

President Obama calls the US recession a 'continuing disaster' for the US and urges immediate action.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for the creation of a United Nations Economic Council, modelled on the Security Council.

Germany's Porsche becomes the latest car company to cut back its worker hours amid falling global demand.

Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company, reports a sharp fall in quarterly profits but breaks its own record for full year results.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Friday after news that the economy shrank at its fastest pace in nearly 27 years while downbeat data and earnings reinforced apprehension about the plight of consumers and manufacturers.

Reuters - Business activity in the Midwest contracted in January and at a more severe rate than expected, a report showed on Friday.

Reuters - Top executives meeting in Davos say the bonus culture that drove financial investments on Wall Street faces a major overhaul as bankers humbled by the financial crisis prepare to curb excessive pay.

AP - Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said it will allow some borrowers to rent out their homes after losing them to foreclosure.

Until this week, American Express scrutinized how its cardholders spent money, searching for similarities to other customers with bill-paying problems.

The president sought to further distance himself from his predecessor as he announced steps that he said would strengthen organized labor.

Roche said it would pay a lower price than it had offered last July for the 44 percent of Genentech it does not already own and that it would go directly to shareholders with its offer.

Will the US learn the lessons of the l930s?

Lean times beckon for Dublin after the boom years

Staff at Honda in Swindon begin a four-month break from work as an extended shutdown takes effect.

Norway's state investment fund blacklists US firm Textron, owner of planemaker Cessna, and Canadian mining firm Barrick Gold.

Reuters - Stocks hit a session low on Friday, led lower by the financial sector after CNBC reported that the government may put on hold a proposal to set up a 'bad bank' that would take over toxic assets.

Reuters - Oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp posted higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday as refining profits helped offset a steep decline in crude oil prices.

Stocks slumped for a second day on Friday as investors took a milder-than-expected reading on the economy as a sign that the worst is yet to come.

Roche said it would pay a lower price than it had offered last July for the 44 percent of Genentech it does not already own and that it would go directly to shareholders with its offer.

While his counterparts at other big hedge funds are trying to figure out whether they can stay in business, the fund manager John Paulson continues to rack up enormous profits.

Corporate bosses across the globe fear that this downturn may be fundamental, not just cyclical.

Reuters - Stocks tumbled for a second straight day on Friday as a report saying a plan to relieve banks of money-losing assets may be put on hold compounded investor fears about fallout from the deepening recession.

Reuters - A top U.S. business group stepped up efforts on Friday to kill a 'Buy American' provision that has angered U.S. trading partners, and the White House said it was reviewing its position on the measure.

Reuters - Oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp posted higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday as refining profits helped offset a steep decline in crude oil prices.

Stocks slumped for a second day on Friday as investors took a milder-than-expected reading on the economy as a sign that the worst is yet to come.

Wall Street earned that flogging from President Obama.

Japanese electronics giant NEC says it will be cutting 20,000 jobs worldwide by March 2010, as Hitachi loses up to 7,000.

Reuters - U.S. stocks closed out their worst January ever with another slide on Friday after data showed the economy contracted at the fastest pace in nearly 27 years in the fourth quarter.

Wall Street suffers its worst January on record as a barrage of bad economic data continues to shake investors' confidence.

Reuters - Stocks closed out their worst January ever with another slide on Friday after data showed the economy contracted at the fastest pace in nearly 27 years in the fourth quarter.

Reuters - General Motors Corp could face a multibillion-dollar tax hit under its $13.4 billion federal bailout, a scenario the automaker faces just weeks before it must file a restructuring plan with the government.

With new jobs hard to find, laid-off workers are increasingly filing suits against previous employers.

Until this week, American Express scrutinized how its cardholders spent money, searching for similarities to other customers with bill-paying problems.

Stocks slumped for a second day on Friday as investors took a milder-than-expected reading on the economy as a sign that the worst is yet to come.

Banks benefiting from the $700 billion bailout should be pressed to better explain what they are doing with the money, a government investigative agency said.

After 24 years, one of the most famous blunders in marketing history is quietly coming to end.

New evidence emerged to suggest that industry and governments might be unprepared to handle the toxic waste from nuclear reactors.

Gannett said it planned a $5 billion write-down while The Los Angeles Times and the A. H. Belo Corporation announced job cuts.

There?s a little procrastinator in all of us, but delaying some tasks can be costly.

When a sour economy causes middle-cap companies to shrivel into small caps, an investment opportunity may emerge.

Bob Seiwert of the Center for Commercial Lending and Business Banking at the American Bankers Association spoke about the challenges facing small-business owners seeking business loans.

Mr. Stone was a former chief executive of the Hertz Corporation and a former top executive at Columbia Pictures.

Quarterly profit rose aided by the sale of its Folgers coffee business, but warned that sales are slowing in the tough economy.

A court reinstated lawsuits brought by Nigerian families who say the drug maker Pfizer tested a dangerous antibiotic on their children without their consent.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission delayed for a year the requirement that all children?s toys be tested for lead content.

The prescription drug has been used to treat pain for more than 50 years but has been linked to addiction.

Small and medium-sized manufacturers are laying off staff at the fastest rate since the early 1990s, says the CBI.

Reuters - Investors are hoping swift action on an economic stimulus plan will boost Wall Street next week after its worst January ever.

The Wall Street bonus is under fire at a time taxpayer money is propping up the financial industry.

Despite the president?s scolding and the media?s outrage regarding Wall Street bonuses, many moneymakers downtown said they?d earned the extra compensation.

Dell and other personal computer makers face a major test as they contemplate entering the mobile phone market.

President Obama announced steps that he said would strengthen organized labor and thereby improve the lot of middle-class Americans.

The disruption underscored rising fears of labor unrest across Europe as job losses across the Continent mounted into the hundreds of thousands with the global financial crisis.

The Haven has faced a stream of executives and their spouses who are suffering from symptoms, including severe anxiety and suicidal tendencies, set off by the economy.

An exhibition of New Yorker cartoons at the Morgan Library & Museum pokes fun at the power and precariousness of money.

Among economists, there is much debate over whether increasing a broad range of taxes, fees, tolls and fares could worsen the state and city economies.

Banks in Florida, Maryland and Utah were closed as regulators wrapped up the busiest month for failures since the housing slump began in 2006.

Sears Holdings, which operates Kmart and Sears department stores, laid off 300 corporate workers on Friday, a spokeswoman said.