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SINGAPORE Asian shares slipped on Tuesday after a plunge in U.S. manufacturing activity hit Wall Street stocks and the dollar, while the euro hovered near a six-week high on optimism over Greece’s plan to buy back debt. Declines in Asian stock markets suggested caution setting in after gains in recent weeks, with investors reluctant to chase shares higher amid continued gridlock in the U.S. Congress over proposals to avert the so-called fiscal cliff – $ 600 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts that will be automatically triggered in early 2013. European shares were expected to open lower, U.S. [...]

LOS ANGELES Japanese stocks traded mildly weaker in early Tuesday action, with stronger yen helping to send the blue-chip Nikkei Stock Average slipping 0.1% lower to 9,382.95 after a series of recent gains. The broader Topix index fell 0.2%. With the U.S. dollar falling back below �82 and the euro also lower, Japanese exporters saw some losses, as Toshiba Corp. and Sony Corp. each fell 1%, while Sharp Corp. lost 1.8%, and Panasonic Corp. fell 0.7%. Among the auto majors, Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 0.7%, Honda Motor Co. retreated 1.2%, and Nissan Motor Co. gave up 1.9%. Utilities were weak, [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Shares of Facebook Inc. rose 5% early Monday after Bernstein Research raised the stock’s rating to outperform citing the social networking giant’s “revenue growth potential” in the next two years. Shares of Apple Inc. also edged up 1% to $ 578 after Citigroup re-initiated coverage with a buy rating, saying the stock is poised for gains after a near-term sell-off. Yahoo Inc. also saw its stock post a 2% gain after Goldman Sachs put the stock on its conviction buy list, pointing to “recent clarity” on the company’s expected turnaround. The tech sector also got a lift from [...]

NEW YORK The number of job openings slipped slightly in September, suggesting the labor market is still recovering at a slow pace, data showed on Tuesday. Job openings – a measure of labor demand – fell to 3.56 million from 3.66 million in August, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The hiring rate also decreased to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by James Dalgleish)

NEW YORK The number of job openings slipped slightly in September, suggesting the labor market is still recovering at a slow pace, data showed on Tuesday. Job openings – a measure of labor demand – fell to 3.56 million from 3.66 million in August, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. The hiring rate also decreased to 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by James Dalgleish)

SYDNEY Japanese shares declined on the first trading session of November, with the Nikkei Stock Average down 0.2% at 8,908.27. Decliners included tech-sector firms TDK Corp. , down 3.4%, and Fujifilm Holdings Corp. , down 3.2% after both firms cut guidance while reporting earnings. Elsewhere in the sector, Sony Corp, lost 3.1% ahead of its earnings report due later in the day. Panasonic Corp. shares were ask-only after the firm reported a near-$ 9 billion net quarterly loss late Wednesday. The dollar bought 79.86 yen, from �79.74 in late North American trading on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES Japanese stocks inched lower in early Friday action, as below-forecast earnings and outlook from Apple Inc. helped weigh on some major tech names, while results from some local blue chips also weighed on shares. The Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.2% to 9,033.09, and the Topix also lost 0.2%, with the market failing to get a lift from a weaker Japanese yen. In the wake of Apple’s results and similarly disappointing numbers from e-retailer Amazon.com Inc. , shares of Panasonic Corp. lost 1.2%, Sony Corp. dropped 0.7%, and Tokyo Electron Ltd. gave up 1.1%. Shares of Canon Inc. fell [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Amazon.com Inc reported weak quarterly results on Thursday as the world’s largest Internet retailer spent heavily and suffered from an economic slowdown in Europe. Amazon shares slipped slightly to $ 221 in after-hours trading after the results. The company said its third-quarter net loss was $ 274 million, or 60 cents a share, versus net income of $ 63 million, or 14 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2011. Part of the loss was related to an impairment charge from Amazon’s investment in daily deal company LivingSocial. Third-quarter revenue was $ 13.81 billion, up 27 percent [...]

U.S. home resales retreated in September from a two-year high, a reminder that America’s housing sector is a long way from a full recovery despite recent signs of improvement. Existing home sales fell 1.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million units, matching the median forecast in a Reuters poll, data from the National Association of Realtors showed on Friday. Housing has been a relative bright spot in the U.S. economy this year, and Friday’s data did not point to a reversal in that trend. The reading for August was revised slightly higher to show [...]

SYDNEY Japanese shares declined in early trading on Friday, after a weak performance in the U.S. overnight following weaker-than-expected results from Google Inc. and ahead of the conclusion of a European leaders summit. The Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.4% to trade at 8951.52, after gaining 5.3% over the past four trading days. Technology companies were weak on Friday, with TDK Corp. down 1.7% and Alps Electric Co. down 1.5%. Energy firms were also slipping, with Inpex Corp. down 1.4%.