MARKETS / FINANCE

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is advocating for regulatory control over the money-market mutual fund industry and believes the government should stop financing mortgages.

France lobbied on Sunday to overcome German opposition to giving the European Central Bank a central role in bolstering the euro zone's bailout fund, arguing it was the only way to draw a definitive line under the widening debt problems.

European Union leaders hold talks on Sunday to try to hammer out a comprehensive plan for tackling the euro zone debt crisis, but a breakthrough is not expected until another summit on Wednesday.

European Union leaders piled pressure on Italy on Sunday to speed up economic reforms to avoid a Greece-style meltdown as they began a crucial two-leg summit called to rescue the euro zone from a deepening sovereign debt crisis.

The European Union is ready to adopt decisive measures to tackle its sovereign debt crisis, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Sunday.

The death of Moammar Gadhafi has definitely clarified one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the global oil market: There is now one fewer issue to hinder production security in a host of oil hot spots.

China will make job creation a more urgent priority in the face of slowed economic growth and weakened exports, Premier Wen Jibao said in comments published on Sunday, also warning that efforts to tame housing prices were at a critical point.

China will make job creation a more urgent priority in the face of slowed economic growth and weakened exports, Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published Sunday.

Spain has done enough to meet its deficit-cutting goals despite the autonomous regions falling behind on their targets, a source in the president's office said on Saturday, countering concerns the country could fall short of its forecasts.

Dutch opposition parties took aim at Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Saturday, demanding the minority coalition government secure a definitive and sustainable solution to Europe's debt crisis or risk a loss of parliamentary support.

The main subsidiary of mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc has been seized by Arizona insurance regulators, and will begin paying only 50 percent of claims starting on Monday, PMI Group said on Saturday.

The Netherlands would support the International Monetary Fund taking on a greater financial role in the euro zone bailout, the Dutch prime minister said Saturday but refused to be drawn on other options being discussed in Brussels.

To paraphrase singer Britney Spears, Oops, she did it again. In this case, she is conservative commentator/columnist Ann Coulter, who says the Occupy Wall Street protest movement is a mob and similar to mob uprisings.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected a breakthrough in efforts to come up with a comprehensive response to the euro zone debt crisis on Wednesday, after EU finance ministers made progress in talks on recapitalizing banks.

EU finance ministers neared agreement on Saturday on a framework to provide 100 billion euros to European banks, but were still wrangling over how to do it as Spain, Italy and Portugal raised concerns over the cost.

Households' caution about taking on debt and spending will stand them in good stead when the economic recovery becomes more robust, a top Federal Reserve official said on Saturday.

A festering dispute in Angela Merkel's center-right coalition worsened on Saturday when the chancellor publicly rejected a claim by one of her junior coalition partners that a tax cut proposal had been scrapped.

The popular uprisings that have swept the Arab world this year have slowed economies across the region, and jobs, better governance and investment are needed, speakers at the World Economic Forum in Jordan said on Saturday.

The International Monetary Fund is not seeking more funds from Gulf Arab oil exporters to bolster its resources, and the region faces no major danger from the euro zone debt crisis, the IMF's Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik said on Saturday.

Banks cannot rely on taxpayers' money to recapitalise themselves, Sweden's Finance Minister said on Saturday ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers that was due to discuss steps to strengthen the European banking system.

Regulators closed four banks in the United States on Friday, including one in Colorado with over $1 billion in assets, bringing the total number of closures this year to 84.

Japan's finance minister said on Saturday he would take decisive action against excessive and speculative yen moves, Kyodo news agency reported, threatening to conduct currency intervention after the yen rose to a record high against the dollar.

Groupon Inc plans to raise as much as $540 million in an initial public offering, less than previously planned, as the daily deals website grapples with a weak equities market, executive departures and questions about its accounting and business model.

Groupon Inc faces its toughest sales pitch next week when the daily deals website launches a roadshow to persuade investors to buy shares in its initial public offering.

Anti-Wall Street protesters joined Verizon Communications workers on Friday in a march to denounce corporate greed as the company and 45,000 employees negotiate a new labor contract.

Private investors would have to forgive 60 percent of what Greece owes them to make its debt sustainable by 2020 and for a euro zone loan package to stay at the 109 billion euros ($151 billion) agreed in July, a report by international lenders said.

The Federal Reserve is worried about the U.S. economy's health and is looking at ways to offer more monetary stimulus, the central bank's influential vice chair, Janet Yellen, said on Friday.

France's stock market regulator has recommended French banks take a bigger loss on their exposure to Greek government bonds, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Goofball, visionary, opportunist, maverick: Andrew Mason invites all manner of description but the one thing all agree on is that the Groupon CEO is one shrewd customer.