(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a modestly higher open on Wednesday, indicating stocks were on track to extend a December rally as investors remained bullish about the prospects of a global economic rebound in 2011. The S&P 500 has risen 6.6 percent in December, pushing the benchmark index above levels reached on September 12, 2008, the last trading day before Lehman Brothers collapsed, as improving economic data and political events have encouraged risk-taking.

• Read more

(Reuters) - China has raised fresh international trade concerns after slashing export quotas on rare earths minerals, risking action from the United States at the World Trade Organization. China, which produces about 97 percent of the global supply of rare earth minerals, cut its export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011 versus a year ago, saying it wanted to preserve ample reserves, but warned against basing its total 2011 export quota on the first half figures.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen relaunched a wide-ranging patent lawsuit against Apple Inc, Google Inc, Facebook and others with specific allegations that the companies are illegally using technology owned by his firm. Interval Licensing LLC, a small research company set up by Allen in 1992, originally filed a broad patent suit in federal court in Seattle in August, but Judge Marsha Pechman dismissed it on the grounds that it did not specify any actual products or devices. The revised suit was filed by Interval on Tuesday.

• Read more

(Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator is looking into trading in privately-held Internet companies including Facebook and Twitter, media reports said, citing people familiar with the inquiry. The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent letters to several people trading in the stock of these companies, seeking information about topics that include how such funds are valuing shares of those firms, the Wall Street Journal reported. SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment to Reuters on the Journal report.

• Read more

(Reuters) - SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp prejudgment interest on a recent $1.3 billion copyright infringement verdict, but not at the formula suggested by Oracle, according to a judge's ruling filed on Tuesday. Oracle had sought more than $211 million in interest after winning a high stakes trial in an Oakland federal courtroom last month. SAP argued in court filings that it shouldn't have to pay any interest. However, Europe's top software maker asked U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton to use a different methodology should she decide interest was necessary.

• Read more

(Reuters) - China will not relax curbs on property speculation in 2011 and will reinforce the implementation of measures to contain rising home prices, domestic media reported on Wednesday, citing Housing Minister Jiang Weixin. Officials attending the ministry's year-end work meeting admitted that "it remains an arduous task to curb overly fast property price rises in 2011," Caijing magazine reported on its website, www.caijing.com.cn.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Allstate Corp has sued Bank of America Corp, its Countrywide lending unit and 17 other defendants for allegedly misrepresenting the risks on more than $700 million of mortgage securities it bought from Countrywide. Allstate, the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, alleged it suffered "significant losses" after Countrywide misled it into believing the securities were safe, and the quality of home loans backing them was high.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Groupon Inc, the fast-growing online coupon seller, has been authorized to raise up to $950 million in what would be the biggest round of equity financing by any company since Pixar in 1995. The company said in filing with the state of Delaware that it intended to sell shares at $31.59 each. That price would value Groupon at between $6.4 billion and $7.8 billion, depending on the number of shares issued, according to VC Experts, a research firm that specializes in providing data on private companies.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Spain's Treasury cut net debt issuance plans for 2011 from 2010, responding to rising financing costs as markets demand higher premiums to hold debt from the euro zone's peripheral economies. The Treasury will issue net medium- and long-term debt of 47.2 billion euros ($62.04 billion) in 2011, down from 62.1 billion in 2010, the Economy Ministry said on Wednesday.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Bankers specialising in equities and emerging markets will bask in a hiring hot-spot next year, while anaemic business spells job cuts in most other investment banking areas in Europe. The ambitious recruitment drives of the last year could go into reverse for some, as banks jostle for a fee pool that has shrunk to its lowest in several years. Some banks are already bracing for a year of "more firing than hiring."

• Read more