China's exports fell 3.3 percent in January from a year earlier, while imports slumped by 19.9 percent, both missing expectations by a wide margin, and resulting in a record monthly trade surplus of $60 billion.

The United Steelworkers union said on Saturday the strike by U.S. refinery workers is expanding to two more plants early on Sunday due to unfair labor practices by oil companies.

Several top investors in Twenty-First Century Fox Inc are pressing for the right to swap their voting shares for ordinary shares, which are trading at an unusual premium, even though the move could hand even more control of the company to Rupert Murdoch, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oil’s dramatic price fall since mid-2014 cannot be explained by changes in production and consumption alone, with hedging and energy firms' high debt levels also playing a part, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said on Saturday.

Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.

A rail line in eastern Iowa reopened on Saturday following a freight train derailment that sent three cars tumbling into the Mississippi River, spilling ethanol fuel in the water, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) said.

Harris Corp (HRS.N) will buy Exelis Inc (XLS.N) in a deal valued at about $4.75 billion, combining two big suppliers to the U.S. military at a time when the government is squeezing spending on defense.

Greece said on Saturday it had no short-term cash problem and that it will hand its European Union partners a comprehensive plan next week for managing the transition to a new debt deal.

A blowout jobs report has changed the calculus for investors for what the Federal Reserve might do in coming months, resetting expectations for how markets might behave if the U.S. economy continues to strengthen even as global growth lags.

China will have more robots operating in its production plants by 2017 than any other country as it cranks up automation of its car and electronics factories, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said on Thursday.

Cross-border lending is growing in the euro zone for the first time since the bloc's financial crisis prompted banks to retreat from highly indebted countries such as Spain, Greece, Ireland and Italy.

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States fell by 83 this week to 1,140 - the lowest since December 2011 - a survey showed on Friday, a clear sign of the pressure that tumbling crude prices have put on oil producers.

Technology companies such as Google are unlikely to become mass car manufacturers, even if they have the potential to disrupt an industry increasingly focused on software and automated driving, the head of German carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) said on Friday.

Greece's new leftist-led government, isolated in the euro zone and under pressure from the European Central Bank, said on Friday it wanted no more bailout money with strings attached from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Japanese automakers are being forced to ship some car parts to U.S. plants by expensive air cargo and tweak production processes as a protracted labor dispute at U.S. West Coast ports shows no signs of letting up.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff tapped a confidant from a state-run bank to be the next head of Petrobras on Friday, chilling investor hopes that a more independent new management team would steer the oil firm out of a huge corruption scandal.

A jump in the Swiss franc against the euro, which threatens to push the country's economy into recession, is boosting trade in brothels across the border in Germany.

A century-old Seattle house that was featured in a marketing stunt to publicize Walt Disney Co's balloon adventure movie "Up" because it is wedged in the middle of a modern development could be sold at auction next month, media reported on Friday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is under federal scrutiny over hiring the son of China's current commerce minister, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing internal emails.

Chief executives of the three largest U.S. airlines said they want the U.S. government to modify or terminate air treaties with two Persian Gulf nations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Walkie-talkie and radio systems maker Motorola Solutions Inc (MSI.N) is looking into a possible sale, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The dollar and U.S. government debt yields jumped on Friday as a strong American labor market report raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates by mid-year.

Oil rallied again on Friday, with benchmark Brent crude having its largest two-week gain in 17 years, as falling oil rig counts and violence in producer Libya helped further stall a selloff that began in June.

The good news from Friday's jobs report may already be reflected in the prices of the smallest U.S. stocks. With nearly all of their revenue coming from the United States, the companies in the Russell 2000 should be the most obvious beneficiaries of a growing U.S. economy.

America has added more than a million jobs in the space of three months but wages, especially for blue-collar workers, are showing few signs of gains.

Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates by midyear, while renewed worries over Greece's debt negotiations added to the bearish tone.

The International Monetary Fund has granted Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone debt relief of about $100 million in total, the first time a global institution has provided such relief to the three West African nations hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.

Canada and Japan must open their markets to farm imports under a Pacific trade pact, the chairman of a U.S. congressional committee responsible for trade said on Thursday, adding that any country that cannot meet the deal's goals should drop out.

China will fight attempts by foreign casinos to lure its citizens abroad, a senior police official said on Friday, which could deal a blow to the gaming firms in Macau and Asian countries that rely on these punters for most of their revenue.

Sri Lanka's cabinet said on Thursday it would allow a $1.5 billion "port city" deal with China to go ahead, dropping a threat to cancel a project approved by the previous government.