Motorola Solutions Inc was declined to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed against the company over allegations that it misled its shareholders about deteriorating prospects for its cellphone business, resulting in investment losses. On Monday, US District Judge Amy St. Eve in Chicago ruled there is a "genuine dispute" as to whether predecessor company Motorola Inc in 2006 and early 2007 hid key information about its ability to compete with such rivals as Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

LML Payment Systems shares rose on above-average volume as traders speculated that the payment processing services provider could benefit from an increase in holiday sales. LML Payment Systems rose as MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse showed that U.S. holiday sales rose 3.6% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, compared with a year-ago decline of 2.3%. Beanstream Internet Commerce, a subsidiary of LML Payment Systems, counts Best Buy among its key customers, leading some traders to speculate that LML's fourth-quarter results will benefit from a ramp up in online sales.

Mexican stocks edged higher Thursday, poised to finish at a fresh high for the year, after U.S. data showing that the world's largest economy and Mexico's largest trading partner remains on track toward economic recovery. Mexico's IPC rose 0.1% to 32,492 in Christmas Eve's abbreviated trading session. A finish higher would mark the third straight session of advances. Home builders, industrial services providers and consumer discretionary stocks were among the best price performers.

Royal Bank of Scotland is considering selling as much as 4 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) of shares to existing investors in a move that would reduce the overall stake handed to the government under its asset-protection scheme, according to published reports. The bank is questioning investors on whether they would be interested in purchasing 3 billion to 4 billion pounds of B-shares following the strong rally in bank stocks over the past several months, The Wall Street Journal reported.

As it became known from the Independent on Sunday newspaper, senior management at Cazenove and JPMorgan are to reach an agreement, concerning a price for Cazenove's share of their J. P. Morgan Cazenove joint venture by the end of the year. The joint venture was created in 2005. And in compliance with the terms of the deal there are options for JPMorgan to buy or Cazenove to sell its interest in the joint venture in February 2010.

PartyGaming Plc, British online gaming group, announced today that it agreed to acquire US company WPT Enterprises Inc, known as World Poker Tour, for $12.3 million in cash. The deal is to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009.PartyGaming also intends to pay a minimum of $3 million over the next three years to World Poker Tour's vendors on an ongoing revenue share related to the assets bought. 

As it became known on Wednesday, The Ministry of Commerce is in collaboration with other ministries to encourage foreign-funded companies to make public share offerings in China.As Chen Jian, a vice-commerce minister, reported that they are continue to work with other departments on policies regarding domestic IPOs of foreign firms to actively guide high-quality foreign companies to make IPOs in China. 

According to CCB Bank of America will keep its remaining share in capital of CCB, China's second-largest bank. And the sale by bank of America of $7.3 billion in CCB shares earlier doesn’t mean that these two banks will alter their long-term strategic relationship.A CCB spokesman said that Bank of America sale of CCB shares is viewed by Chinese bank as BofA moved to support its capital.

On Friday a top executive at General Motors reported that GM will discuss with the Korean Development Bank the selling of a stake in GM Daewoo if that would help the South Korean automaking unit in the long term."If that helps GM Daewoo in the long term, we will talk about that with the KDB," said Nick Reilly, President GM Asia Pacific.

Wall Street expectations on the earnings and income of e-commerce giant eBay were beaten on Wednesday owing to cost cuts and strong growth at its Skype telephone and PayPal payments divisions, that pushed its stock higher, as Reuters reported. However, eBay reported a lower quarterly net profit, sales and margins because of the weak global economic state and international sales affected by a stronger U.S. dollar.

On Monday Bank of America reported a big growth in troubled loans, in spite of the fact its Merrill Lynch & Co acquisition encouraged first-quarter profit to more than double. Of course this report disappointed the bank’s investors.The report says the results were supported by one-time events, such as a $1.9 billion gain from selling shares of China Construction Bank Corp and $2.2 billion received from widening credit spreads.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the second-largest US bank, reported on Thursday its first-quarter profits were $1.6 billion exceeding thus the forecasted figures. The revenue is up from a loss of $87 million a year earlier, according to the Reuters. Improved investment banking performance offset an increase in losses from credit cards and other consumer debt became a result of the better-than-expected benefits.

The Wall Street Journal says Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley are going to make announcements of their plans on authorization or repurposing of their shares in the next few weeks. The plans are projected to be aimed at insuring availability of enough stock for employee compensation, while the shares’ prices of the companies are decreasing.

The Wall Street Journal citing the people familiar with the situation around Citigroup Inc reported on its website that the company is closing in on the deal with the U.S. government to increase it ownership in the bank to as much as 40%, confirming thus speculations that were spread before. The deal could be announced today, on Thursday.

According to the recent report posted by MasterCard the credit card network increased its stake in the Joint venture Strategic Payments Services Pty Ltd (SPS) to 52.5% which makes the company a major shareholder in the JV. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd will remain a key partner in the JV, retaining its existing shareholding, with Customers Ltd set to become a minority shareholder.