NEW YORK (Reuters) - Money manager Ezra Merkin has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general that accused Merkin of steering client money to Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, a person familiar with the settlement said on Sunday.

These are the words some prominent American investors and strategists are using to describe the worsening debt crisis in the euro zone and its impact on the global economy.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in 11 months in June and the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment aid fell only slightly last week, further evidence the economy was weakening.

CHARLOTTE, N.C./LONDON (Reuters) - Ratings agency Moody's downgraded 15 of the world's biggest banks on Thursday, lowering credit ratings by one to three notches to reflect the risk of losses they face from volatile capital markets activities, but banks criticized the move as backward looking.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top crude oil producer, Rosneft , has been in talks with ExxonMobil about teaming up with the U.S. group to tap Iraq's huge West Qurna-1 oilfield, Kommersant daily reported on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge fund investors have voiced their concerns about complex funds designed to protect against major market meltdowns, just as fears of a break-up of the euro zone have spurred huge interest in these products.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is considering additional cost cutting measures, co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a joint interview published on Friday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. private equity fund Carlyle Group is in talks with banks to refinance A$1.9 billion ($1.9 billion) in loans used to buy out Australian equipment hire company Coates Hire Ltd, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil briefly traded at its lowest in 18 months and European stocks fell on Friday, while the safe-haven dollar rose as weak German and U.S. data and a downgrade to some of the world's major banks unnerved investors.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - BHP Billiton is likely to cut the first stage of its estimated $10 billion iron ore port expansion in half, analysts and investors said, as it looks to slash capital spending due to rising costs and an uncertain market outlook.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Adidas will use a tough keep-fit trend and retro products to grow sales at Reebok to 3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) by 2015, after the unit was hit by a fraud scandal in India and the loss of its NFL American football contract, its CEO said.

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.45 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.25 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 0916 GMT.