(Reuters) - Sumitomo Corp (8053.T) is in talks with Molycorp (MCP.N) on a rare earth supply deal and may take a stake in the U.S. company, the latest move by a Japanese firm to secure supplies of the crucial minerals outside China. Japanese trading houses have been scrambling to secure new sources of rare earth -- vital for making auto parts and high-tech products -- in recent weeks after shipments from dominant producer China stalled, possibly due to diplomatic tensions or because its export quotas had run dry.

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(Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide if the largest sex-discrimination class-action lawsuit in U.S. history against Wal-Mart Stores Inc can proceed, a case involving women workers who seek billions of dollars in damages. The nation's highest court agreed to hear an appeal by the world's largest retailer and the largest private employer arguing the claims of as many as 1.5 million current and former female employees were too diverse to proceed as a single class-action lawsuit.

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(Reuters) - China's Bright Food Group Co is near a deal to buy U.S. vitamin retailer GNC Holdings Inc, giving the well-known foreign brand a potential entry to China to cater to the country's growing middle class. Under the deal being discussed, Bright Food would purchase GNC for $2.5 billion to $3 billion, a source familiar with the situation said late on Monday in the United States.

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(Reuters) - Wall Street was set for a weak open on Monday with investors poised to lock in profits and looking for further action from European officials to prevent the debt crisis from spreading. Euro zone finance ministers were set to meet amid pressure to increase the size of a 750 billion euro ($1,006 billion) safety net for debt-stricken members.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. economy is headed for a new recession, said John Taylor, chairman and chief investment officer of FX Concepts, and that will likely benefit the dollar and weigh on commodity prices. "It's a new recession. We're already growing, but the numbers show that the U.S. government is still the primary creator of this growth," said Taylor, who runs the world's largest currency hedge fund with assets under management of around $8.5 billion.

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(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide if the largest sex-discrimination class-action lawsuit in U.S. history against Wal-Mart Stores Inc can proceed, a case involving women workers who seek billions of dollars in damages. The nation's highest court agreed to hear an appeal by the world's largest retailer and the largest private U.S. employer arguing the claims of as many as 1.5 million current and former female employees were too diverse to proceed as a single class-action lawsuit.

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(Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators will hold broker-dealers more accountable for their customers' assets, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said on Monday. "We are considering enhancing oversight of broker-dealer custody by providing new information and tools to regulatory examiners," Schapiro said at an accounting conference.

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(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could end up buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it has committed to purchase if the economy fails to respond or unemployment stays too high, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said. The Fed will regularly review the policy and could adjust the amount of buying up or down depending on the economy's path, he added. In a rare televised interview, Bernanke told the CBS program "60 Minutes" the Fed's actions are aimed at supporting what is still a fragile economic recovery, dismissing critics who argue the policy will lead to future inflation.

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(Reuters) - Miner Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) made a $3.5 billion bid approach for Africa-focused Riversdale Mining (RIV.AX), sending the target firm's shares surging 16 percent and setting up a potential takeover battle. Rio's move on Australia's Riversdale is likely to spark a bidding war, as the company has hard coking-coal projects in Mozambique that could eventually supply 5-10 percent of the global market for the key steel-making material.

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(Reuters) - MetLife Inc (MET.N) expects operating earnings to grow more than a third next year as the largest U.S. life insurer benefits from its blockbuster acquisition of global life insurer Alico. The company expects operating earnings to decline across its U.S. business lines in 2011, but that will be more than offset by gains from Alico, which MetLife acquired from American International Group Inc (AIG.N) in November.

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