Retail sales fell less than expected in June as a strong showing from grocers offset weakness in clothing and household goods stores, a survey showed on Wednesday.
Chinese regulators have approved Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) move to buy an almost twenty per cent stake in Suzhou Trust, sources with direct knowledge of the situation say.
The top share index ticked higher early on Friday as a rise in commodity shares on the back of firmer oil and metal prices and positive banks nullified the impact of weaker telecoms and retail stocks.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that the Russian government had told at least one of its oil companies to prepare for a possible cut in shipments to Europe in days in response to threatened sanctions, citing a single unidentified source. Forex traders in Asia cited the report as one reason for the dollar's decline against other currencies and the rise in U.S. oil prices which were up 1 percent or $1.16 at $116.75 a barrel. Oil traders said the approach of Tropical Storm Gustav towar...
Office rental company Regus Plc posted a 39 percent increase in first-half profit on Friday as its accommodation proved attractive to cash-strapped businesses and said it would move its domicile to Luxembourg.
Investors weathered a volatile August on financial markets by slightly lifting their stock holdings but kept exposure well below average, Reuters polls showed on Thursday.
Gold rose nearly $7 on the back of firmer oil prices on Friday, hovering near its highest level in more than two weeks, with demand from jewellers ahead of the festive season in Asia also offering additional support.
Microsoft on Friday announced its first major deal since failing to buy Yahoo Inc, agreeing to acquire Web-based survey company Greenfield Online Inc for about $486 million.
Two million Britons may be out of work by Christmas and big cuts in interest rates are needed now to stop the economy heading into a deep and prolonged slump, Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower told Reuters.
Falling petrol prices, summer holidays and Britain's best Olympic medal tally in a century combined to give an unexpected lift to consumer morale in August, a survey showed on Friday.
PartyGaming is targeting a successful resolution to talks with the U.S. Department of Justice this year and has placed new Chairman Rod Perry in charge of the process, Chief Executive Jim Ryan told reporters.
European Union anti-trust authorities said on Friday they had launched an investigation into a planned tie-up between British Airways, American Airlines and Spanish carrier Iberia.
"X-Files" star David Duchovny, who currently plays a womanizing writer on the cable television series "Californication," said on Thursday he has entered a facility for treatment of sex addiction.
The director of the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival quit on Thursday after just 18 months in charge following a 10-percent drop in ticket sales blamed on computer glitches and bad weather.
Zoom Airlines, a Canadian discount transatlantic carrier stung by sky-high fuel costs, cancelled all flights and began bankruptcy proceedings on Thursday, stranding passengers at several airports.
Troubled lender Bradford & Bingley sank to a first-half loss on Friday, hit by 155 million pounds in writedowns and investment losses, and said bad debts had risen by more than half since the end of 2007.
Iran has 4,000 working nuclear centrifuges, an official said in remarks published on Friday, in line with a number verified by the U.N. atomic watchdog but lower than a figure cited by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Thai riot police scuffled with demonstrators barricaded inside the prime minister's compound on Friday as they delivered an eviction order against the group seeking to oust the government.
Tropical Storm Gustav was blamed on Thursday for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean and U.S. forecasters said it could hit New Orleans and Gulf of Mexico oil fields as a potentially powerful hurricane next week.
Thousands of people, most of them Christians, have sought shelter in makeshift government shelters in eastern India, driven from their homes by religious violence which has killed at least 11 people this week.