VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Federal Reserve officials will decide this week whether to make a critical change to their policy statement that would widen the door for interest rate hikes next year and effectively bet the United States will continue to shine in a gloomy global economy.

Global shares prices came under pressure on Monday as oil prices briefly sank to fresh 5-1/2 year lows in choppy trade, doing little to allay concerns that some energy producers and exporters could find themselves in dire straits as revenues slump.

Takata Corp. (7312.T) has begun enforcing tighter quality controls on a group of parts suppliers as the auto safety equipment maker boosts production to replace millions of air bags recalled for a potentially deadly defect, according to people involved.

Japan's SoftBank Corp (9984.T) will soon downsize its Silicon Valley offices, people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling the company won't revive efforts to buy T-Mobile U.S. Inc (TMUS.N).

China's economy showed further signs of fatigue in November, with factory growth slowing more than expected and investment expansion hovering near a 13-year low, putting pressure on policymakers to unveil stronger stimulus measures.

Global demand for OPEC crude in 2015 is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade and far below current output, the group said on Wednesday, pointing to a hefty supply surplus without OPEC output cuts or a slowdown in the U.S. shale boom.

The weakness of the rouble is hurting Russia, which has lost tens of billions of dollars because of sanctions imposed by the West in the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.

European stocks and government bonds dipped on Monday as weak data from Asia, a rating downgrade for Italy and the slump in oil prices stoked concerns about global growth.

Indonesia's Lion Group is buying an additional 40 aircraft from ATR for $1 billion at list prices, the companies said, in a move that will make Lion the biggest customer of the European manufacturer.

U.S. President Barack Obama will attend India's Republic Day celebrations in January as chief guest, a sign of steadily expanding ties between two countries that share concerns about China's growing power in Asia.

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's said on Wednesday that China's over-priced and over-supplied property market and capital-starved Russian banks were likely to face further downgrades in the coming years.

Japanese stocks rose on Wednesday as investors held out hope for more robust growth after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delayed a tax hike and called an early election to seek a fresh mandate for his aggressive policies to shore up the economy.

Backers of the Keystone XL oil pipeline hope a vote in the U.S. Senate late on Tuesday will send a bill to the desk of President Barack Obama.

More than a year ago, U.S. regulators quietly gave a small company permission to export lightly processed oil known as condensate - a previously unreported ruling that could further strengthen the hand of big energy companies pushing hard to chip away at a 40-year-old ban on domestic crude exports.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building for a Washington-backed free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, after arriving in Beijing on the first leg of an eight-day Asia tour.