WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is lower after the Dow Jones index on Wall Street fell one per cent overnight.
At 0630 AEST on Friday, the local unit was trading at 93.56 US cents, down from 93.90 cents on Thursday.
And Wall Street's fall is set to cause the Australian share market to open lower.
At 0700 AEST on Friday, the March share price index futures contract was down 29 points at 5,496.
ELSEWHERE:
NEW YORK - Wal-Mart's first quarter net income fell five per cent as bad winter weather and financial struggles kept customers from spending at the world's largest retailer.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Airlines says its net loss widened in the first quarter as the impact of flight MH370's disappearance added to the struggling carrier's woes.
WASHINGTON - US industrial production fell 0.6 per cent in April after two months of gains, driven by lower power generation as spring temperatures swept the country, Federal Reserve data shows.
BRUSSELS - The eurozone economy grew much slower than expected in the first quarter of 2014,while fourth-quarter performance was revised down, stoking concerns the recovery is struggling.
ROME - Italy's economy unexpectedly moved back into negative territory in the first quarter due to poor industrial results after barely exiting its worst post-war recession.
ROME - Italy's government has signed a deal with trade unions and representatives of Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux to stave off the threat of closure for one of the company's factories and save 1,200 jobs.
ATHENS - Greece's economy shrank 1.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 on a 12-month basis, official data has shown, as the country struggles to emerge from recession this year.
WARSAW - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says it will begin investing some half a billion euros in Cyprus to assist the bailed-out nation recover from a "severe economic crisis".
WASHINGTON - A US Senate panel has narrowly approved reforms that would eliminate government-controlled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and encourage a greater private-sector role in home loans.
MIAMI - Fast-food workers in Miami and New York have gone on strike to demand pay hikes and the right to unionise in a protest also observed in other cities around the world.
PARIS - The Open Internet Project, which includes 400 players in Europe's digital markets, lodged a complaint with the European Commission against what it alleges are new anti-competitive abuses by Google.
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