TOP STORIES 
 
U.S. STOCKS RISE TO RECORDS 

U.S. stocks ended higher for a fourth straight session after the Federal Reserve reiterated last week it would be patient about raising interest rates. The Dow industrials added 155 points to end at a record 17959.

 
U.S. EXISTING-HOME SALES TUMBLE IN NOVEMBER 
 

Sales of previously owned homes tumbled to a six-month low in November, a sign the housing market continues to underperform despite a burst of hiring and stronger economic growth.

 
OCWEN HEAD AGREES TO STEP DOWN 
 

Shares of Ocwen Financial fell more than 25% after the firm's chairman agreed to step down and the company said it would pay $150 million following a lengthy probe by New York's top financial regulator.

 
ALSTOM TO PAY $772 MILLION TO SETTLE BRIBERY CHARGES 
 

French engineering giant Alstom pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $772 million to resolve criminal charges it paid tens of millions of dollars in a "widespread" bribery scheme to win energy contracts around the globe.

 
ROSNEFT, MORGAN STANLEY OIL BUSINESS DEAL COLLAPSES 
 

Morgan Stanley scotched a deal to sell an oil-trading and storage business to Russia's Rosneft, leaving the Wall Street firm on the lookout for a new buyer of the division.

 
EXPRESS SCRIPTS, ABBVIE IN HEPATITIS DRUGPRICE DEAL 
 

Express Scripts Holding, the largest manager of U.S. prescription-drug benefits, is taking sides in a fight between new hepatitis C treatments that cost close to $100,000 per patient.

 
MACQUARIE EYES MORGAN STANLEY'S COMMODITIES BUSINESS 
 

Macquarie Group, an Australian bank eager to build out its commodities-trading arm, is said to be among the firms that has expressed interest in Morgan Stanley's oil-trading and storage business.

 
CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT TO ACQUIRE AFFILIATE IN STOCK DEAL 
 

Caesars Entertainment agreed to acquire affiliate Caesars Acquisition in a stock-for-stock merger that will better position the $18.4 billion debt load of its largest unit.

 
GOLDMAN SACHS SELLS ALUMINUM BUSINESS TO SWISS FIRM 
 

Goldman Sachs Group said it had completed the sale of its Metro International Trade Services metal warehousing unit to a Swiss company, Reuben Brothers. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

 
WELLS FARGO ORDERED TO PAY $54.8M IN CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT 
 

Wells Fargo has been ordered to pay $54.8 million in damages tied to a class-action lawsuit alleging that fees charged by two mortgage servicers were excessive.

 
OIL PRICES RETREAT ON SIGNS OPEC WILL STAY ITS COURSE 
 

Crude-oil prices slid in the first day of trading after several OPEC members defended their refusal to take drastic action to prop up prices. February Nymex crude settled down $1.87, or 3.3%, to $55.26 a barrel.

 
 
 
 
  ======= DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES ======= 
 
 
The Wall Street Journal 
WHY SAUDIS DECIDED NOT TO PROP UP OIL 
 

Behind OPEC's decision not to cut crude output was Saudi Arabia's view that America's energy boom poses a new threat -- one factor in a growing distance between the two allies.

 
Digits 
NORTH KOREA LOSES INTERNET ACCESS 
 

North Korea's connection to the public Internet went down, after U.S. officials promised a "proportional response" to the nation's alleged cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.