Friday's Top Stories in 2 Minutes

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Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the Web this Friday to find the biggest news and best stories around. Here are your top five reads.

1. Reaction to last quarter's GDP growth
We get a few observations on the economy's 3.5% growth over last year's third quarter. (Read more at The Atlantic, CNNMoney, and Reuters.)

2. More on Galleon
As the Galleon insider-trading case gears up, investors are getting a look at how the company wasn't limited to just trading on corporate events. Galleon paid more than $250 million to banks last year (The Financial Times lists Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) as its top brokers) and expected "a lot of market information" in return. Market information inferred "market color," such as an impending heavy seller of a security. This isn't an uncommon practice on Wall Street, but as one hedge-fund founder tells The Financial Times, "High-velocity hedge funds aren't really about investing. ... It is a cat-and-mouse kind of thing, a game." (Read more at The Financial Times.)

3. Earnings recap
Let's take a quick look at some of the notable earnings from last night and this morning.

• Asian tech stocks: Sony (NYSE: SNE) stayed in the red last quarter but came closer to a profit than expected. The company was helped by robust PlayStation sales but also hurt by currency effects. In contrast to Sony, Samsung managed to report its highest-ever quarterly profit. The company tripled its total from a year ago. (Read more at Yahoo! Finance and The Wall Street Journal.)
• Finance: NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) saw its profits plummet by 28%. The company continues to struggle with alternative trading platforms that have forced it into an aggressive price war. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

4. Commodities on the rise?
Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP), which along with Vale (NYSE: VALE) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) controls a sizable portion of the world's iron ore reserves, announced that it's doubling capital expenditures from previously announced levels. The move comes as a surprise, since the company was recently struggling to cut debt, and shows a high level of confidence in a global rebound. (Read more at MarketWatch.)

5. Enjoy that Dr. Skipper
The Harris group polled Americans to see what actions they've taken to save money. The biggest switch: buying generic brands. (Read more at Harris Interactive.)

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