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Inflation Eroding China's Bank Deposits Signals Zhou Must Increase Rates China’s inflation rate outstripped returns on household savings for the first time in 16 months, making it harder for officials to damp rising expectations for price gains.

Japan May Cushion BOJ Balance-Sheet Contraction, `Preserve' Easing Options Japan’s central bank may seek next week to counter a contraction of its balance sheet caused by the month-end expiration of an emergency-credit program as deflation persists in the world’s second-largest economy.

Australians Working Longer May Prompt Higher Peak in Central Bank's Rate The biggest expansion of Australian working hours since 1998 may cause job gains to reaccelerate in coming months, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates higher than what Governor Glenn Stevens calls a neutral level.

JPMorgan Chase Said to Form China Banking Joint Venture With First Capital JPMorgan Chase & Co. will set up a securities joint venture in China with First Capital Securities Co., two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Indian Billionaire Anil Ambani's Venture Fund Plans to Double Investments Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s venture fund plans to invest in areas including so-called clean technologies as it doubles investments over the next three years.

Philippines Pares Bank Lending Program, Keeps Interest Rate at Record Low The Philippine central bank pared back a lending program for banks and said it will consider doing more to reduce cash in the economy, even as it kept interest rates at a record low.

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Chavez Outdone by Billionaire Mendoza as Wealth Soars Amid Takeover Threat Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s “21st Century Socialism” is failing to rein in billionaire Lorenzo Mendoza.

Brown Tries to `Perversely' Benefit From U.K. Relapse Risk Before Election Gordon Brown is trying to turn the threat of a double-dip U.K. recession into an advantage.

Solar Prospectors Chase `Gold Mine' Deals in Chinese, Israeli Subsidies Olivier de Vergnies quit managing family fortunes at Dexia Private Bank (Switzerland) Ltd. in 2008 to run a New York start-up at 100 Wall St. that’s trying to tap riches in solar energy.

Chrysler in Hibernation Means Marchionne May Have to Wait on Fiat Spinoff Fiat SpA, the Italian carmaker that helped Chrysler Group LLC emerge from bankruptcy, may wait to turn around the U.S. business before deciding on a share sale or spinoff for its automotive division.

Red-Coral Rescue Plans Endanger Italian Jewelry Makers of Torre del Greco The people of Torre del Greco, 10 miles south of Naples, have lived off the red corals found in the Mediterranean Sea for more than two millennia. A proposal to list the species as endangered may push the seaside town’s $217 million-a-year coral industry into extinction.

Triple Whammy of Costs, Taxes, Inflation Sinks Stock Returns: Chart of Day U.S. stock investors made far less in the past half century than the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s performance would suggest, according to David Bianco, chief U.S. equity strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.