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Sarkozy Opposes IMF Loan to Greece, Widening Rift With Germany Over Rescue President Nicolas Sarkozy opposes Germany’s push for an International Monetary Fund loan to Greece, pitting the euro area’s biggest members against one another over a rescue plan.

Dollar Rises as India's Rate Boost Damps Appetite for Higher-Yield Assets The dollar and the yen rose against most major counterparts as India unexpectedly raised interest rates and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the first time in nine days, damping demand for assets linked to growth.

Trichet Pushes `Strongly' for More Transparency Over Credit Default Swaps European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he’s pushing “strongly” for more transparency around credit default swaps.

Lloyds Banking Group Expects to Make a Profit in 2010 on `Strong' Trading Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, said it expects to return to profit this year because of lower bad loans than forecast. The shares soared.

Allianz, Corio May Buy Italy's Biggest Mall Porta di Roma for $582 Million Allianz SE and Corio NV are in talks to buy Italy’s biggest shopping center for about 430 million euros ($582 million), according to three people with knowledge of the transaction.

European Stocks Decline as India Raises Rates; Miners Drop, Lloyds Gains European stocks declined after India’s central bank unexpectedly lifted interest rates, increasing speculation that withdrawal of economic stimulus measures may hamper global growth.

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Alcoa Gets Energy Chill From Australia's $130 Billion Natural Gas Boom Australia is attracting more than $130 billion of investment in some of the world’s richest natural gas fields to supply buyers in Japan and China. Domestic customers, including Alcoa Inc., will have to wait.

Insurers Bought Most Company Debt Since 2004 as Buffett Saw `Raining Gold' U.S. insurers, holders of more than $2.2 trillion in corporate debt, bought the bonds at the fastest pace in five years in 2009, taking advantage of a market that Warren Buffett said was “raining gold.”

CDO `Samaritan' Hildene Duels With Fund Goliaths Over Stripping Collateral Hildene Capital Management LLC, the $150 million hedge fund that gained 33 percent last year, is fighting firms 100 times its size to preserve the value of collateralized debt obligations holding bank securities.

Milberg's Former Class-Action Kings, Out of Prison, Head for Links, Slopes The four lawyers who ran Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, the firm that got investors $45 billion from securities lawsuits against publicly traded companies, are reacquainting themselves with life on the outside now that they’ve left prison.

Greek Banks' Struggle to Make Profits May Trigger Credit-Rating Cut at S&P Profitability at Greece’s largest banks may be “challenging” in coming years as the country’s economy deteriorates, which may trigger a cut of the lenders’ credit ratings, Standard & Poor’s said.

Loan Spread Points to Restraints on U.S. Housing Market: Chart of the Day The spread between rates for conforming and so-called jumbo mortgages signals the housing market will be restrained for some time.