VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The dollar index slipped on Friday, pegged back by month-end selling, but was still on track for its eighth straight month of gains on better data and comments from Federal Reserve officials that bolstered bets for a rate rise this year.

The U.S. dollar was nursing losses in Asia on Thursday while bonds held hefty gains as investors scaled back expectations on how fast, and how far, the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates in coming months and years.

U.S. consumer spending barely rose in January as households cut back on purchases of a range of goods, suggesting the economy started the first quarter on a softer note.

The London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) plans to put Russell Investments up for sale in mid-February and hopes to fetch around $1.4 billion for the unit, two sources told Reuters Wednesday.

U.S. producer prices in December recorded their biggest fall in more than three years on tumbling energy costs while underlying inflation pressures were tame, a cautionary note for the Federal Reserve as it ponders its next step on monetary policy.

Growth in the U.S. services sector braked in December and new orders for manufactured goods fell for a fourth straight month in November, signs the economy lost some momentum in the fourth quarter.

Barclays' private bank in Switzerland has dropped out of a U.S. program aimed at cracking down on wealthy Americans evading taxes through hidden offshore accounts, the British bank's market head for Switzerland said on Thursday.

Puerto Rico's planned bond deal of up to $2.9 billion will not happen before early 2015, two finance industry sources briefed on the matter said on Monday.

Shares of Virgin America Inc, a low-cost airline partly owned by Richard Branson, soared more than 30 percent in their market debut, underscoring the buoyant mood in an industry that is emerging from a long spell of turbulence.

BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) is reorganizing its sales force and has hired Lee Beck, a former managing director with J.P. Morgan Funds, to oversee sales to wirehouses, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

Even the wildest markets nearly always draw opportunists looking for profitable ways to play them. But recent volatility has hit such a level that the strongest-nerved are thinking twice.

Auto analysts are skeptical that Sergio Marchionne, the hyperbolic chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI)(FCAU.N), can meet his most ambitious goal: to nearly double Jeep's global sales over the next four years.

Barclays Plc's (BARC.L) auction of its index business, which includes the widely used Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, has hit a snag, after would-be buyers realized some crucial bond pricing data that does not belong to the British bank will not be part of the package, two people familiar with the situation said.

Asian shares tentatively rose in early trade on Tuesday, while the dollar steadied after investors locked in some gains overnight on its recent rally.

Global shares hit a one-month low on Tuesday as investors refrained from placing strong bets before a Fed meeting that could adjust expectations about how soon the U.S. central bank will hike interest rates.