Reuters - In another blow to beleaguered U.S. automakers, Standard & Poor's on Friday said it may cut its ratings on Ford Motor Co, General Motors and Chrysler LLC, citing financial damage resulting from high gasoline prices.

Reuters - Resigning Yahoo Inc managers appear to be voting with their feet on the future of the Web company.

Reuters - BCE Inc. , Canada's largest telecom company, won the backing of the country's Supreme Court on Friday to proceed with the world's biggest leveraged buyout, but financing could still trip up the deal.

Reuters - Retail mergers and acquisitions look to have dried up for at least another nine months, according to speakers at the Reuters Retail and Consumer Summit, but once the credit crunch eases and consumer trends are more predictable, buyers are poised for dealmaking.

AFP - The slowdown in the US economy is not as bad as previously estimated, the International Monetary Fund said Friday, lifting its growth estimates slightly for 2008 and 2009.

Reuters - Stocks extended their losses on Friday after Standard and Poor's said it may cut the credit rating of the Big Three automakers, compounding banking-related jitters also driving the market lower.

Reuters - The fate of the world's largest leveraged buyout hangs in the balance ahead of Friday afternoon's decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on whether BCE Inc treated its bondholders unfairly in agreeing to a $34.8 billlion ($34.5 billion) takeover.

Reuters - Merrill Lynch & Co shares fell 5.5 percent Friday on rumors that the investment bank may issue a profit warning and take additional write-downs on its mortgage holdings, traders said.

Reuters - Ford Motor Co said on Friday it would slash output and delay a new version of its top-selling F-150 pickup truck due to a deepening slump in U.S. sales it warned would weigh on results this year and next.

Reuters - Shares of General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co plummeted after credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said it may cut the U.S. automakers' ratings.

Reuters - Oil rose towards $133 a barrel on Friday after plunging nearly $5 in the previous session on China's unexpected fuel price rise.

Reuters - The U.S. Federal Reserve's recent tough talk on inflation served notice to financial markets that the central bank was serious about tamping down price pressures, but it has hit the economy in one of its tenderest spots -- housing.