VENTURE CAPITAL POST

U.S. stocks fell sharply in heavy trading on Monday and the S&P 500 and the Dow had their worst day since October after a collapse in Greek bailout talks intensified fears that the country could be the first to exit the euro zone.

Canada's Element Financial Corp (EFN.TO) said it will buy General Electric Co's (GE.N) fleet management operations in the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand for C$8.6 billion ($6.98 billion) in cash.

China's stock markets closed sharply lower on Monday after a frantically volatile day of trading, despite surprise monetary easing moves by the central bank at the weekend.

Germany's BMW AG (BMWG.DE), Australia's Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) and a host of U.S. private equity firms are expected to bid for Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ.AX) more than $6 billion car and equipment loan book, a source said on Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the euro zone has the wisdom and ability to resolve the Greek debt crisis, after Athens failed to strike a deal with its lenders, taking it a step closer to a default that could force its exit from the euro zone.

U.S. stock index futures fell around 1 percent on Monday as fears that Greece could be the first country to exit the euro zone intensified after bailout talks with lenders broke down over the weekend.

A September interest rate hike is "very much in play" if the U.S. economy continues to strengthen, though the Federal Reserve could also wait until December to start tightening policy, an influential Fed official said in a newspaper interview.

Greeks woke up to shuttered banks, closed cash machines and a climate of rumors and conspiracy theories on Monday as a breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors plunged the country deep into crisis.

The European Union will briefly put aside worries about Greece to broaden its relations with China at a summit in Brussels on Monday, hoping for Chinese investment in Europe's new infrastructure fund and support for a global climate deal.

Anxiety about Greece may keep Wall Street on edge early in the week, as the country moves toward what was once thought unthinkable: a default and a full exit from the euro zone.

Global financial markets are braced for a wave of contagion from Greece on Monday, with expected heavy losses for southern European government bonds and regional stock markets as investors scramble to discount a possible "Grexit" that most had still assumed was unlikely as late as Friday afternoon.

One of China's biggest ever foreign policy successes will take concrete shape on Monday when delegates from 57 countries sign an agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing.

Online home-rental marketplace Airbnb Inc is closing on a $1.5 billion fundraising that would boost the company's valuation to $24 billion, the Financial Times reported.

Rising interest rates after years of loose monetary policy will pose a fresh risk to banks' ability to absorb losses using capital buffers, the Bank for International Settlements said in its annual report on Sunday.

Germany's Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) plans to launch a family of low cost budget cars in China and possibly elsewhere starting in 2018, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.