(Reuters) - Private equity firm TPG Capital TPG.UL has agreed to sell a minority stake in itself to two sovereign wealth funds, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday. TPG told its investors in a letter that it had agreed to a small stake sale, said the source who has also seen the letter, although the letter did not specify who the buyers were.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. manufacturing sector grew at a marginally slower pace in March after accelerating at its fastest rate in nearly seven years the month before, according to an industry report released on Friday. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity dipped to 61.2 last month from 61.4 in February, roughly in line with economists' expectations for a reading of 61.0.

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(Reuters Legal) - The Japanese nuclear crisis has created a public-relations headache for General Electric Co (GE.N), but the company so far has escaped any legal fallout, and many experts expect it will continue to do so. GE designed the Mark 1 containment systems used in reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, and after a magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami devastated northeast Japan on March 11, vessels intended to protect the reactors came under severe stress amidst explosions and fires and may have leaked radiation.

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(Reuters) - Floundering hipster brand American Apparel (APP.A) posted a loss of $86 million in 2010, and said it may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it did not manage to get enough funds to keep going, a filing dated March 31 said. American Apparel, known for its "Made-in-USA" clothes, has been under fire on a lot of issues, ranging from possible covenant breaches and a long-running sales slump to immigration probes of its workers and sexual harassment cases against its chief executive.

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(Reuters) - Standard & Poor's stripped Ireland of its last 'A' rating on Friday, citing future risks to bondholders, but the one notch cut was less severe than feared and gave the thumbs up to the state's bank bill. Ireland's new government has said it will recapitalize its banking system to the tune of a further 24 billion euros to try and draw a line under a legacy of reckless lending that has forced it into an EU-IMF bailout.

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(Reuters) - For Fumihiro Shimizu and his family-owned auto parts plant in this company town, being a second-tier supplier for Japan's top car makers has never been easy. Even in the boom years, margins were squeezed as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and others extracted maximum value from suppliers to fight off competition from overseas rivals and keep prices down

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(Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday, with Brent crude nearing $118, as investors anticipated U.S. payrolls data later in the session will confirm the improving economic outlook of the world's largest oil importer. Fighting in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi's forces appear to have regained the upper hand, supported crude prices as the prospect of a drawn-out conflict reduced expectations of lost Libyan oil returning to the market in the near future.

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(Reuters) - U.S. shares rose on Wednesday, and small cap stocks .RUT were up more than 1 percent at 838.59, the highest level since October 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 85.41 points, or 0.70 percent, to 12,364.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 10.38 points, or 0.79 percent, to 1,329.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC added 19.99 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,776.88.

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(Reuters) - U.S. private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in March while planned layoffs fell, underscoring expectations that momentum in the labor market will help underpin the economic recovery. The ADP Employer Services report on Wednesday showed that U.S. private employers added 201,000 jobs in March, largely in line with expectations for a gain of 203,000 jobs.

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(Reuters) - U.S. chief executives' view of the economy brightened in the first quarter, with more than half now ready to add jobs -- a critical step if the economy's recovery is to gain steam. The Business Roundtable's quarterly CEO Economic Outlook survey found that 52 percent of the 142 CEOs who responded to the survey plan to add staff in the United States over the next six months -- the highest reading since the group began doing the survey in late 2002.

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