IBT Staff Reporter

Europe's economic prospects next year are so bleak that 2011, for all the euro's agonies, has every chance of being remembered fondly.

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday said there is a greater number of sovereign and banking bonds at risk of ratings downgrades as a result of its recent warning that it might cut the credit ratings on 15 euro zone nations.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday pointed to turmoil Europe as a big risk to the economy, leaving the door open to a further easing of monetary policy even as it noted some improvement in the labor market.

Retail sales grew at their slowest pace in five months in November, tempering expectations for a strong holiday shopping season.

Hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen in sworn testimony earlier this year called the rules on insider trading very vague and said sometimes it's a judgment call as to whether a tidbit about a public company is inside information.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday left monetary policy on hold but said financial market turbulence posed threats to economic growth, leaving the door open to further easing next year.

Three former executives of Washington Mutual Inc have agreed to a payment of about $75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp over their role in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, two sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday.

As more and more users begin to find that Amazon’s tablet-like e-book reader Kindle Fire is actually not a tablet computer at all, Amazon said on Monday that it will roll out a software update to improve performance.

Stocks rose on Tuesday as energy shares rallied on higher crude oil prices, but trading was volatile after German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected any suggestion of raising the limit on Europe's bailout fund.

EU ministers urged the European Commission and regulators to check on telecom operators who prioritize bandwidth for certain services, giving leverage to complaints about mobile firms around the world blocking Web-call services such as Skype.

Former MF Global chief Jon Corzine said on Tuesday he felt a need to clarify his prior statements, definitively telling a new panel of lawmakers that he never gave instructions that could have been misinterpreted as permission to misuse customer funds.

Lawmakers investigating the collapse of futures brokerage MF Global showed frustration with the firm's leaders about what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer funds.

DuPont expects to beat Wall Street's earnings expectation next year, with executives stressing that strong agricultural and chemical sales will offset weak shipments to electronic and housing customers.

A rumor that Verizon will buy Netflix is flying around, pushing up Netflix shares by 6.2 percent to $75.26 on Monday. The stock continues to rise Tuesday, with Netflix trading up $1.20 to $76.16 in early-afternoon trading.

AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp asked a U.S. court on Tuesday to delay hearings in their private litigation over whether the telecommunications giant can buy T-Mobile USA, and the judge promptly agreed.

Best Buy Co's quarterly profit missed Wall Street estimates as bigger discounts during the key holiday selling season ate into profits at the world's largest electronics chain.

Southwest Airlines , a loyal Boeing Co customer for 40 years, ordered 208 Boeing 737s worth $19 billion, including 150 of the upcoming 737 MAX.

U.S. lawmakers investigating the collapse of futures brokerage MF Global showed frustration with the firm's leaders about what happened to hundreds of millions of dollars in missing customer funds.

U.S. stocks rose modestly in choppy, low volume-trading on Tuesday, with concerns about Europe offsetting a jump in crude prices.

Among the main beneficiaries of the graphic new movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be babysitters.

U.S.-Israeli start-up CloudShare, whose technology enables Web-based development and testing of software applications, expects to as much as triple sales in 2012 as its benefits from the rapidly growing cloud computing market.

- Toronto's main stock index looked set to open higher on Tuesday, taking cues from its U.S. and European counterparts and helped by firmer commodity prices.

Students graduating from Canadian colleges and universities next year will face the same stagnant job market that has confronted 2011 graduates, a study released on Tuesday said.

Exchange operators NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse AG offered more divestments in a bid to assuage European authorities' antitrust concerns over their proposed $9 billion merger.

Canada on Monday became the first country to announce it would withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the already troubled global treaty.

The New York-based telecommunications company must pay up to $11 million a month in royalties to ActiveVideo for providing video-on-demand service found to violate patents, U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Jackson ruled last month in Norfolk, Va.

A simple new online music service will launch across Europe and North America this week aimed at the millions who like music but struggle with the technology to find and listen to it.

Vietnam veteran Bob Garon, 63, was having breakfast with his husband at a restaurant in Manchester, N.H., when Mitt Romney saw his veteran's hat and approached him to ask about his war service. But Garon wanted to talk about same-sex marriage.

Amazon.com Inc said it has extended the order deadline on one of its Christmas shipping options as it seeks to stay competitive in a holiday season that has seen more retailers offer free shipping.