Companies controlled by Indian billionaires Kumar Mangalam Birla and Rama Prasad Goenka are considering making offers for a unit of Germany’s Evonik Industries AG, said three people with knowledge of the matter.

Energy and industrial companies will rise next year, propelling a 17 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index from its current level, according to Cambiar Investors LLC’s Brian Barish .

General Motors Co. , Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC all reported improved sales in November as demand for pickups and sport-utility vehicles pushed the industry toward matching its fastest sales pace of the year.

Wheat prices jumped the most in seven weeks as excessive rainfall threatened to reduce grain quality and delay the harvest in Australia, the world’s fourth-largest exporter. Rice futures also advanced.

Air traffic in New York and the Northeast is being delayed five hours or more as high winds and rain sweep through the area.

Europe’s “distress” is being reflected in the rising dollar’s performance, which can be regarded as a “flight to safety,” said Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher.

The U.S. House set a vote for tomorrow on Democrats’ plan to extend middle-class tax cuts as congressional and Obama administration negotiators started talks aimed at forging a bipartisan compromise.

Former Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failure to pay income taxes for 2008 and according to a prosecutor faces up to 12 months in prison.

Hedge funds increased short selling in U.S. renewable energy stocks to the highest level in a year, boosting bets against First Solar Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. as government support for low-polluting technologies faltered.

Seattle Genetics Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co . may beat Roche Holding AG in developing a new type of combination cancer therapy that’s less toxic than standard treatments.

Investors are still miffed with the securities industry for the havoc that resulted from the credit crisis. Financial advisers are somehow escaping that wrath.

Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau ’s HK$129.5 million ($16.7 million) purchase of two pairs of imperial crane statues lifted Christie’s International to its highest Hong Kong auctions total, driven by Chinese buyers.

Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton was declared eligible to play by the National Collegiate Athletic Association after it investigated his recruiting. The school said a violation occurred and declared him ineligible two days ago.

Macquarie Group Ltd. hired Thomas Hassen , a former banker at Bear Stearns Cos. and Credit Suisse Group AG, to be chairman of oil and gas banking as Australia’s biggest investment bank seeks growth in the U.S.