HOPEFUL SIGN: Better-than-expected Labor Department figures for the past three months suggest the overall health of the US job market is improving, analysts said
US employers ramped up hiring last month, adding 274,000 jobs, enough to hold the US jobless rate steady at 5.2 percent. The latest figures offered a hopeful sign that the labor market is gaining traction and that any economic rough patch will be temporary.

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TECHNICAL BOUNCE: Taiwanese share prices extended gains as interest from foreign investors offset early losses after Wall Street's weaker performance overnight
Asian stocks managed solid gains on Friday despite a negative lead from Wall Street, but much of the advance was technical in nature after recent weakness and the tone was cautious ahead of key US employment figures due later in the day, dealers said.

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European stock markets were almost all gainers on Friday, mirroring a rally on Wall Street that was sparked by better-than-expected US jobs figures and upbeat corporate news.

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Wall Street limped to a mixed finish on Friday as a surprisingly strong employment report raised fears that a surge in economic growth could spark inflation and prompt the Federal Reserve to aggressively raise interest rates. The major indexes finished the week higher.

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The US dollar got a boost on Friday from strong US jobs data, which eased concerns of a US economic slowdown and supported the notion of more rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

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World oil prices inched higher on Friday but came off peaks of US$52 a barrel following sharp increases in US crude inventories that suggested an easing of supply worries, dealers said.

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TELEVISION: The Federal Communications Commission had no right to implement a regulation that new sets must include anti-copy technology, a US appeals court found
A US appeals court on Friday struck down a regulation requiring makers of television sets to be equipped with technology to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of digital broadcasts.

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INTERNAL AUDIT: General Electric said it had improperly accounted for financial instruments used to protect its financial services businesses from interest-rate hikes
General Electric Co restated financial results for several years on Friday, boosting earnings by US$381 million from 2001 through the first quarter of this year.

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TECHNOLOGICAL THRILLSEEKER: The IT specialist was part of an underground organization which `struck at the very heart of software trading,' a London court ruled
A London information-technology (IT) specialist was jailed for two and a half years on Friday for his role in a global gang of Internet pirates behind the UK's biggest software theft.

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A panel of federal appeals-court judges in Manhattan handed the tobacco industry a victory on Friday by striking down a sweeping proposal by a judge in Brooklyn to organize a single high-stakes trial that might have subjected the industry to billions of dollars in damages.

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After being criticized for quietly dropping support for a state gay rights bill, Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer told employees on Friday that management would publicly back such legislation in the future.

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■ Insurance
Berkshire profit falls in Q1
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