IBT Staff Reporter

Shares of rare earths prospectors soared on Wednesday after China cut export quotas, threatening to reduce already tight global supplies and a risking action from the United States at the World Trade Organization.

China's Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday it would not issue more export quotas for foreign companies as it did last year and the first set of volume totaling 14,446 included those for foreign firms.

Recent research suggests twice as many consumers are buying laptops than desktops.

Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate Hitachi Ltd said it will review the operations and its capital relationships with a quarter of its roughly 40 businesses, the Nikkei said.

Hewlett-Packard Co's former chief executive, Mark Hurd, asked to intervene in a Delaware shareholder lawsuit as he tries to keep private a letter tied to his abrupt departure.

Several financial industry trade groups said on Tuesday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission risks causing confusion and reducing legitimate trading practices if it fails to clearly outline what practices are prohibited under its new anti-manipulation authority.

Gilt Groupe plans a new round of financing in the first half of 2011 to expand beyond luxury apparel and travel, the top executive of the luxury e-commerce retailer told Reuters.

Video game makers leave behind a year of slow sales in 2010, but are hopeful that a new generation of games for tablet computers, mobile phones and Web social networks will spur a return to growth in 2011.

Russia plans to change a key law regulating foreign investment in so-called strategic sectors in 2011 in a bid to bring smart money into the country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

RUSAL <0486.HK> has rejected an offer to sell its 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel to the company, the world's biggest nickel and palladium producer said on Tuesday.

Retail gasoline demand rose sharply last week, by 4.6 percent, buoyed by holiday travel, MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse report showed on Tuesday.

Two separate groups of iPhone and iPad users have sued Apple Inc alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent.

Cubans who receive money from the United State are getting a cash bonus this holiday season from an Obama administration decision that should also cut the flow of underground cash between the two countries.

Washington Mutual Inc reached agreement to extend a key deadline in its $10 billion settlement that is at the end of its plan to end its bankruptcy, according to a court filing on Tuesday.

The federal government is awarding $182.4 million to seven transit projects already under way in Dallas, New York City, Northern Virginia, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

Allstate Corp has sued Bank of America Corp and 18 other defendants over losses it said it suffered on more than $700 million of mortgage debt it bought from Countrywide Financial Corp.

China said on Tuesday it will cut its export quotas for rare earth minerals by more than 11 percent in the first half of 2011, further shrinking supplies of metals needed to make a range of high-tech products.

The administrator of BP Plc's $20 billion compensation fund has paid $43 million to residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast who agree not to sue the company for damages stemming from the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

Consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in December, while prices of single-family homes fell almost double the expected pace in October, tempering growing optimism on the economy's recovery.

New sales data confirm that retailers are poised to show their best holiday season in three years, but investors seemed unimpressed as concerns mount that shoppers will pull back in the new year.

General Motors Co shares rose as much as 2.5 percent in midday trading on Tuesday after banks resumed coverage of the automaker with high marks for its North American sales and position in emerging markets.

Political and religious leaders dominate the list of men who are most admired in the U.S., according to a random phone survey of more than 1,000 U.S. residents.

Confidence among global institutional investors rose in December, as improved sentiment toward the United States outweighed continued concerns about Europe, State Street Corp said on Tuesday.

The new service will use the RoxioNow platform to provide a download option for movies, same day as DVD rentals.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose in light trading on Tuesday, extending December's rally, as cold weather in the Northeast lifted oil prices and energy shares.

MannKind Corp said U.S. regulators need an additional four weeks to complete their review of its experimental diabetes treatment, lifting the hopes of some investors who expected the drug to be rejected outright and sending the company's stock up as much as 11.5 percent.

Nokia Siemens Networks said it should complete its acquisition of Motorola's wireless infrastructure assets in the first quarter of 2011, once Chinese regulators give the nod.

Citigroup Inc is on track to exceed expected regulatory requirements and shrink its worst assets to less than 20 percent of its balance sheet, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit told employees in an end-of-year internal memo on Monday.

LG Group, South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate, said on Tuesday that it aims to raise 2011 sales by 11 percent to a record high 156 trillion won ($135.8 billion).