Ford seen narrowing loss, focus on cash burn
DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co is expected to post a narrower quarterly loss with support from the U.S. government “cash for clunkers” program, but the focus will be on the outlook for the U.S. economy and auto industry sales.

New Century Bancorp Reports Third Quarter 2009 And Year-to-Date Results
DUNN, N.C., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — New Century Bancorp (the “Company” Nasdaq: NCBC), the holding company for New Century Bank, reported a net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, of ($369,000) compared to net income of $159,000 for the same period in 2008. Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share was ($0.05) for third quarter 2009 compared to $0.02 for third quarter 2008.

Lagostina, Alessi, Bialetti tough out recession
OMEGNA, Italy (Reuters) – A giant silver teapot shines in the pale sun outside the Alessi factory, its scale a measure of how in the 1980s and 90s Italian kitchenware, from espresso-makers to lemon-squeezers, grew into objects of desire.

End-of-week calm descends on European markets (AP)

AP – European stock markets fell modestly Friday and Wall Street headed for a lower opening after strong gains the day before on U.S. data revealing the world’s largest economy had broken out of a yearlong slump.

US stocks slide ahead of Fed rate decision, jobless data (AFP)

AFP – Despite the return of US economic growth, Wall Street was in no mood to celebrate as it braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and crucial monthly labor data next week.

Madoff documents reveal incredulous, unfocused SEC (Reuters)

Reuters – U.S. securities investigators raised repeated concern over how Bernard Madoff could be running an honest business, but never followed through on the many red flags they uncovered.

Kairos Asset Management to Use CEP for High Frequency Trading
Brazilian hedge fund will use StreamBase’s complex event processing software for equities and FX trading.

Former hedge fund executive charged by SEC
BOSTON (Reuters) – A former top executive at hedge fund firm ValueAct Capital is one of seven people charged with trading on inside information in Acxiom Corp.

SEC in settlement talks with BofA, UBS: report (Reuters)
Reuters – The Securities and Exchange Commission is in settlement talks with several large financial institutions to resolve investigations into the awarding of municipal investment contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

NYSE Euronext Innovates at Warp Speed
NYSE Euronext and CIO Steve Rubinow are focused on doing things faster, including communication, development and, of course, competing in the low-latency trading arena.

NYSE open disrupted by flood of “erroneous” orders (Reuters)
Reuters – A huge influx of “erroneous” orders prevented the New York Stock Exchange from disseminating quotes shortly after the start of trading on Friday.

US stocks slide ahead of Fed rate decision, jobless data (AFP)

AFP – Despite the return of US economic growth, Wall Street was in no mood to celebrate as it braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and crucial monthly labor data next week.

NYSE Euronext sells stake in derivatives platform (Reuters)
Reuters – NYSE Euronext said it sold a big stake in its U.S. derivatives trading platform to five powerful market players, following the pattern of exchange operators partnering with dealers in the face of possibly sweeping regulatory changes.

SEC staff issues acctg. guidelines for oil cos. (AP)
AP – To help energy companies meet a requirement of providing more detailed information to investors when reporting oil and natural gas reserves, federal regulators issued new accounting guidelines Friday.

SEC alleges insider trading at San Francisco fund (AP)
AP – The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit alleging insider trading Friday against the former chief financial officer of a San Francisco private equity fund and six others.

Las Vegas Sands, MetLife, Manitowoc are big movers (AP)
AP – The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange:

A look at economic developments around the globe (AP)
AP – A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:

SEC head urges fresh securities laws
Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the US SEC, says current securities laws are outdated and calls for dedicated legislation to regulate new investment products that were at the heart of the financial crisis

Retail investors
Any switch to a greater preference for domestic US equities may be a signal that the rally has reached its late stages

US retail investors regain faith in stocks
Investors put more money into US equities than they took out last week, in what might mark the end of a retreat by individual investors that began more than two months ago

NYSE Euronext net profit down 28 pct in Q3 quarter (AP)

AP – Trans-Atlantic stock market operator NYSE Euronext said Friday its net income plunged 28 percent in the third quarter as it cut prices in a bid to counter falling trading volume.

NYSE Euronext sells stake in derivatives platform (Reuters)
Reuters – NYSE Euronext said it sold a big stake in its U.S. derivatives trading platform to five powerful market players, following the pattern of exchange operators partnering with dealers in the face of possibly sweeping regulatory changes.

How the major stock indexes fared on Friday (AP)
AP – Grim signals about consumer spending ripped through the markets Friday, sending stocks tumbling as investors raced for safe havens. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index ended with losses for October, breaking a streak of seven straight months of gains. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 250 points, erasing a 200-point gain Thursday and ending the month flat.

FTSE 100 falls victim to profit-taking (AFP)

AFP – The leading stock exchange fell victim to profit-taking on Friday as data showed spending by US consumers fell in September for the first time in five months.

SEC in settlement talks with BofA, UBS: report (Reuters)
Reuters – The Securities and Exchange Commission is in settlement talks with several large financial institutions to resolve investigations into the awarding of municipal investment contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

End-of-week calm descends on European markets (AP)

AP – European stock markets fell modestly Friday and Wall Street headed for a lower opening after strong gains the day before on U.S. data revealing the world’s largest economy had broken out of a yearlong slump.

Oil prices sink after surging on US growth data (AFP)

AFP – Oil prices sank Friday, mirroring losses on global stock markets, after surging the previous day on news that the United States had emerged from recession.

Former hedge fund executive charged by SEC (Reuters)
Reuters – A former top executive at hedge fund firm ValueAct Capital is one of seven people charged with trading on inside information in Acxiom Corp.

Stocks swoon as worries about the economy return (AP)

AP – Grim signals about consumer spending ripped through the markets Friday, sending stocks tumbling as investors raced for safe havens.

US stocks slide ahead of Fed rate decision, jobless data (AFP)

AFP – Despite the return of US economic growth, Wall Street was in no mood to celebrate as it braced for a Federal Reserve interest rate decision and crucial monthly labor data next week.

Las Vegas Sands, MetLife, Manitowoc are big movers (AP)
AP – The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange:

FTSE 100 falls victim to profit-taking (AFP)

AFP – The leading stock exchange fell victim to profit-taking on Friday as data showed spending by US consumers fell in September for the first time in five months.

BlackRock’s Analytics Pay Off in More Ways Than One
BlackRock’s analytics and pricing models are so well respected that the firm made a business of them. Now the federal government is one of its top customers.

Wall Street Compensation and Investment: A Different Take
The likelihood of deferred compensation may trouble Wall Street professionals. But on the bright side, it should fuel a deferred compensation-based investment boom.

NYSE Euronext Innovates at Warp Speed
NYSE Euronext and CIO Steve Rubinow are focused on doing things faster, including communication, development and, of course, competing in the low-latency trading arena.

Banks Should Rethink Bonuses
Wall Street firms preparing to hand out seven-figure bonuses to employees should rethink their plans, senior White House adviser David Axelrod says.

Stocks to Watch: Stocks in focus for Monday
Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday’s session are Ford Motor Co., Consolidated Edison Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Auto Review: 2010 Mercedes Benz S400 Hybrid: Top notch
Imagine taking a top-of- the-line Mercedes S class sedan and making it into a hybrid, and one that claims a few firsts at that.

Stocks sizzle as China debuts start-ups market (Reuters)

Reuters – The ChiNext stock market , China’s long-awaited Nasdaq-style second board, debuted on Friday with a speculative surge that more than doubled the price of all 28 stocks during intraday trade — a good sign for companies lining up to list on China’s stock markets.

European stocks pause after global rally (AFP)

AFP – European equities paused on Friday after a global rally was sparked by news the US economy has emerged from recession, following France, Germany and Japan out of the worst downturn since the 1930s.

Regulators Urge Financial Firms to Get Risk Data in Order
Mergers and acquisitions have created a hodgepodge of databases at many firms that need to be integrated and normalized, a report finds.

Fidelity Launches New Online Platform For Foreign Stocks and Currency Exchanges
Platform expands capabilities for retail investors, broker-dealers and

Stocks swoon as worries about the economy return (AP)

AP – Grim signals about consumer spending ripped through the markets Friday, sending stocks tumbling as investors raced for safe havens.

Personal Finance Daily: The week’s 10 best Personal Finance stories
In case you missed them, here are the top 10 Personal Finance stories from MarketWatch for the week of Oct. 26-Oct. 30:

Washington Tackles ‘Too-Big-To-Fail’ Financial Firms
Senior White House officials said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would introduce a bill to allow the government to seize troubled U.S. non-bank firms.

Mitsubishi Upgrades Fixed-Income Pricing Engine
New solution, Gissing ConteX 4, should find and validate bid and ask prices.

NYC Brokerage Pressprich Grows Its Use of Hosted Apps
Using Codestreet’s hosted trading platform for its bread and butter, fixed income securities, and to quickly get into equities; working with the vendor to develop a way to post research through Bloomberg.

Morgan Stanley Aims for the Clouds
David Reilly, CIO of Enterprise Infrastructure, heads Morgan Stanley’s industry-leading cloud and virtualization initiatives. He’s not afraid to rely on vendors for substantial chunks of these and other projects.

End-of-week calm descends on European markets (AP)

AP – European stock markets fell modestly Friday and Wall Street headed for a lower opening after strong gains the day before on U.S. data revealing the world’s largest economy had broken out of a yearlong slump.

After Hours: CIT Group shares extend losses in late trades
Shares of CIT Group Inc. fall, extending dayside losses as the lender faced the heightened possibility that it will have to seek bankruptcy protection.

Airline Stocks: Airline stocks fall, giving up prior-day gains
Airline stocks fail to sustain gains from the Thursday session and plunge broadly into the red, caught up in a deepening sell-off in U.S. equities.

FTSE 100 falls victim to profit-taking (AFP)

AFP – The leading stock exchange fell victim to profit-taking on Friday as data showed spending by US consumers fell in September for the first time in five months.

European stocks pause after global rally (AFP)

AFP – European equities paused on Friday after a global rally was sparked by news the US economy has emerged from recession, following France, Germany and Japan out of the worst downturn since the 1930s.

Latin American Markets: Brazil slides; Mexico budget talks in focus
Latin American equities slide as investors track a sell-off on Wall Street and book gains from a rally in the previous session.