WNCTIMES

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.85 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.49 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.79 percent at 0842 GMT. European stocks were up 0.5 percent in morning trade on Monday following a dismal week, but gains were capped by lingering worries over the future of Greece into the euro zone. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Vodacom posted a modest 8 percent rise in full-year earnings on Monday, coming just short of expectations after a hefty tax bill and high capital expenditure costs. The South African unit of Britain's Vodafone said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 706 cents in the year to end-March, up from 654.3 cents a year earlier. The company said in a trading statement last month it expected earnings to be 5-10 percent higher, while a poll of 17 analysts by Thomson Reuters predicted a 10 percent rise. ...

Phnom Penh (Cambodia), May 21 (Xinhua-ANI): Cambodia launched the first ever life insurance here with the official inauguration of Cambodian Life Insurance Company (Cambodian Life) on Monday, seen as another landmark in the kingdom's financial market after the opening of stock market in mid-April.

Washington, May 21 (ANI): A trading glitch at Nasdaq during last Friday's Initial Public Offering for Facebook may end up costing the American stock exchange nearly a 100 million dollars to compensate the losses, according to a report.

The July 29, 2008, phone call between two titans of Wall Street began with the old friends exchanging mild pleasantries, but then quickly turned serious and — by the government's account — criminal.

Singapore's Olam International emerges as the worstperformer on earnings quality (EQ) among 15 companies in thecountry's consumer staples sector, Thomson Reuters StarMine datashows. The data includes firms covered by at least three analysts. The company fares badly with an EQ score of 2, suggestingpoor earnings sustainability. Since May 16, 11 out of 25 analysts have cut their EPSestimates on Olam by 12.5 percent for the year ending June 2012. A five star analyst predicts revenue for June 2012 to beless than the mean estimate by 10.8 percent while anotherexpects it to be lower by 7.4 percent. ...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Pioneer Food Group posted a 44 percent drop in first-half earnings on Monday, hit by costs related to an empowerment transaction and soft consumer spending. The group, which makes bread, breakfast cereal and juices, said diluted headline earnings per share for the six months to end-March totaled 129 cents from 231.4 cents a year earlier. Headline earnings are the main profit gauge in South Africa and exclude certain one-off, financial and non-trading items. ...

Facebook resumes trading on Wall Street on Monday with shares being closely watched to see how well they stand on their own after stumbling out of the gate in a historic but lackluster debut.