MARKETS / FINANCE

The U.S. economy grew a bit faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter on slightly firmer consumer and business spending, which could help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in growth in early 2012.

Bridgewater Associates, the world's biggest hedge fund, handed clients $13.8 billion last year, catapulting founder Ray Dalio above long-time rivals such as George Soros and John Paulson as the industry's biggest money maker in 2011, research showed.

China's engagement in resolving the euro zone debt crisis has been a topic of contention. High-profile Chinese leaders, such as Vice Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping, have reassured the European countries that China would invest in alleviating the debt. However, a financial plan has yet to be communicated.

India's economic growth slowed to 6.1 percent in the three months to December, the weakest annual pace in almost three years, as high interest rates and rising raw material costs constrained investment and manufacturing.

The economy grew a bit faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter on slightly firmer consumer and business spending, calming fears of a sharp slowdown in growth in early 2012.

Applications for U.S. home mortgage purchases jumped last week as interest rates dipped, though demand for refinancing waned, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Wall Street stocks were set to open slightly higher on Wednesday on stronger-than-forecast U.S. growth data and after European banks borrowed more than a half trillion euros as part of an effort to stabilize the euro zone's financial system.

Banks grabbed 530 billion euros at the European Central Bank's second offering of cheap three-year funds on Wednesday, fuelling expectations that credit will flow to businesses and borrowing costs will ease for governments hit by the euro zone crisis.

French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen's alliance talks with General Motors may yet fail as the U.S. automaker hesitates over criticism from investors, a source with knowledge of the discussions said.

A Zimbabwean minister launched a verbal attack on Impala Platinum Chief Executive David Brown, saying on Wednesday he was sick and tired of the mining group's failure to comply with local black ownership laws.

The economy grew a bit faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter on slightly firmer consumer and business spending, which could help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in growth in early 2012.

Mitt Romney may have won two state primaries Tuesday night, but Rick Santorum is a winner just for putting up a strong fight in Michigan.

The economy grew a bit faster than initially thought in the fourth quarter on slightly firmer consumer and business spending, which could help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in growth in early 2012.

A planned referendum in Ireland and a German court ruling cast new uncertainty on Tuesday over efforts to overcome the euro zone's debt crisis, just when a flood of central bank money appeared to be calming financial markets.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who lent his name to historic restrictions on banks' financial market trading, says regulators should not back down in imposing the curbs and that additional reforms to markets are necessary.

Stock index futures edged up on Wednesday after European banks absorbed more than half a trillion euros as part of an effort to stabilize the euro zone's financial system.

Greece has invited bids for state-owned gas company DEPA, as it moves ahead with a privatization program targeted to raise 19 billion euros ($25.5 billion) by 2015.

Banks took 530 billion euros at the European Central Bank's second-ever offering of 3-year funding on Wednesday, essentially in line with market expectations.

Buffett didn't identify the new pick and he even said the candidate hasn't been notified yet.

Staples Inc , the largest U.S. office supply chain, reported a quarterly profit that narrowly beat analysts' estimates, helped by a slight increase in customer traffic at its North American business.

The founder of the online file-sharing site Megaupload.com has asked a New Zealand court to free nearly a quarter of a million dollars in frozen assets to pay for living expenses, including nannies and bodyguards, as a bid by the United States to put him back behind bars was thrown out of court on Wednesday.

France's data protection regulator will launch an official investigation into Google's new privacy policy and said that its preliminary view was that it did not conform with European laws on protecting individuals' privacy.

The European Central Bank is expected to pump half a trillion euros into the euro zone's troubled financial system for the second time in as many months on Wednesday in what it hopes will be the last such operation to fight the euro zone crisis.

Some Chinese Internet users have this week been able to access blocked websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, relishing the newfound freedom although the reason for the breach in China's Great Firewall of censorship was a mystery.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a firmer open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures rising 0.1-0.2 percent at 4:58 a.m. ET.

Wolfgang Schaeuble was playing Sudoku on his iPad as he waited to hear whether Greece's negotiating team had persuaded private creditors to accept a bigger loss on their Greek bonds.

David Sokol, who left Berkshire Hathaway last year amid a scandal over his stock trading while at the company, would receive about $1 million in retirement payments every year, according to a regulatory filing.

Investment banker Felix Rohatyn, who helped rescue New York City from its mid-1970s financial crisis, has agreed to sit on the board of New York State's $25 billion infrastructure bank, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.

Blackstone Group LP co-founder Stephen Schwarzman got about $213.5 million in salary, share of profits and cash distributions from his holdings in the world's largest private equity firm in 2011, up 33 percent from the previous year.