AP - Gap Inc.'s sales are slumping and shoppers appear unlikely to spend more anytime soon, but the clothing retailer still boosted its first-quarter profit by 40 percent by managing inventory and cutting costs.

Reuters - Fannie Mae , the largest provider of financing for U.S. home loans, on Friday said its commitments to buy mortgages soared to $30.7 billion in April.

AP - Japan's key stock index rose Friday on overnight gains on Wall Street, with sentiment turning more upbeat on a fall in global oil prices.

Reuters - Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel may have had internal help when he built up massive stock market bets that led to the world's worst trading scandal, a report published by the French bank said on Friday.

Reuters - Oil prices will likely take on more importance for the stock market next week as the summer driving season officially kicks off and as more companies are seen feeling the pinch of higher energy prices on their profit margins.

Reuters - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes slipped last month and the backlog of unsold properties hit a record high, according to data on Friday that suggested the market's downturn still has a long way to run.

Reuters - China will issue three licenses for high-speed third-generation mobile phone services and encourage a restructuring of leading telecoms companies, including a merger of China Unicom (0762.HK) and Netcom (0906.HK), the government said on Saturday.

Reuters - Belgian brewer InBev NV is working on a $46 billion bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc , according to a source familiar with the situation.

AP - Gap Inc.'s sales are slumping and shoppers appear unlikely to spend more anytime soon, but the clothing retailer still boosted its first-quarter profit by 40 percent by managing inventory and cutting costs.

Reuters - Oil stood near $132 a barrel on Friday, recovering a little from a strong bout of profit-taking in the previous session that pulled prices back more than 3 percent from the record high above $135 a barrel.

Reuters - U.S. home prices fell a record 1.7 percent in the first quarter and the number of workers on jobless benefit rolls held at a four-year high, underscoring the economy's woes, data on Thursday showed.

Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc is setting up a group to get rid of troubled or underperforming assets and named U.S. fixed income sales head Doug Mallach its head, according to an internal memo.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co warned on Thursday that it no longer expected to meet a key target of returning to profitability in 2009 and would cut production through this year in response to a slumping U.S. auto market.