(Reuters) - Confidence among consumers rose in December to its highest level since June, on improved job prospects and larger discounts from retailers, a survey released on Thursday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 74.5, up from 71.6 in November. It was slightly below the median forecast of 74.7 among economists polled by Reuters.

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(Reuters) - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto offered $3.9 billion to buy African-focused coal miner Riversdale in an agreed deal that is likely to be challenged by rivals seeking to secure coking coal reserves. Rio's first big acquisition since its ill-timed Alcan buy in 2007 is a play on soaring Asian demand for the key steel-making ingredient, but needs the backing of at least one of Riversdale's three large shareholders, including India's Tata Steel and Brazilian steel group CSN.

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(Reuters) - The nomination of Nobel prize-winning economist Peter Diamond to the Federal Reserve's Board was scuttled on Wednesday when the Senate failed to vote on it before adjourning for the year. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Diamond had a strong expertise on budget and tax issues. This research focus prompted criticism from some Republicans who argued he lacked the proper experience on monetary policy.

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(Reuters) - Ireland's government said on Thursday it would pump 3.7 billion euros into Allied Irish Banks (AIB) (ALBK.I) setting it on course for nearly 93 percent ownership of what was once the country's largest publicly traded lender. AIB will be required to raise a further 6.1 billion euros ($8.01 billion) of core Tier 1 capital before the end of February to get its capital ratio up to 14 percent, under the terms of Ireland's bailout from the European Union and the IMF.

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(Reuters) - China is willing to help countries in the euro zone return to economic health and will support the International Monetary Fund element of a bailout package for the bloc, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also told a regular news conference in Beijing that the euro zone was one of the most important areas for China's foreign exchange investments, following reports that Beijing could step in to shore up European finances.

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(Reuters) - General Electric Co expects an after-tax charge of $500 million in the fourth quarter to cover its remaining costs to dredge toxic chemicals it dumped in New York's Hudson River more than three decades ago. The largest U.S. conglomerate said on Thursday it expected one-time gains, including a favorable tax settlement, to offset the charge and did not change its overall fourth-quarter forecast. It confirmed that the company now expects its sale of a majority stake in NBC Universal to No. 1 U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp to close in January 2011, rather than this month.

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(Reuters) - German retailers expect the strong growth in sales during the Christmas shopping season to be extended into 2011 because underlying conditions are good, a leader of the HDE retail industry association said on Thursday. HDE managing director Stefan Genth said in an interview with Reuters that turnover is expected to grow by 1 to 2 percent next year even though the association does not have a concrete forecast yet.

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(Reuters) - Copper's climb to all-time records will spur substitution in some applications, but the metal's unrivalled conductivity and a dearth of alternative technologies will ultimately limit this trend. Fuelling consumers' incentive to substitute, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange struck an all-time high of $9,325.25 a tone on December 21. The metal used in power and construction, up some 25 percent so far this year, was at $9,280 a tone at 1033 GMT on December 23.

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(Reuters) - S&P 500 stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday as traders looked to extend four days of gains that drove the S&P 500 to levels reached just before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt two years ago. Despite technical indicators pointing to an overbought market after the S&P 500 climbed over 6 percent this month, interest from institutional investors could sustain a thinly traded market through the holiday period.

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(Reuters) - Europe's confidence that it need not follow the United States in adopting rules to ensure fair Internet access may be short-lived, as competition between mobile operators and service providers like Skype intensifies. A debate over net neutrality -- the principle that all Internet traffic be treated equally -- has been heating up in the United States for years but has so far generated little public concern in Europe.

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