(Reuters) - BP's new chief executive said its rivals and the media had helped cause a climate of fear during the summer when the oil giant's blown-out Gulf of Mexico well caused the worst ever oil spill in the United States. The comments represented the latest volley in BP's battle to rebuild its battered reputation by taking a harder line with those who have blamed the disaster on a safety culture at BP that, they said, put cost-saving before safety.

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(Reuters) - Technology shares edged higher on Friday as results from Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) and SanDisk (SNDK.O) bolstered the outlook for the sector, while the broad market was little changed. Keeping investors skittish was a Group of 20 nations meeting that sought a common path to manage global trade, currency and macroeconomic imbalances.

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(Reuters) - A measure of future U.S. economic growth fell to a six-week low in the latest week, while the index's annualized growth rate rose to an 18-week high, a research group said on Friday. The Economic Cycle Research Institute, a New York-based independent forecasting group, said its Weekly Leading Index fell to 122.1 in the week ended October 15 from 122.2 the previous week.

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(Reuters) - The United States struggled on Friday to win backing for a proposal to set limits on external imbalances as a way of pressing countries with surpluses such as China to let their exchange rates rise. In a letter to fellow finance ministers of the Group of 20 leading economies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said countries should implement policies to reduce their current account imbalances below a specified share of national output.

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(Reuters) - Stock indexes were little changed on Friday as a Group of 20 nations meeting that sought a common path to manage global trade, currency and macroeconomic imbalances kept investors skittish and markets choppy. The S&P 500 sent a bullish signal as the index's 50-day moving average crossed above its 200-day moving average, a technical event known as a golden cross. That upward momentum indicator last occurred in June 2009, and the benchmark rose more than 35 percent in the following 10 months.

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(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) held its ground against AT&T Inc (T.N) in the third quarter as its results edged ahead of Wall Street expectations from growth at Verizon Wireless. The company has lost market share to AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone. But Verizon plans to sell iPhones next year, a move eagerly awaited by investors.

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(Reuters) - AIA, the Asian life insurance arm of AIG (AIG.N), raised $17.9 billion by pricing its Hong Kong IPO at the top of its range as investors piled into the most attractive offering in the world's hottest financial market. The pricing of the initial public offering, set to be the world's third biggest, comes as new listings proliferate in Asia. It puts an end to a long-running saga for American International Group, which tried and failed to sell AIA to Britain's Prudential (PRU.L) earlier this year.

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That figure, projected through 2013, represents a worst-case scenario that assumes a double-dip recession, the Federal Housing Finance Agency says. The finance giants have so far received about $148 billion in taxpayer funds.

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NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday on strong corporate earnings, including Caterpillar, a weaker U.S. dollar and reassuring data from China. China's growth ebbed in the third quarter while inflation edged a touch higher, showing the world's No. 2 economy is still an engine for global growth and suggesting a recent interest rate rise may be enough for now. For details see

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Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, with benchmark indexes gaining for a second day, as companies from EBay Inc. to Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. increased earnings and sales forecasts while jobless claims decreased. EBay, the owner of the world’s largest auction site, rallied 7.5 percent and Freeport-McMoRan gained 4 percent. Netflix Inc., the mail-order and online movie-rental service, surged 11 percent after it increased its projections of subscribers.

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