A Quick Glance At News

v U.S. employment probably only inched up in July as the economy struggled to regain momentum, strengthening expectations of additional monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

v European shares and the euro staged a slight recovery on Friday from a big selloff provoked by the European Central Bank's failure to satisfy investors' hopes of swift action to tackle the debt crisis.

v Brent crude inched above $106 a barrel on Friday on concerns over supply from the Middle East and the North Sea, though worries over a slowing global economy capped gains.

v The euro stayed under pressure on Friday after the European Central Bank dealt it a major setback by not immediately reviving bond buying to lower crippling borrowing costs for Spain and Italy.

v China’s stocks rose the most in five weeks as a cut in transaction fees on share trading overshadowed the failure of central banks in China, Europe and the U.S. to take immediate steps to support growth.

v Chief negotiators for the EU and Iran agreed on Thursday to hold more talks about Tehran's nuclear work, but the European Union gave no sign progress was imminent in the decade-long dispute.

v Gold traded little changed on Friday, struggling to recover from a four-day losing streak after the European Central Bank stopped short of offering any immediate aid to contain the region's debt crisis, while caution prevailed ahead of a key U.S. jobs report

v Corn and soybean traders are bullish for a 15th consecutive week on speculation that the drought spreading across fields in the U.S. will spur the government to make more cuts to its production forecasts.

v Samsung Electronics is set to take the wraps off a sequel to its popular Galaxy Note Smartphone at an event on August 29, about two weeks before the possible debut of Apple's new iPhone.

v After 2 1/2 years of incremental crisis management and false starts, a bargain is beginning to emerge between Europe’s politicians and central bankers over how to calm bond markets and end the debt tumult that threatens the euro’s survival.

v Face book Slump Continues After Two Senior Executives Exit, Face book Inc. (FB) dropped 4 percent to a record low, the fifth straight day of declines after the world’s largest social-networking service reported earnings that showed slowing growth.

v American International Group Inc (AIG.N) reported a larger profit for the second quarter on Thursday, as tax benefits boosted results and operating income grew across the company's varied insurance businesses.

v Allianz SE (ALV), Europe’s biggest insurer, said second-quarter profit climbed more than analysts estimated after earnings increased at its life and health business

v Siemens AG (SIE), Europe’s largest engineering company, will repurchase as much as 3 billion Euros ($3.65 billion) in stock by year-end after Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher withheld from spending on acquisitions.

v AT&T Inc. (T), the largest U.S. telephone company, agreed to buy Next Wave Wireless Inc. in a deal worth as much as $600 million in cash, giving it more airwaves to provide mobile Internet services.

v Kraft Foods which Thursday set Oct. 1 as the date it will split its snacks and grocery units, reported second-quarter profit rose 5% from the same 2011 period. However, revenue fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

v Ross Stores Inc. said early Thursday that its same-store sales jumped 7% in July over those of the same period in 2011. Total sales rose 12% to $709 million.