INVESTMENT

Wall Street stocks kicked off 2012 with a rally on Tuesday after data showed U.S. manufacturing activity and construction spending picked up, signaling the economic recovery was gaining steam.

ExxonMobil continues to aggressively contend a Venezuelan decision that undervalues the assets in oil fields and refineries seized by the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday, with risk appetite improving at the start of the new year and as sentiment was boosted by a rally in European stocks and positive Chinese economic data. Japan's market re-opens on Wednesday.

Reliance Industries said it would invest in media group TV18's two main companies, marking a major foray into the media sector by the energy-focused conglomerate and giving a boost to its plans to launch 4G services.

India will allow individual foreign investors direct access to its stock market from January 15, the government said on Sunday, the latest step to liberalize Asia's third-largest economy after a year of big losses on the benchmark Sensex index.

An arbitration panel has awarded U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp $908 million in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalization of its assets, less than 10 percent of what the company sought in a long legal battle with the OPEC nation.

The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

An international arbitration panel has awarded the U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. $908 million in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalization of assets, less than 10 percent of what the company sought in a dispute.

The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

Iran dismissed on Sunday the United States' move to impose new sanctions on financial institutions dealing with the Islamic state's central bank over the country's disputed nuclear program, the Students news agency reported.

The Indian economy and the stock markets for the whole of 2011 was bad. One has to forget 2011 and gear up for a challenging new year 2012.

Ask any behaviorist: Resolutions rarely work. They are too big and sweeping. The minute you fall off the bandwagon, you abandon attempts to climb back on, mostly because you're too busy hating yourself.

Gold rose 1 percent on Friday, rebounding from losses earlier this week that sent the market briefly into bear territory, and the metal sealed its 11th consecutive year of gains.

Brazilian planemaker Embraer will sell its A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the U.S. Air Force, in a firm-fixed price delivery order contract worth $355 million, the company said in a statement late on Friday.

Standard & Poor’s has cut the rating on $695.4 million on bonds issued to built Citi Field for the New York Mets to negative, or BB+, one level below investment grade.

South Africa's Sun City resort will invest $800 million in a tourism project in Sri Lanka, the head of the island nation's state-run Tourism Board said on Friday.

Investors from across the globe have turned their focus on to the art market in order to seek refuge from the ongoing financial turmoil by placing their money into art instead of stocks.

Shares of Diamond Foods Inc , currently the target of a regulatory probe, rose as much as 14 percent, after CNBC reported rumors that high-profile investor David Einhorn may have invested in the company.

Greece could soon reach a deal with banks and private creditors on a bond swap to reduce its mountain of debt, the government spokesman said on Thursday, as it tries to resolve differences with its creditors and avoid default.

As 2011’s mediocre stock market returns become final, what should technology investors seek for U.S. initial public offerings of technology companies for 2012?

You can’t blame Americans for wanting to drop investing in U.S. stocks like a bad habit as the new year begins. Is the Dow’s recent rise above 12,000 a buy signal or another false rally?