Bursting speculative bubbles will provide an opportunity to bring down inflation, the  E=uropean Central Bank's new governing council member Ewald Nowotny was quoted as saying.

Even with Friday's rebound, the market is down for the month and still well into bear territory. The reason: Investors don't see much reason to own stocks.

The surprising jump in August unemployment couldn't have come at a worse time for the already struggling housing market.

The unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of  6.1 percent in August, proof of the mounting damage the economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

The former head of the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research said on Friday he expects the recent strength in the dollar will make it tougher for U.S. export to grow.

For any government it would be hard to ensure the re-election of its party during a time when it's faced with a falling housing market, rising food and energy prices and mounting fears of unemployment.

The unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of  6.1 percent in August, proof of the mounting damage the economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike.

Europe cannot decouple from the US, and current indicators point to a worse slowdown for the euro zone economies than for the United States, according to Jim O’Neill, Head of Global Economics at Goldman Sachs.

European shares ended sharply lower on Friday, marking the biggest weekly decline in more than five years, as weaker than expected U.S. non-farm jobs data dampened sentiment and raised economic concerns.

The European Central Bank on Thursday unveiled tougher rules on the assets banks can submit as collateral in central bank lending operations after concern its rules have been open to misuse.

European shares were expected to open sharply lower on Friday, adding to their steep losses in the previous session as stocks across the world fell on global economic worries.

South Korean authorities jumped into foreign exchange markets once again on Friday to support their tumbling currency, which has been hammered all week by fears of capital flight from Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

Japanese corporate capital spending unexpectedly slid 6.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier, prompting analysts to warn that the economy likely contracted more than previously thought.

The U.S dollar slipped from 11-month highs against the euro on Friday, after government data showed the U.S. economy lost jobs for the eighth straight month and the unemployment rate jumped.

U.S. economic growth is softening amid still fragile financial markets, but it is not clear that this will curb inflation as hoped, a top Federal Reserve official said Thursday.