Global business

Foreign energy companies offered further evidence of their huge appetite for American shale gas. Total, based in France, announced that it would pay $2.3 billion for a 25 percent stake in a shale gas venture in Ohio. China's Sinopec is to invest a similar amount in various shale projects.

Boeing's decision to close its 83-year-old factory in Wichita, Kan., caused dismay among local politicians, who accused the company of reneging on a promise to keep the plant open after it won a contentious contract to build new Air Force tankers. Boeing used to employ 40,000 people at the Wichita facility, which works on defense contracts, but last year it warned of "limited prospects for future work."

Yahoo appointed a new chief executive, poaching Scott Thompson from PayPal to fill the position. Last September, Yahoo dismissed Carol Bartz from the job after she failed to revive the Internet firm's sagging fortunes.

Fiat increased its stake in Chrysler to 58.5 percent, after it completed a task set by the American government to help Chrysler develop a car that gets 40 miles to the gallon. (The average highway fuel efficiency of passenger cars in America is currently around 34 mpg.) Fiat has now achieved 40 miles per gallon with the Dodge Dart, which it will assemble in America.

New figures showed that Macau's revenue from casino gambling rose by 42 percent last year, to $33.5 billion. Macau already has surpassed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. A recent report from PwC forecast that Asia will soon overtake the United States as the biggest casino market, generating revenue of $79.3 billion in 2015.

Stock markets started the year on a positive note, buoyed by strong manufacturing data from America, Britain and China. Investors will be hoping that 2012 proves kinder than last year, when most markets fell. It was no surprise that the euro area's benchmark index fared badly in 2011, though the once-hot stock markets of Brazil, Hong Kong, China and India did even worse.

Political economyFor the first time in its 13-year existence, the European Central Bank chose a non-German to head its economics division. Peter Praet is Belgian (though he was born in Germany). He takes over the role of preparing policies on interest rates and other areas from Juergen Stark, who stepped down as the central bank's chief economist in December. It is widely believed that Stark, in line with other German officials, did not support the bank's controversial policy of buying up bonds from distressed eurozone economies.

Spain's new center-right government predicted that the country's budget deficit for 2011 probably would reach 8 percent of gross domestic product, higher than many analysts were expecting and above the target of 6 percent agreed upon with the European Union. At 8 percent, Spain's deficit would be the third-biggest in the EU, behind those of Greece and Ireland. The new Spanish government has embarked on an emergency program of spending cuts and tax increases.

Inflation in the eurozone fell to 2.8 percent in December, the first fall in five months and another consideration for the European Central Bank as it mulls further cuts to interest rates.

An international arbitration tribunal awarded Exxon Mobil $908 million in compensation for assets nationalized by Venezuela's government in 2007. Exxon had demanded more than $10 billion, but Pdvsa, Venezuela's state oil company, had said it would pay Exxon just $255 million. Exxon is pursuing a separate case against Venezuela at the World Bank's arbitration panel.