That stock News

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:

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LONDON — Better than expected U.S. jobs data supported stocks Friday following massive gains a day earlier in the wake of the Federal Reserve's decision to pump $600 billion in newly created money into the economy. The dollar surged after the forecast-busting jobs figures.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 12.56 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,875.35, its highest close since June 2008. Germany's DAX also ended at its highest levels since then, after rising 19.51 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,754.20. The CAC-40 in France was more or less unchanged at 3,916.73.

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TOKYO — In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index soared 2.9 percent, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.4 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 percent.

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SEOUL, South Korea — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker says the U.S. central bank's plan to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in government bonds probably won't do much to boost the economic recovery.

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LONDON — Retail sales in the 16 countries that use the euro fell by a monthly rate of 0.2 percent for the second month running in September.

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BERLIN — German industrial orders unexpectedly dropped 4 percent during September, led by a slide in demand from other eurozone countries. But the fall appeared to be a blip in an otherwise positive trend.

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BEIJING — China, Germany and Brazil warned that the Federal Reserve's move to inject money into the U.S. economy might harm the rest of the world, though Beijing said the tactic was understandable because of the slow recovery.

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BERLIN — Germany's finance minister has sharply criticized the U.S. Federal Reserve's move to create new money and pump billions more into the financial system, arguing that it creates more problems for other countries.

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TOKYO — Japan's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at near zero and said it will start buying government bonds next week under a previously announced plan to help foster an economic recovery.

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KYOTO, Japan — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, meeting with counterparts from around the world this weekend, faces a tough task selling his formula for mending fissures in the global economy as nations seek ways to avoid another downturn.

The two-day gathering of finance ministers from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, follows a Group of 20 meeting last month in South Korea, where finance heads and central bankers vowed to avoid using their currencies as trade weapons.

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MADRID — Spain's economic activity was static during the third quarter, proof that the slow recovery over the previous six months is losing momentum, the central bank said.

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LONDON — Part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland said it cut losses by 36 percent in the third quarter as it booked fewer charges for bad loans.

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