Shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) jumped 18% to $39.16. The company said it has received an acquisition offer of $38 a share from Whitney V L.P. and its affiliates. The offer represents a 14.8% premium to the Herbalife's regular-session closing price of $33.10.

Rackable Systems Inc. (NDAQ:RACK) lost $0.03 to end at $16.66, after sliding 18% during the day session. The company's Q4 net earnings of $563,000, or $0.02 a share, were down 92% from $7.31 million or $0.32 a share during the year-ago period.

Atheros Communications (NDAQ:ATHR) gained $0.07 to $24.03.  The wireless company said that it swung to a Q4 loss, but revenue of $87.8 million was above the estimated $86 million.

RedEnvelope (NDAQ:REDE) shares are up 7.5% at $80 after the branded online retailer released that the Q3 net income rose to $5.31 million, or$0.56 a share, from $4.1 million, or $0.43 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $57 million from $53 million. RedEnvelope backed its view for 2007 revenue growth of 7% to 10%, with a net loss of $2 million to $2.5 million.

Allstate Corporation's (NYSE:ALL) net income came in at $1.21 billion, or $1.93 a share, up 17% from a year earlier when the property and casualty insurer made $1.04 billion, or $1.59 a share.

Sirf Technology (NDAQ:SIRF) shares rose almost 3% after the company reported a Q4 net earning of $9.1 million, down from $10.23 million a year ago. Sirf's sales rose 36.6% to $74.2 million from $54.3 million.

Crude oil for March delivery settled up $1.31 at $59.02 a barrel in New York. For the week, oil rose 6.5%, the largest gain since the week of December 1st and the third weekly gain in a row. In electronic trading, oil rallied further, setting a fresh four-week high of $59.25.

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) has announced two drug development deals potentially worth up to $800 million. The company said it paid $150 million to buy a privately held British biotech called Arrow Therapeutics. AstraZeneca also said it would cut 3,000 jobs, about 4.6% of its workforce. Most of the reductions will come from manufacturing personnel as AstraZeneca prepares for generic competition. AstraZeneca traded $1.45 higher to $57.40.

British Airways (NYSE:BAB), Europe's third best airline and the UK's largest, announced their Q4 2006 earnings of 8.9 pence/share (£103m), down 12% from 10.3 pence/share (£117m) in Q4 2005. Revenues were £2.1 billion. Analysts had forecasted income of £109m. The airline averted a flight-attendants strike this week, but lost £80m in the scuffle, causing CEO Willie Walsh to cut its full-year growth guidance to 3.25-3.75% from 4.5-5%. Margins were down to 6.2% from 8.6% over increased fuel and pension costs. Passengers flown and load factor (proportion of seats sold) were flat at 8.53m and 73.7%. The company cut its net debt in 2006 by £775 million to £866 million; cash rose £203 million to £2.64 billion. British Airways' shares are trading up 2.3% in London.

Nissan (NYSE:NSANY) reported a 23% drop in Q3 net income to $862 million. This is Nissan's first drop in profit in six quarters. Its worldwide autos sales fell 3% in the quarter, led by a 16% decline in Europe. Nissan cut its full fiscal year (ending in March) net profit forecast by 12%. Nissan's ordinary shares lost 1.8%.  

U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) reported a year-over-year surge in Q4 profits which easily beat street estimates ($2.50 versus $2.19-$2.21/share), but the company expects a decline in Q1. Q4 net income totaled $297 million, versus the $109 million estimate, and $0.85 a share for last year, on sales growth of 8.8% to $3.77 billion.