Reuters - Stocks rose on Friday as a drop in oil prices, and stronger-than-expected data on consumer sentiment and housing blunted the latest concerns about the health of U.S banks.

AP - Wall Street ended a volatile week with uneven gains Friday after better-than-expected economic data placated a market pummeled a day earlier by concerns about housing and the financial sector.

AFP - With Wall Street investors hesitant, fresh data in the coming week could help provide a clearer picture of whether the US economy is in recovery mode or an extended downward spiral.

AP - Japanese stocks fell sharply Friday as Wall Street's overnight plunge renewed lingering concerns about the U.S. economy.

AFP - Europe's main stock markets dropped on Friday, led by the insurance sector which tumbled after German re-insurance giant Munich Re warned that its 2008 net profit would miss targets.

AP - Upbeat economic data lifted stocks Friday, placating a market pummeled a day earlier by concerns about housing and the financial sector.

Reuters - The Dow and S&P 500 moved into negative territory on Friday, erasing earlier gains after Standard & Poor's said it may cut the subordinated debt and preferred stock ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .

Reuters - The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that his agency should oversee investment banks under a new regulatory regime aimed at averting another credit crisis.

Reuters - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday urged Congress to give his agency authority to oversee investment banks, even as a top Federal Reserve official said the central bank needed similar powers to do its job.

Reuters - An accounting change that could force banks to bring trillions of dollars of off-balance sheet transactions back on their books will be implemented in a way that will not create unnecessary shocks, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

AP - Wall Street abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower Thursday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market's recent optimism. The major indexes fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 280 points.