The Traderszone Network

Asian shares rose on Friday following gains on Wall Street, while the dollar firmed after facing pressure from a rise in the yuan, but gains were capped by uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.8 percent, and on track to rise more than 3 percent for the week.

Apple announced a program on Wednesday that will allow users to finance unlocked versions of the new iPhones through monthly installments starting at $32, regardless of carrier. “We think this program should act as a tailwind for iPhone sales, since they serve to shorten the replacement cycle…,” Susquehanna analysts wrote in a note on Thursday. The deal for iPhone owners, which will initially apply to the United States and 11 other key markets including China, emerged as one of the most positive announcements at Apple’s annual launch event.

GE Asset Management had $115 billion in assets under management as of June 30, according to GE, and manages retirement plans for the vast majority of GE’s 136,000 U.S. employees as well as assets for outside institutional investors including third-party retirement plans. The plan to unload the asset management arm comes after GE announced in April it would seek to sell some $200 billion of its GE Capital assets as it moves away from financial services and focuses more on manufacturing jet engines, power turbines and other big-ticket industrial equipment.

Crude oil prices dipped on Friday and were poised for a weekly fall after news that top oil exporter Saudi Arabia sees no need for a producer summit to defend prices, partly offsetting a strong rally in the previous session. The front-month October contract for Brent, the global oil benchmark, shed 5 cents to $48.84 a barrel as of 0217 GMT after it settled up $1.31, or 2.8 percent, on Thursday at $48.89 a barrel.

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Company executives may be quicker to hire lawyers and less likely to cooperate with investigations because of a renewed push by U.S. prosecutors to put individuals in prison instead of only levying big fines on corporations that break the law, lawyers with expertise in white-collar crime cases said.

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Japanese business sentiment turned positive in July-September and companies stuck to upbeat spending plans, a government survey showed, offering some relief for policymakers worried about a hit from slowing Chinese growth and ensuing market turmoil. “Big manufacturers appear a bit cautious about the outlook, probably due to uncertainty over China. “Capital expenditure plans remain fairly strong, so I don’t think we need to be too pessimistic about the economy,” he said.

Ellen Pao, the former venture capitalist who lost a high-profile discrimination case against her former employer earlier this year, said on Thursday that she would not pursue an appeal of the court’s decision. …