VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Warren Buffett, in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders last year, called America "the mother lode of opportunity."

European shares rose to fresh seven-year highs on Friday, extending a two-month rally fueled by the European Central Bank's money printing program which starts in the coming weeks.

Crude oil futures rebounded on Friday, with Brent heading for its biggest monthly gain since May 2009, as supply outages in North Sea and renewed fears of gas supply disruption in Europe supported prices.

Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) will be able to meet its goal of taking 10 percent of the U.S. market in two years without any major new investments and by making use of capacity available at factories in Japan and South Korea, a top executive said on Friday.

International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), which ruled computing in the age of the mainframe, is targeting $40 billion in annual revenue from the cloud, big data, security and other growth areas by 2018.

Japanese stocks crawled to a fresh 15-year peak on Friday after the dollar surged against the yen as upbeat U.S. data flipped expectations back in favor of an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Bank lending in the euro zone fell slightly in January but at a slower pace than a month earlier, suggesting the economy may be turning a corner as consumer morale picks up in the bloc's largest economies.

Former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Thursday Vladimir Putin was a "naked king" presiding over an economy that will weaken further, eventually provoking a battle between rival clans in Moscow.

Department store chain J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) reported a lower-than-expected quarterly adjusted profit as it discounted more during the holiday season and invested in store expansions.

The Nasdaq resumed its recent advance on Thursday after deal news in the technology sector, while the Dow and S&P 500 dipped as energy shares sank with oil prices.

U.S. consumer prices fell over the past year for the first time since 2009 as gasoline prices continued to tumble, which could allow a cautious Federal Reserve more room to hold off on raising interest rates.

Japanese households cut spending further and retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in January, data on Friday is likely to show, a sign the central bank's radical stimulus has yet to convince consumers that inflation will take hold.

The Federal Reserve should make a change to its policy statement next month that would allow it to monitor inflation readings through the spring and then hike interest rates some time in the summer, a top Fed official said on Thursday.

Oil rose towards $62 a barrel on Thursday as indications of a coming recovery in demand offset a further jump in U.S. crude stockpiles which underlined currently ample supplies.

U.S. regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks.

Standard Chartered (STAN.L) said former JPMorgan (JPM.N) investment bank boss Bill Winters will take over as chief executive in June to replace Peter Sands, after investors demanded change at the helm following two years of problems.