U.S. stock futures slid 1% on Friday, pulling Asian shares off early highs, as sentiment remained cautious on concerns over the European debt crisis, which will probably keep supporting safe havens like gold and Swiss franc. Wall Street jumped 4% overnight in high volume, with relatively low valuations and short-term oversold conditions attracting buyers, though

Asian stocks edged up on Friday, as investors chased value picks after recent sharp volatility, though concerns over the European crisis may continue to fuel buying into safe havens like gold and government bonds. Wall Street rose 4% overnight on high trading volume, with relatively low valuations and short-term oversold conditions attracting buyers, though a

Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti promised reforms to boost growth and public finances on Thursday, acknowledging publicly that the government was responding to demands for action from the European Central Bank. Tremonti offered few details but his comments to a parliamentary committee underlined the remarkable extent to which Italian policy was being dictated by European

The head of Greece's new privatisation agency said on Thursday that plunging stock markets could be an obstacle to the country's privatisation plans and that the timetable might have to be delayed. Greece, which is struggling to avoid defaulting on its debts, has committed to a timetable of asset sales, with the aim to raise

RWE Innogy, Greek state energy utility PPC/DEH and a Chinese firm have submitted bids to build four hydro-power plants in Bosnia, an official said on Thursday. Bosnia's Serb Republic Energy Ministry invited international firms late in June to bid for the project to construct the plants on the Upper Drina river with a combined capacity

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss next Tuesday how to make the euro zone work more effectively amid persistent doubts in financial markets over Europe's ability to solve its sovereign debt crisis. French bank shares have been hardest hit in a general market rout of global stocks this week as

A deeper-than-expected recession caused Greece's central government deficit to widen by a quarter in the first seven months of the year, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. But the deficit was less than a new, revised target under the country's 2011-2015 fiscal plan, the finance ministry said. In the January-July period, the central government budget