Crude prices ended mixed on Friday as the number of U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell far less than expected this week, while heating oil jumped 6 percent after severe winter cold crimped output at three refineries.
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Strike at Brazil plant catches General Motors off guard
General Motors Co was caught by surprise on Friday by a strike at its Brazilian car factory as workers protested a planned furlough and layoff of hundreds of staff, in the latest labor disruption in the nation's slumping auto industry.
Shell says no agreement in U.S. refinery strike talks
Lead U.S. oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co said face-to-face negotiations on Friday with the United Steelworkers union (USW) failed to yield an agreement to end the 20-day-old U.S. refinery strike.
Poor Fed communication risks market 'snap back,' Plosser warns
Verbal missteps by the U.S. Federal Reserve have increased the risk of a volatile market reaction when the time comes to raise interest rates, the outgoing president of the Philadelphia Fed said in an interview on Friday.
Apple hiring big brains in car battery space
A year and a half ago, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) had applied for just eight patents related to auto batteries. Recently, it has hired a bevy of engineers, just one of whom had already filed for 17 in his former career, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis.
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China's top cotton producer, a quasi-military body formed 60 years ago to settle the far west Xinjiang area, is resisting a government policy that could force it to cut output in an industry employing hundreds of thousands in the restive region.
Germany's EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Friday he thinks Greece and its creditors should be able to reach a deal but may need another meeting of euro zone leaders next week.
India may slash its food and fuel subsidy bill by about $8 billion in next week's budget, two sources said, but despite the impressive headline, the cut is not as radical as free market champions had hoped for in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first full budget.
Brent crude oil fell below $60 a barrel on Friday as oversupply, supported by record-high U.S. crude stocks, weighed on the market.
Oil markets edged up on Friday to halt a two-day drop, helped by expectations that data later in the day would show a continuing decline in the U.S. oil rig count, a clear sign of the pressure the tumble in crude has put on oil producers.
The mediator in the case brought by investors who rejected Argentina's 2005 and 2010 debt restructurings said on Thursday that the "holdout" investors offered to reopen talks with Buenos Aires, but the government had not responded.
Oil prices tumbled on Thursday as U.S. inventories were expected to hit record highs, while a possible rise in Saudi output could stoke oversupply built up in the past few months.
An explosion and fire ripped through a gasoline processing unit at an Exxon Mobil Corp refinery near Los Angeles on Wednesday, leaving California with the threat of higher gasoline prices.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday he believed euro zone finance ministers would approve an Athens government proposal on extending the country's loan agreement later this week.
