EU to release new quarterly debt indicator

BRUSSELS - The European Union's statistics office Eurostat will release quarterly debt figures by country from Monday as the 27-nation bloc steps up its economic monitoring two years into a sovereign debt saga that is sapping the vigour out of its economy. Eurostat will release details of EU and euro zone government debt levels in both billions of euros and as a percent of economic output, including a breakdown by currency and deposits, loans and securities other than shares, Eurostat said. ..

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Petroplus Coryton plant to receive crude tanker

GENEVA - Petroplus's UK administrator said on Sunday that it had bought a cargo of crude oil for processing at its Coryton plant as it seeks to conclude negotiations with interested parties to save the plant. Switzerland's Petroplus, the owner of the 175,000 barrel per day plant near London, has filed for insolvency, and PricewaterhouseCoopers has maintained operations at Coryton since January 24.

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Earnings, U.S. data lift FTSE to best week in 2 months

LONDON - Top shares surged on Friday as a surprisingly strong U.S.

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Greek banks recap via common shares with restrictions – source

ATHENS - Greece has agreed to recapitalise its struggling banks after a planned bond swap largely through common shares with restricted voting rights, a banking source told Reuters on Saturday. The banks are expected to require recapitalisation because of impaired loans and losses from a bond swap to ease Greece's debt burden.

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French Connection warns on profit again

LONDON - British fashion group French Connection posted its second profit warning in less than three months on Friday, blaming poor trading in the key Christmas period. Shares in the firm fell up to 7 percent after it said it now expected a year to January 31 pretax profit of about 4.7 million pounds, including a one-off exchange gain of 0.7 million pounds. After a November 17 alert analysts had cut forecasts to about 7.8 million pounds, according to Reuters data.

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US stocks cheer strong jobs data

A strong January jobs report on Friday sent US stocks soaring, pushing the Dow to pre-crisis levels, as investors celebrated a surge in job growth that pointed to new vitality in the fragile recovery.

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News Corp taps Bloomberg executive to lead Dow Jones

- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on Thursday named Bloomberg LP executive Lex Fenwick as chief executive officer of its Dow Jones & Co unit which houses its Wall Street Journal newspaper. Fenwick, a 25-year Bloomberg veteran, will join Dow Jones on February 13 and report to News Corp President Chase Carey. He replaces Les Hinton, a 52-year News Corp veteran, who left the company last July in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the UK newspaper division he previously oversaw.

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Asian markets hold ranges before U.S. jobs data

TOKYO - Asian shares and major currencies were stuck in ranges on Friday ahead of key U.S. jobs data, which will offer more clues over the state of the world's largest economy, while Greek debt restructuring talks dragged on

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Facebook, and Zuckerberg, embark on mega-IPO

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook unveiled what is expected to be Silicon Valley's largest ever initial public offering, but made it clear to outside investors that they will have little voice in its running, as founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will continue to exercise almost complete control.

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Euro, stocks firm on easing global growth

TOKYO - Asian shares, the euro and crude oil rose on Thursday as encouraging manufacturing data soothed fears about the global economic fallout from the euro zone debt crisis, with a drop in European government debt yields also supporting sentiment. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed as much as 1.3 percent to a five-month high of 438.52, with Australia and China leading the gains.

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