Stocks cut losses on Friday and the Nasdaq briefly turned positive as a search for bargains by investors tempered recession worries. Reassuring results from tech bellwethers Google and Advanced Micro Devices Inc provided a positive spur. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 72.08 points, or 0.80 percent, to 8,907.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index

Construction starts on new homes fell to a new 17-1/2 year low in September as builders scaled back amid a worsening housing slump and growing turmoil in financial markets that helped pushed permits for new homes to a nearly 27-year low. The Commerce Department reported on Friday that starts on new homes fell 6.3 percent

Short-term interbank dollar rates eased on Friday in response to governments' aggressive steps to unclog money markets, but longer-term funding remained scarce as market participants awaited further details of these plans. The cost of borrowing dollars for a day held close to or below the Federal Reserve's 1.5 percent target early in London, and one-week

19% market share, 159,000 subscribers MTN Group has started the implementation of its ambitious expansion plan to become the leading telecommunications company in Cyprus together with joint venture partner Amaracos Holdings, part of the Shacolas Group and Panos Germanos. The joint venture agreement, which was concluded last May, came into force on Friday, with the

Moody's Investors Service is maintaining the stable outlook for Korea's A2 local and foreign currency government bond ratings. "The stable ratings outlook is premised on the ability of the authorities to manage the country's vulnerability to the global financial market crisis and avoid a deep and sustained deterioration in relative credit metrics,” said Tom Byrne,

European shares jumped in early trade on Friday, tracking gains in the United States and Asia, as investors picked up battered banks and energy shares were lifted by a rise in crude. At 0839 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 2.7 percent at 881.34 points. Oil groups BP, Total and

Equities rose across the world on Friday after encouraging earnings signals from technology firms such as IBM and a slowly improving tone in beleaguered short-term money markets helped ease recession fears. European shares were up more than 3 percent following gains in Asia. Overnight, Wall Street ended a volatile Thursday with gains of more than