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Asian shares rose to a three-year peak on Friday and the dollar held near its overnight highs after U.S. jobs data which showed the lowest unemployment rate in six years and underscored the strength of the economic recovery. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 percent, touching its highest levels since May 2011 and on track for a weekly gain of 1.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.6 percent, hitting a 5-1/2-month high and poised to gain 2.3 percent for the week.



Luxury car maker BMW revealed a $1 billion Mexican plant investment on Thursday, becoming the latest major automaker to take advantage of the country's growing industrial base and tariff-free access to the U.S. market. The automaker outlined plans to build a factory in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi, reducing the German company's dependence on higher-cost plants at home.

Apple has poached a senior executive from Swiss luxury watch brand Tag Heuer, which could be to help it with the launch of its iWatch expected this autumn. Tag Heuer, part of luxury goods group LVMH, said on Friday its vice president for sales, Patrick Pruniaux, who had been with the brand for seven years, was leaving on Monday to join Apple.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon plans to be out of the office for at least half of his planned two-month course of radiation treatment and chemotherapy for throat cancer. Dimon's four weeks of vacation could begin shortly after JPM reports quarterly results on July 15, depending in part on how doctors set the details of his course of treatment. Dimon usually takes off about three weeks in August, traditionally one of the slower times of the year for business.



The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday UBS AG's chief currency strategist has left the Swiss bank as part of its efforts to cut costs and streamline operations, citing two people familiar with the matter. Mansoor Mohi-uddin, who was based in Singapore, joined Swiss Bank Corp in 1998 as an emerging-markets strategist before the company's merger with Union Bank of Switzerland. A spokeswoman for UBS declined to comment on the report.



BNP Paribas’ guilty plea and agreement to pay nearly $9 billion for violating U.S. sanctions is part of a larger U.S. Justice Department shift in strategy that is expected to snare more major banks and other firms across the financial food chain.

A unit of Goldman Sachs will pay an $800,000 fine and return funds to harmed investors to settle charges that its "dark pool" trading venue violated rules designed to get customers the best prices, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Tuesday. FINRA, as the brokerage industry self-regulator is known, said that SIGMA-X, an alternative trading system that lets investors trade stocks anonymously, did not have proper policies in place to protect customer orders from November 2008 through August 2011. Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing LP is settling the case without admitting or denying the charges.



Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has decided to list on the New York Stock Exchange dealing a blow to the rival Nasdaq bourse. The company, which handles more than 80 percent of online retail transactions in the world's second-largest economy, is expected to make its debut this summer in what could be the largest U.S. tech initial public offering. Alibaba could announce its decision in an amended IPO prospectus as soon as Thursday.



New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, long seen as a secondary force in policing Wall Street banks, is taking the lead in what may be the most ambitious case of his career: accusing Barclays Plc of favoring its high-frequency trading clients. By making a case against the bank, Schneiderman has seized a lead role in a contentious dispute about whether high-frequency traders have turned the stock market into a rigged game that hurts regular investors.



General Motors announced on Friday that it would recall 428,211 more vehicles in the United States, including new four-wheel drive pickups and SUVs with a software problem that could cause the vehicles to automatically switch to neutral and roll away while parked. GM said it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the software issue. "In these vehicles, the transfer case may electronically switch to neutral without input from the driver," GM said.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday, suggesting investors continued to search for direction following a sharp rally that took indexes to records last week. According to MKM Partners, equities had a quiet session on Monday, with trading volume light and moves so slight the S&P 500 had one of its narrowest intraday trading ranges ever. The latest economic indicators could give the market direction, with the April Case-Shiller report on home prices scheduled for release shortly.

Cosmetics maker Avon Products said it would cut about 600 jobs, including in its North America unit, as the company tries to return to profit. Avon said it would take a pretax charge of $45 million-$50 million, of which $40 million was expected to be recorded in the second quarter. The job cuts and other restructuring efforts are expected to result in annual savings of about $50 million to $55 million.



The chief executive of Siemens said on Sunday the German engineering group was ready to resume negotiations with Alstom and the French state should they fail to agree terms with the French firm's suitor, General Electric. CEO Joe Kaeser was quoted as saying by German tabloid Bild, "We are still open for talks. The doors are open for Alstom and the French government.

Starbucks is set to raise prices on certain beverages and packaged coffee on Tuesday, but the company says it'll affect fewer than 20% of customers.

An index of global stocks was near record highs on Friday while gold celebrated its biggest one-day rise in nine months as markets wagered policies would stay super loose in the United States, Europe and Japan for a long time to come. Investors piled into bullion while selling U.S. government debt on the premise the Fed might be comfortable with higher inflation if it meant faster economic growth.



Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries raised their offer for Alstom's energy businesses to compete with a revised bid by U.S. rival General Electric. Siemens-MHI and GE have been facing off in a battle for control of Alstom's power businesses that has seen the Socialist government give itself powers to block any deal in the name of protecting local jobs and influence over a strategic sector.

Argentina's battle with investors who rejected its proposals to restructure debt risks pushing the nation into a new default that would wreck its attempts to return to credit markets but not have the same economic effect as its catastrophic 2001-02 default. The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Argentina's appeal against lower court rulings that ordered it to pay in full the hedge funds which refused 2005 and 2010 debt swaps on $100 billion in debt.



General Motors Co on Monday recalled 3.36 million North American cars with ignition switches that can be jarred out of the "run" position, potentially affecting power steering, power brakes and air bags. The switch issue is similar to the defect linked to at least 13 deaths in an earlier, 2.6-million vehicle recall of Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars.

France expects General Electric to boost its bid for Alstom's power unit in response to a potential joint offer from Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Sunday. Siemens and Mitsubishi are putting the finishing touches on an offer for Alstom's turbine businesses, including a cash element of roughly $12.3 billion, according to sources close to the bidders. GE, meanwhile, has made a pledge to the French government to create 1,000 new jobs in France within three years of a deal, according to sources close to the discussions.



A source familiar with the matter said on Saturday, Medical-device maker Medtronic Inc and rival Covidien, are in advanced talks to combine in a deal valued at $45 billion to $50 billion. The person said, asking not to be named because the matter is not public, the deal, which would allow Medtronic to be domiciled in Ireland where Covidien is based and thus take advantage of lower tax rates, could come as soon as Monday. Minneapolis-based Medtronic, which makes cardiovascular and orthopedic devices, has a market value of about $61 billion.