(Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NDAQ.O) is closer to making a counter-bid for NYSE Euronext (NYX.N), a source familiar with the situation said, a move that would challenge the Big Board's blockbuster deal with Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) by merging two of Wall Street's fiercest rivals. Under the offer being contemplated, the Nasdaq Stock Market parent would finance the transaction with up to $5 billion in debt and sell NYSE Euronext's Liffe derivatives business to IntercontinentalExchange Inc (ICE.N), the source said on Monday.

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(Reuters) - Fears about the impact of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami dominated trading on Wall Street on Monday as indexes tracked global equity markets lower, with volatility expected in the days ahead. A second hydrogen explosion rocked a stricken nuclear power plant in Japan, sending authorities scrambling to avert a meltdown.

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(Reuters) - Japan's central bank on Monday rushed to bolster markets in the wake of the country's worst disaster since World War Two and although the authorities said it was too early to put a figure on the damage, critics said a stronger initial response had been needed. Markets swooned at the shock of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that may have killed more than 10,000 and has left millions of people without power, water or homes. The Nikkei average closed 6.18 percent lower on Monday.

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(Reuters) - Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc struck a deal to buy lubricants maker Lubrizol Corp for $9 billion in cash to tap rising demand for chemicals used to operate engines and machinery. Just two weeks ago, Buffett wrote to Berkshire shareholders vowing to use its huge cash pile on acquisitions. "Our elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy," the 80-year-old investor wrote in his annual letter.

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(Reuters) - A massive selloff on the Tokyo Stock Exchange wiped out some 23.5 trillion yen ($287 billion) from the market's value on Monday with investors dumping stocks as the country recoiled from a devastating earthquake and struggled to avert nuclear disaster. The selloff triggered record volumes and slashed the market's value to roughly 289 trillion yen.

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(Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers met on Monday to work out the details of a deal hammered out by their leaders to bolster their bailout fund and ease the terms on aid to Greece amid a positive reaction from financial markets. The ministers are putting the finishing touches to a comprehensive package of measures outlined early on Saturday, aimed at ending the year-old sovereign debt crisis and preventing any new problems.

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(Reuters) - Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, released on Monday emails that it obtained from someone who said he is a former Bank of America Corp employee. In the emails dating from November 2010, people that appear to be employees of a Balboa Insurance, a Bank of America insurance unit, discuss removing documents from loan files for a group of insured properties.

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(Reuters) - The head of General Electric Co (GE.N) offered Japan support on Monday to deal with the country's worst ever nuclear power crisis and at the same time defended the track record of the industry. Engineers in Japan are scrambling to prevent a meltdown at three reactors after Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami forced an automatic shutdown of the units.

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(Reuters) - Companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders moved to minimize major supply disruption caused by Japan's devastating earthquake. The 8.9 magnitude quake and ensuing tsunami destroyed infrastructure and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel, forcing firms including Toyota Corp (7203.T) and Sony Corp (6758.T) to suspend production.

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(Reuters) - A million dollars ain't what it used to be. More than four out of ten American millionaires say they do not feel rich. Indeed many would need to have at least $7.5 million in order to feel they were truly rich, according to a Fidelity Investments survey. Some 42 percent of the more than 1,000 millionaires surveyed by Fidelity said they did not feel wealthy. Respondents had at least $1 million in investable assets, excluding any real estate or retirement accounts.

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