VENTURE CAPITAL POST

World share markets extended their 'Santa rally' into a fourth day on Monday, as a recovery in beaten-down oil prices and the ruble and more calls for quantitative easing from the ECB helped lift sentiment.

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi called on his ruling party on Sunday to unite behind measures he has pledged to breathe life into the euro zone's third-biggest economy after years in or near recession.

The U.S. Federal Reserve would give the clearest signal next week that its easy money stance is ending if, as some expect, it drops its two-year long pledge to keep interest rates close to zero for a "considerable time".

The S&P 500 ended nearly flat on Tuesday as concerns about global weakness and political turmoil were offset by gains in technology and energy shares.

Euro zone ministers are considering extending Greece's bailout by six months to mid-2015, according to a document obtained by Reuters, but Athens said it was only willing to consider an extension of a few weeks to the unpopular program.

Danish brewer Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) said it will strengthen its position in Greece significantly through a merger with the country's third largest brewer Olympic Brewery.

The European Commission provisionally accepted the budgets of France and Italy, saying on Tuesday that no euro zone states had submitted deficit plans for next year that seriously breached EU rules for fiscal stability.

Roughly one in five of the euro zone's top lenders failed landmark health checks at the end of last year but most have since repaired their finances, the European Central Bank said on Sunday.

After putting the euro zone's top 130 banks through their paces, the European Central Bank will face a test of its own on Sunday - will its landmark health check succeed in convincing investors the region's lenders are safe?

If the European Central Bank really wants to kick-start the euro zone economy, it should ensure the bloc's banks are up to the task of lending.

Greece will aim to achieve a primary budget surplus of 2.9 percent of output next year, just shy of the 3 percent target set out under its bailout deal, its deputy finance minister said in an interview published Saturday.

Facing rumors that he could face pressure to quit, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hit back on Sunday against criticism from business leaders and dared his opponents to challenge him in parliament.

Greece's international creditors have no appetite for considering a haircut as a way to lighten its debt load, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone's bailout fund organization, told Greek Sunday newspaper Realnews.

Greece expects its economy to grow in the third quarter, its first quarterly expansion since the start in 2008 of a crippling recession that has wiped out nearly a quarter of GDP, its finance minister said on Saturday.

Kifisia, Greece-based petroleum and petrochemical gas products transporter StealthGas Inc raised $47 million through the sale of 4.47 million common shares at $10.50 apiece for its vessels purchases and other corporate purposes.