Global business

The Nasdaq Composite Index closed above 4,000 for the first time in 13 years. The Nasdaq had lagged other stock markets, though it has risen by 34 percent so far this year; the S&P 500 has advanced by 27 percent. Tech companies have helped push up the Nasdaq; Netflix's share price has increased by 292 percent this year and Facebook's by 74 percent. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 stock index in Tokyo hit its highest point since mid-December 2007, helped by a declining yen that is boosting Japanese exports.

PSA Peugeot Citroën named a successor to Philippe Varin as chief executive: Carlos Tavares, who until this summer was in charge of operations at the carmaker's archrival, Renault. A public outcry prompted Varin to renounce a pension pot worth $29 million. Peugeot is undergoing a deep restructuring, with many job losses.

Fiat said that launching an IPO of Chrysler, in which it owns a 58.5 percent stake, would be impracticable before the end of the year, reversing its assertion that a flotation was on track for 2013. The IPO has been requested by the union health care trust fund that holds the remaining 41.5 percent stake. Fiat wants to buy that stake and integrate fully with Chrysler, but the two sides disagree about the price.

South Korea's ministry of defense revamped the specifications for new stealth fighters it is ordering, which in effect awards the contract to Lockheed Martin's F-35A. During the summer Boeing's F-15 fighter jet was thought to have wrapped up the bid. When completed it will be South Korea's costliest acquisition of weapons to date; neighboring China and Japan are also upgrading their fleets of stealth aircraft.

Investors responded positively to Hewlett-Packard's quarterly earnings after it reported a $1.4 billion net profit and just a small dip in revenue and compensated for weakness in China by doing well in other emerging markets. Meg Whitman, HP's boss, also said that it had not been hurt by the revelations of online snooping by America's National Security Agency. Cisco recently warned that the spying revelations had prompted a "level of uncertainty" among foreign buyers of its network equipment that will affect its sales.

John Chen, BlackBerry's acting chief executive, streamlined the company's senior ranks by getting rid of the chief marketing and operating officers. (Both had been appointed by Thorsten Heins, who was recently booted as chief executive.) He also replaced the chief financial officer and reduced the board by one member to seven.

RWE, a German energy company, ditched a project to build the world's biggest offshore wind power array off the southwest coast of Britain because development costs are "prohibitive in current market conditions." Critics of the British government's apparent change of heart over renewable energy say it has created uncertainty among investors in such projects.

Repsol, Spain's biggest oil-and-gas company, agreed to pursue talks with the Argentine government over its offer of compensation, said to be worth $5 billion, for nationalizing YPF, Repsol's subsidiary in Argentina. The expropriation has frayed relations between Argentina and Spain.

After rejecting a takeover bid from Jos A. Bank, Men's ­Wearhouse submitted a reverse takeover offer for its smaller rival. With both American clothing chains obviously suited for a merger, the only question seems to be how much they are willing to pay to tie it up.

Political economy

Brazil's central bank raised its main interest rate for the sixth time in a row, to 10 percent, amid worries about inflation and a high budget deficit.

Meanwhile, after several false starts in its effort to attract private investment into infrastructure, Brazil's government held successful auctions of contracts to upgrade and operate two of the country's main airports and an important highway. In other news, two workers were killed when a crane collapsed at a stadium being built in São Paulo for next year's soccer World Cup.

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced a "grand coalition" government between her Christian Democratic Union and the center-left Social Democratic Party. Negotiations began after the federal election in September. Terms of the deal include imposing a national minimum wage by 2015 and opposition to any mutualization of eurozone debt. Merkel said the coalition would stand for "solid finances, secure prosperity and social security."

The Italian Senate expelled Silvio Berlusconi over his conviction for tax fraud. Without legislative immunity, he could now face arrest in other criminal cases. The 77-year-old former prime minister is likely to serve a one-year prison sentence under house arrest because of his age, but he has vowed to continue to lead his Forza Italia party.