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China pledged to invest in Europe

The stock market shook off its worries about Greece on Monday and got back to its routine of little-by-little gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 80 points _ nothing flashy, but enough to regain most of what it lost Friday. Before that, stocks had notched three days in a row of small increases.
The gains were […]

Geotechnology Inc. promoted Joseph D. Darmody to manager of the environmental group in its Maryland Heights office.
Darmody has been with Geotechnology since 2006, and he has supervised a variety of projects. He also has been the company’s corporate health and safety director since 2008.
Darmody is active in professional organizations, including the Air and Waste Management […]

Officials say talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country’s privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close.
A statement from creditor representatives Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre says the two sides are “close to the finalization of a voluntary (private sector involvement) … We expect to conclude next week […]

Billionaire Warren Buffett donated stock in his company worth $41.6 million to eight unnamed charities during the second half of 2011.
Buffett revealed the donations Wednesday in a year-end update on his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock holdings.
Buffett gave away 521,292 Class B shares of Berkshire stock between July and the end of December. These gifts are […]

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said slower inflation gives policy makers room to increase bond purchases to aid the U.K. economy and guard against a

U.S. stock futures are mixed, portending a cautious opening as Greece holds another round of debt-reduction with its creditors.
Dow futures are down 3 points at 12,584. The broader S&P 500 futures are down 2 points to 1,308.
The Nasdaq composite is up 5 points to 2,430. The tech-heavy index is getting a boost from solid earnings […]

The Federal Reserve will pay $76.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury as part of an annual dividend it remits after covering its own expenses from interest on its ballooning bond portfolio and other gains.
Total assets on the Fed

An international arbitration body has awarded Exxon Mobil Corp. nearly $908 million in a dispute with Venezuela over compensation for the nationalization of its assets, the company said Sunday.
Exxon Mobil sought arbitration after President Hugo Chavez’s government nationalized an oil project in the country in 2007.
The decision by the International Chamber of Commerce confirmed that […]

Italy auctioned 7 billion euros ($9 billion) of debt to bring the total raised this week to almost 20 billion euros, underscoring how the European Central Bank is helping the world