Friday 08:00 BST. Japanese stocks closed higher, but only after another extremely volatile session leaked uncertainty into global equity markets that some investors consider vulnerable after many months of strong gains.

In the year or so that Bob McDonald was under intense pressure from critics, he never entirely accepted the premise of their complaints about Procter & Gamble's listless performance.

WASHINGTON - Economic data released on Thursday indicated solid job growth and provided further signs that housing is recovering. The New York Times.

Macy's Inc., Target Corp. and 15 other U.S. retailers sued Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. on Thursday over fees to process credit card transactions.

Sears Holdings Corp. swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss from a profit a year earlier, when the retailer booked a large gain on asset sales.

Michael Jeffries's penchant for having the male crew on Abercrombie & Fitch's (ANF) corporate jet wear the retailer's boxer briefs, flip-flops, and cologne certainly hasn't hurt the chief executive officer's standing with his board.

Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California are all expected to participate in the state-run market for individual health coverage.

If I can paraphrase a popular Alicia Keys song, this woman is on fire. Marissa Mayer is clearly moving Yahoo back into the center of the Silicon Valley tech conversation.

People visit Gyeongbok palace in the South Korean capital Seoul. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters. Topics: News · World · Asia-Pacific · Korean Police · Busan · South Korea; More Topics.

... Off. � Japanese market swings widely in volatile trade � Europe needs Britain, says ECB president Mario Draghi � FTSE 100 suffers heaviest drop for a year � HSBC's $1.9bn money laundering settlement could be rejected.