(Reuters) - The risk that parlous government finances will trigger sovereign debt defaults remains one of the biggest threats facing the world in 2011, according to the World Economic Forum. Punishing levels of public debt built up to counter the financial crisis have reduced the capacity of countries to handle further shocks to critically low levels, according the group's closely watched 2011 Global Risks report.

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(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as the first major set of fourth-quarter earnings came in largely higher than expected, suggesting that the recent run-up in anticipation of results was justified. Stocks have rallied in recent weeks in part on hopes of stronger corporate profits, with the S&P up 8.1 percent since the start of December.

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(Reuters) - Two top Federal Reserve officials offered differing views on monetary policy on Tuesday, with one warning the Fed's ultra-easy stance may soon backfire, and the other saying he is comfortable with it. Both officials -- Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser, who warned the Fed's aggressive bond-buying plan could stoke inflation, and Minneapolis Fed Bank President Narayana Kocherlakota, who said there's little evidence it is doing so -- have a vote this year on the Fed's policy-setting panel.

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(Reuters) - Airbus on Tuesday announced what it called the biggest jet order in commercial aviation history, a $15.6 billion deal to sell 180 planes to Indian budget carrier IndiGo that includes the first orders for a revamped model. The deal comes as the European planemaker tallies its plane orders for 2010, but will not enter the order book in time to decide whether Airbus will come from behind to win a fiercely contested annual battle against Boeing (BA.N) for most sales.

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(Reuters) - A former technology analyst with Primary Global Research pleaded guilty on Tuesday to leaking confidential company information to hedge funds, part of the U.S. government's broad insider trading probe. The analyst, Bob Nguyen, is the latest former employee or consultant at so-called expert networking firms to admit to criminal offenses and agree to cooperate in an investigation that began at least three years ago and has been ramped up by federal prosecutors in the past two months.

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(Reuters) - The United States should not press China for an immediate sharp rise in the value of its yuan currency because that could be bad for both countries, the leader of a top U.S. business group said on Tuesday. "While the currency thing is a real challenge, if we were to force the Chinese to adjust, they would simply drop the price of the products and that would have a more negative effect," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue said in an interview with Reuters Insider.

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(Reuters) - Directors of Federal Reserve banks in Dallas and Kansas City again requested, unsuccessfully, a 0.25 percent rise in the rate charged to banks for emergency loans, minutes of Fed meetings in November and December showed on Tuesday. The other 10 regional Fed banks wanted no change in the discount rate. The U.S. central bank's board sided with them, keeping the discount rate steady at 0.75 percent in meetings ahead of its December 14 policy decision.

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(Reuters) - Shares of AT&T Inc fell 1.5 percent on Monday as investors bet that sales of an Apple Inc iPhone at its bigger rival Verizon Wireless would take away customers from AT&T. Shares of AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service, fell 44 cents to $28.41 on New York Stock Exchange a day before the expected announcement of the end of AT&T's more than three years of exclusive U.S. rights to sell the popular Apple phone.

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(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc, responding to pressure from shareholders, regulators and clients, said it will disclose more information about how it makes money, bolster internal compliance and seek to avoid conflicts of interest. The investment bank released a 63-page report on Tuesday that details 39 plans for how it will change after years of investor accusations that its financial statements are opaque and client complaints about conflicts of interest.

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(Reuters) - Lennar Corp (LEN.N), the third-largest U.S. homebuilder, reported quarterly results that bested Wall Street estimates and said it expected a profitable 2011, sending its shares up more than 7 percent. The Miami-based builder, which has operations in 14 states, boosted margins by cutting both administrative and manufacturing costs. It also came much closer than its peers to transcending the lackluster economy and stubbornly high unemployment, Morningstar analyst Mike Gaiden said.

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