INVESTMENT

The text of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s speech regarding the budget:

South African investment firm Brait will raise up to $864 million in a rights issue for its latest round of acquisitions, as it jettisons its private equity model in favour of public capital markets.

U.S. stocks advanced in early trade on Wednesday after ADP National Employment report showed that the private sector employment rose more than expected in February.

The federal budget and unemployment were tied as top investor concerns, a poll showed, when asked to rate potential factors affecting the investment climate.

The chances of Portugal accepting a bailout has increased as hopes of reining in the borrowing costs of peripheral European governments have faded.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to modestly lower opening on Wednesday as investors eye economic data including ADP national employment report.

Shareholders of two of the firms in a consortium buying U.S. insurer AIG's Taiwan unit approved the $2.16 billion bid on Wednesday, setting the scene for what is expected to be a tough battle with regulators.

China and Hong Kong shares were lower by midday Wednesday as market players preferred to cut risk after escalating political tensions in the Middle East prompted a pull-back on Wall Street and in other Asian markets.

A former partner of D.E. Shaw and an ex-Goldman Sachs (GS.N) partner are setting up a new firm to raise about $500 million for a China-focused private equity fund to join the growing competition for deals in the world's No.2 economy, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. market regulator said former Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Procter & Gamble Co board member Rajat Gupta tipped Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam in phone calls about confidential company information. Gupta's lawyer said the allegations are baseless.

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc director Rajat Gupta leaked secret details to Galleon Group hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam about Warren Buffett's plan to invest $5 billion in the Wall Street bank at the height of the financial crisis, a U.S. securities regulator charged.

The trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme has sued Tremont Group Holdings for $2.1 billion, saying it missed warning signs the business could be a fraud.

China may have more potential than ever to influence U.S. debt prices after data showed the country owns more than a $1 trillion in Treasuries, almost a third more than previously thought.

A Bay Area hedge fund manager settled civil charges that he secretly diverted more than $12 million in proceeds to other entities he controlled, securities regulators announced.

Spot gold rallied to a record of $1,432.10 an ounce, surpassing its previous record of $1,430.95 set on December 7, as chaos in Libya and political turmoil in the Arab world prompted safe-haven buying and soaring oil prices boosted bullion's inflation hedge appeal.

This just-in-time book will help any investor find safe havens that will turn the economic downturn into a unique wealth-building experience. As long as stocks continue to post new highs and surprising lows, investors will need dynamic strategies to make a profit. Wealth Building Strategies in Energy, Metals, and Other Markets explains that money management and long-term trend identification are the keys to investing success.

FrontPoint Partners, the $4.5 billion hedge fund ensnared in the government's insider trading probe, is back on its own after more than four years of living with investment bank Morgan Stanley .

Goldman Sachs Group Inc could lose up to $3.4 billion from lawsuits and other disputes over the securities it sold and underwrote, the investment bank said in its annual filing with regulators on Tuesday.

Tanzania needs to invest $10 billion a year to improve its infrastructure network and create a healthy climate for the county's economic growth, a continental investment body said on Tuesday.

An investigation by U.S. immigration officials into illegal unemployment at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N) is making some investors nervous and could have implications for the fast-food industry as a whole. Chipotle, based in Denver, is one of the highest-profile employers to come under the scrutiny of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent years.

The silver market has greeted the revival of forward sales by miners with sanguinity as prices sit at 31-year highs, but other signals suggest supply may really be scarce and investors are poised for more price gains.