IBT Staff Reporter

Japanese stocks led Asian equities higher, climbing to their highest since May, and oil prices were perched near a 27-month high on Tuesday, with investors betting the improving U.S. recovery may be reflected in jobs data later in the week.

Shares in oil major BP opened over 4 percent higher on Tuesday after a newspaper reported rival Royal Dutch Shell Plc had considered a takeover bid in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday and oil hovered near a 27-month high, supported by U.S. data suggesting a recovery in the world's biggest economy was gathering momentum.

The number of U.S. consumers who filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 was the highest in five years, and the figure could rise as Americans struggle with excess debt in an uncertain economy, a report issued Monday said.

Oil hovered near the highest price levels in more than two years, as accelerating manufacturing activity in industrialized economies and winter weather fanned expectations that U.S. crude inventories will continue to drain.

U.S. retailers should post another month of strong sales gains for December, capping their best holiday season since 2007, amid doubts that shoppers will keep spending as enthusiastically in the new year.

LOS ANGELES - Remember the videotape format war between VHS and Betamax in the 1970s and '80s? When wide adoption of a new consumer packaged-media format is at stake, format launches aren't always smooth.

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday and oil hovered near a 27-month high, supported by U.S. data suggesting a recovery in the world's biggest economy was gathering momentum.

Barnes & Noble Inc reported strong preliminary holiday results at its superstores, led by the popularity of its Nook e-readers, and shares of the top U.S. bookseller gained 9 percent on Monday.

NEW YORK - LimeWire isn't going quietly to its death.

U.S. stocks just posted back-to-back years of strong gains, yet the small U.S. investor largely remained a spectator. Now financial advisers say investors, many of whom rode out the financial crisis in cash and bonds, are slowly regaining confidence.

The 2008 and 2009 bailout of the U.S. auto industry would not have taken place if Congress had been more specific in how then President George W. Bush could spend the money it gave him, a lawmaker tasked with government oversight said on Sunday.

One statistic from Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, Florida last February is only an estimate and received little media coverage, but is of great importance to many individuals and families and to the nation itself.

Top Senate Democrats have vowed to block a wholesale repeal of the health care reform law passed earlier this year, saying millions of U.S. senior citizens would face the prospect of paying more for prescription drugs if the repeal took place.

Barnes & Noble Inc reported strong preliminary holiday results at its superstores, led by the popularity of its Nook e-readers, and shares of the top U.S. bookseller gained 9 percent on Monday.

News Corp is still considering a sale of its social networking site MySpace but a person familiar with the matter told Reuters there are no talks currently with potential buyers.

Facebook has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, in a deal that values the world's No.1 Internet social networking company at $50 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

News Corp is on course to sell its social networking unit MySpace by mid-2011, business news network CNBC reported on Monday.

Seven months after its debut, the Samsung Galaxy S phones hit 10 million in sales.

A new device brings finding nuclear contamination into the digital age.

Detroit-based non-profit healthcare service provider Detroit Medical Center (DMC) has agreed to pay the federal government $30 million penalty to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by involving in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

A California-based former consultant for an expert networking and an investment advisory firm, Primary Global Research LLC, has been arrested by the federal authorities on charges related to her involvement in an insider trading scheme and has been detained for the New Year weekend.

Goldman Sachs was the top global mergers and acquisitions adviser last year, retaking the position from rival Morgan Stanley, which derailed its multiyear grip on the ranking in 2009.

To the victor go the spoils. The GOP retook the House of Representatives in the November elections and, on Wednesday, they will officially take control, with each House member – all 242 Republicans and 193 Democrats -- taking the oath of office and Rep. John Boehner, R-OH, being sworn in as Speaker.

Facebook has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies in a deal valuing the social networking site at $50 billion, the New York Times reported citing people involved in the transaction.

(Corrects beginning of third paragraph to read Apart from 2009... not 2010, as earlier sent)

A federal magistrate refused to grant bail on Monday to a California woman charged with leaking inside information about technology companies.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway opened 2011 with a $1.5 billion debt sale on Monday, tapping markets as it customarily does early in the year to refinance maturing notes.

Steven Rattner, former head of the U.S. government's Automotive Task Force, has agreed to pay $10 million in restitution to settle kickback allegations involving the roughly $132.8 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund and resolves the two lawsuits filed by the Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.