(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is set to report a dip in earnings on Thursday, a year after the launch of its Windows 7 operating system blew away Wall Street estimates, as sales of personal computers lag expectations and Apple Inc's iPad eats away at the fringes of its core market. The world's largest software maker, which powers more than 90 percent of the world's computers, is still a money-making machine, but its fortunes are tied to vulnerable PC sales and investors have doubts it can replicate its dominance in the fast-growing mobile and tablet markets.

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(Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI hit the 12,000 level on Wednesday for the first time since June 2008. Stocks rose after President Barack Obama called for a lower corporate tax rate, as well as on a higher-than-expected reading on home sales, though gains were limited by a weak outlook from Boeing Co (BA.N).

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(Reuters) - New U.S. single-family home sales in December rose faster than expected to their highest level in eight months and prices were the highest since April 2008, raising cautious optimism for a housing market recovery The Commerce Department said sales jumped 17.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted 329,000 unit annual rate after a downwardly revised 280,000-unit pace in November.

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(Reuters) - Boeing Co's quarterly profit slipped on fewer commercial airplane deliveries and its shares fell 3.3 percent in premarket trade on a disappointing earnings outlook for 2011. The fourth-quarter results were in line with expectations, but the world's largest aerospace and defense company said its 2011 earnings would be between $3.80 and $4.00 per share, which is below the average Wall Street forecast of $4.55 per share.

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(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is expected to nod to an improving U.S. economic outlook on Wednesday even as it reaffirms a plan to buy $600 billion in government debt to help speed recovery. Fed policy makers, wrapping up a two-day meeting, will outline their views of the economy and monetary policy in a statement expected at about 2:15 p.m. Policy-makers resumed their meeting at 9 a.m. as expected.

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(Reuters) - Global chief executives pinned their hopes on roaring growth in emerging markets at the start of the annual Davos forum on Wednesday but warned that rising inflation and political risks cast a shadow. Business leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) said surging food prices could spark fresh social unrest and pointed to geopolitical worries over tensions between North and South Korea and Iran and Israel, as well as unrest in Egypt.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it will take in $312.21 million from the sale of two groups of warrants in Citigroup Inc (C.N). The warrants to buy Citi shares, obtained when the government bailed out the bank during the financial crisis, were auctioned on Tuesday and both groups of warrants sold above the minimum bid price.

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(Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said it would recall more than 1.7 million vehicles worldwide, bringing its total for recalls to nearly 16 million since late 2009 and dealing a blow to its efforts to restore its reputation for quality. Although the situation is different from last year, when Toyota attracted intense scrutiny from U.S. safety regulators over unintended acceleration problems that were blamed for dozens of fatalities, the latest recall may make it harder for Toyota to convince investors it has put its quality problems behind it.

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(Reuters) - Bankrupt financial company Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc proposed a new plan for divvying up billions of dollars among its creditors and offered a bigger payment to bondholders, provided they sign on. The plan filed late Tuesday, key to Lehman's exit from the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, comes after an earlier version filed in April met strong opposition from hedge fund Paulson & Co, the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) and other bondholders.

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(Reuters) - British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L) is to cut about 1,000 UK jobs as it stops offering financial planning advice in its branches. The bank said on Wednesday it was consulting with the Unite trade union about ending the service, which is due to occur on February 18 and affect about 1,000 staff across Britain.

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