AP - China's prime minister tried to reassure the world about its financial goals Friday, saying a planned company to invest some of its $1 trillion in reserves won't affect dollar-denominated assets and promising to reform unruly Chinese stock markets.

Reuters - U.S. consumer sentiment slipped to its lowest in six months in March, as worries about declining stock prices and the health of the housing market shook consumer's confidence in the economy, a report showed on Friday.

AP - Stocks were narrowly mixed in early trading Friday after Wall Street found some relief in an inflation reading that was better than the market feared and as industrial production showed a stronger-than-expected increase.

Reuters - Stocks slipped at the open on Friday as investors worried that the Federal Reserve may be far from cutting interest rates any time soon after government data showed a rise in February consumer prices.

Reuters - U.S. industrial output posted its biggest gain in more than a year, rising a much larger-than-expected 1.0 percent in February, fueled by motor vehicles, high-tech and utilities, a government report said on Friday.

Reuters - U.S. consumer prices climbed more than expected in February as energy costs bounced back from a January drop and food prices soared, though core prices that exclude food and energy met forecasts, a Labor Department report on Friday showed.