(Reuters) - Chinese shares slid and European stocks followed suit on Monday as the impact of China's Christmas Day interest rate rise sunk in to thin markets. Chinese shares dropped 1.9 percent after the People's Bank of China raised interest rates on Saturday for the second time in just over two months.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Sony Corp will invest $1.2 billion in the next financial year to double its output of image sensors, taking advantage of brisk demand for digital cameras and smartphones. The sum includes a deal announced last week to buy back a semiconductor production line from Toshiba Corp, which has been estimated by an industry source at 50 billion yen ($600 million).

• Read more

(Reuters) - Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co will buy a majority stake in a Hitachi Ltd display unit for about $1.2 billion, making it the world's top ranked maker of small and medium sized LCDs, the Nikkei newspaper said on Monday. The venture, Hitachi Displays Ltd, will use the funds to build a factory in Japan that will supply Hon Hai, one of the biggest manufacturers of Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad, the newspaper said.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Global banking supervisors tackling issues like bonuses, which drew ire during the economic crisis, said banks should disclose how an individual's pay is linked to the firm's performance, including longer-term profitability. Under new proposals, banks would disclose qualitative and quantitative information about their remuneration practices, the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision said on Monday in a consultative document.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Russia's competition watchdog sees no major issues with PepsiCo's (PEP.N) plan to buy juice and dairy company Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBDF.MM) (WBD.N), Interfax news agency reported on Monday. "We are thinking well (of the deal), there are no big issues," Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Anti-monopoly Service, was quoted as saying. Earlier this month, U.S. giant PepsiCo said it would buy control of WBD (WBDF.MM) for $3.8 billion -- one of the biggest acquisitions by a foreign company in Russia -- as it looks to emerging markets for growth.

• Read more

(Reuters) - H&R Block Inc (HRB.N) has said HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) will not provide funding for the no.1 U.S. tax preparer's refund-anticipation loans, or RALs, after U.S. regulators ordered the lender to terminate the contract. "The OCC's (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) 11th hour timing will make it difficult for us to put alternative products in place at all of our locations in time for the early part of the 2011 tax season," H&R Block said in a statement late on Friday.

• Read more

(Reuters) - World stocks held near the previous day's two-year high on Friday while oil hit fresh two-year peaks after strong U.S. data this week encouraged investors to maintain their risk positions into 2011. Thursday's U.S. data showing demand for a range of long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods surged in November and consumer spending rose for a fifth straight month reinforced expectations for strong economic growth in the fourth quarter.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Oil hovered around its highest levels in more than two years on Friday, supported by cold weather across the globe, appetite for risk assets and signals from OPEC it would not arrest the rally. European benchmark ICE Brent crude for February closed 48 cents down at $93.46 on Friday after hitting $94.74 a barrel, its highest level since October 2008. Global benchmark U.S. crude futures, which hit a 26-month high of $91.63 on Thursday, did not trade on Friday with the NYMEX floor closed for the Christmas holiday.

• Read more

(Reuters) - Stocks racked up a fourth straight week of gains on Thursday, as investors expected optimism about the economic recovery to support equities through year-end. The S&P 500 ticked lower on Thursday, the close of a holiday-shortened week, breaking five days of gains, in the lowest volume in a full-day session this year. Banks dragged on the market, giving back recent gains after a strong month.

• Read more

The FTSE Small Cap index .FTSC were steady after the half-day trading session on Christmas Eve, underperforming the 0.2 percent gain on the blue chip index .FTSE, while the midcaps .FTMC fell 0.7 percent. JJB Sports (JJB.L) jumps 27.7 percent higher after the struggling sportswear says it is planning a 31.1 million pounds ($47.9 million) fundraising, after having warned it was likely to breach the terms of a key banking agreement, raising cash from its top shareholders Harris Associates and Crystal Amber, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.

• Read more