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TOKYO Asian shares touched fresh 16-month highs on Friday as investors awaited U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due later in the day, with sentiment underpinned by signs that China’s economy is stabilizing. European shares will likely gain modestly, with financial spreadbetters predicting London’s FTSE 100 , Paris’s CAC-40 and Frankfurt’s DAX to open as much as 0.4 percent higher. A 0.1 percent rise in U.S. stock futures hinted at a steady Wall Street open. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.5 percent, and was set for its third-straight weekly gain with a 1.3 percent advance. The index [...]

Current rock-bottom mortgage interest rates make it a buyer’s market in most of the country, but there’s more good news for homebuyers: their money will also go further. Buyers can get a four-bedroom house in many parts of the U.S. and it won’t cost them more than $ 200,000, according to a new home prices survey by real estate firm Coldwell Banker.   “In 35% of all the markets in this survey the average price for a four-bedroom home is under $ 200,000,” says Budge Huskey, president and chief executive of Coldwell Banker. “When you look at interest rates where they [...]

Even people living outside the U.S. caught the Black Friday fever this year, and the frenzy will only intensify in years to come as the world becomes more tech-savvy and America’s retail culture continues to globalize.  With the global e-commerce market set to surpass $ 1 trillion over the next few years and more consumers in other countries coming online, American retailers have started pushing holiday promotions across U.S. borders in an effort to reach the still largely untapped market. Online spending among international consumers more than tripled on Black Friday weekend compared with an average day, while the number [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc. said Monday morning that it will launch the iPhone 5 in South Korea on Friday, Dec. 7, with more than 50 additional countries getting the new smartphone before the end of the month. The device is currently available in 47 countries. New countries slated to get the iPhone 5 before the end of the month include Brazil, Russia and Taiwan. Apple shares were trading up about 1.5% to $ 594 in pre-market trades on Monday morning. The stock has come nearly 13% off its six-month low point in mid-November.

NEW YORK A top U.S. regulator called for the creation of a new body that could prevent a repeat of the confusion that reigned in capital markets when Superstorm Sandy caused widespread damage to New York and New Jersey. The financial industry was “reckless” in being poorly prepared for Sandy which ravaged the U.S. East Coast in late October, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Bart Chilton told a conference on Tuesday. “Given the problems we saw with Sandy, we need (an) organization, with a specific mandate, to make sure we don’t have this kind of floundering in an emergency [...]

Chinese stock investors check their share prices at a security firm in Wuhan.China will give foreign investors greater access to its stock and bond markets Will increase quotas allocated to foreign institutions for investing in its capital marketsCommunist party in Beijing this week for a congress to unveil the country’s leaders (Financial Times) — China will give foreign investors greater access to its stock and bond markets as part of a cautious reform push to open its financial system to the world.Guo Shuqing, the securities regulator, said China would increase the quotas that are allocated to foreign institutions for investing [...]

President Barack Obama is projected to have been re-elected as the U.S. President, after major networks said he had enough electoral votes to beat Republican challenger Mitt Romney. S&P 500 futures dropped as results started to come in, and are now down 11.60 points. President Obama is projected by U.S. television networks to have won key swing states, including Ohio, which pushed him past the necessary 270 electoral votes to recapture the White House. COMMENTS: TOM SOWANICK, CO-PRESIDENT AND CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AT OMNIVEST GROUP LLC, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY AND AN OBAMA SUPPORTER: “Obama wins and will keep Bernanke and [...]

NEW YORK Traders and investors on Wednesday said the best way for U.S. President Barack Obama to celebrate his re-election would be to avoid a budget crisis that could send the U.S. economy reeling. Stock futures fell about half a percent after Obama edged out Republican Mitt Romney while bond futures rose. While the result ended uncertainty about regulation and monetary policy, some remained on edge about taxes and overall economic health. Investors have had a tendency of downplaying problems emanating from Washington, only to find themselves surprised when lawmakers cannot get together on critical issues. The $ 600 billion [...]

NEW YORK Traders and investors were in agreement on one thing as voters cast their ballots in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election: The markets want a clear winner by Wednesday morning. U.S. equity markets rose on Tuesday, in part due to relief that the drawn-out campaign had reached its end. The final Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll on Monday showed a tight national race, with Democratic President Barack Obama up two points against his challenger, Republican Mitt Romney, at 48 percent to 46 percent. Polling averages also show Obama with small but critical leads in Ohio, Virginia and Iowa. Some market analysts forecast [...]

Hurricane Sandy will close stock markets for a second day on Tuesday, as Wall Street turned its attention to whether markets would be able to resume functioning on the month’s final trading day on Wednesday. Stock markets closed on Monday due to weather for the first time in 27 years. Bond markets closed early, at noon, as winds and waves from Hurricane Sandy lashed the Eastern seaboard. NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group , the largest two U.S. exchange operators, said they intend to reopen Wednesday, conditions permitting. The bond markets will also close on Tuesday, with traders aiming to [...]