DEALS

The stock market rallied modestly on U.S. mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities and China’s continued support for European Union’s (EU) sovereign debt market.

Amazon Canada announced that beginning Dec. 25, customers can take advantage of amazing Boxing Week promotions on everything from electronics and books to home and garden products and men's watches.

Leading U.S. network equipment makers Cisco Systems Inc and Juniper Networks Inc both announced deals to bolster their expertise in increasingly popular cloud computing, or virtualization, technology.

Trading activity around a number of healthcare deals is being examined by the U.S. authorities as part of investigations into suspected insider trading by certain hedge fund players, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

More consumers in China will shop online on Cyber Monday than in the U.S., UK, Germany and Japan, according to a survey by eCoupons.com/Ipsos.

Online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is offering hundreds of deals on its Cyber Monday Deals page (www.amazon.com/cybermonday).

Here’s a list of retailers luring Black Friday shoppers with tempting deals

Equity capital market transactions totaled $23.3 billion last week, with 59 deals in the Asia Pacific region in the last week, a report by Dealogic said.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced 20 new trade deals with India worth about $10 billion, which are likely to create around 53,000 jobs in the United States. Deals ranging from sale of heavy transport and commercial aircraft, to gas and steam turbines have been inked. Obama, who is on a 10-day trip through Asia, presided over a meeting of U.S. and Indian executives in India's financial capital of Mumbai.

In the first of this year, more than $132 billion worth of real estate deals were signed globally, up 74% over $76 billion deals signed during the same period last year.

Exporters canceled major contracts of drought-hit Black Sea wheat to Bangladesh on Monday, signaling the need for Asian millers to scramble for supplies from other key growers like Australia.

Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc and Australia's Macquarie painted a bleak picture of Asia's investment banking industry, citing a dearth of deals and frail markets.

Bank of New York Mellon Wealth Management wants to expand more U.S. and overseas markets through a stream of new hires and takeovers, Chief Executive Lawrence Hughes told Reuters on Wednesday.

As Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger and other media honchos assemble in Sun Valley this week for some fly-fishing or white water rafting, spirits should be brighter than a year ago: stock prices are up by about a third, after all.

World leaders dropped a commitment on Saturday to complete the troubled Doha trade round this year and vowed to push forward on bilateral and regional trade talks until a global deal could be done.

Buyout funds are making a comeback, scouring deals from Australia to America after nearly two years of virtual shutdown, but private equity-backed M&A volumes remain far short of the boom times.

Netherlands-based Layar, a provider of augmented reality software, signed deals to be distributed on a third of smartphones worldwide and predicted a boost in the use of its technology, which combines real-world images with computer-generated images on a screen.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged Goldman Sachs Group Inc with fraud in April, is investigating another mortgage-linked deal once pitched by the Wall Street firm, the Financial Times reported, citing people close to the matter.

Just days after unveiling a Sony-branded Internet TV with Google, Sony's chief executive is set to meet rival Samsung Electronics, for possible alliances, as the Japanese consumer electronics maker aims to turn its TV business profitable with aggressive sales targets.

HSINCHU, Taiwan May 17 - AU Optronics Corp, Taiwan's No. 2 LCD maker, said an LCD panel shortage is likely to last into the second half of this year on robust demand for PCs and TVs, even though fears linger about a weak euro.

The U.S. Treasury has managed to negotiate prices for warrants from bailed out banks at prices largely at or above estimated values, but it needs better controls over its bargaining process, a government watchdog said on Tuesday.