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TOP STORIES

Japan targets growth, fiscal reform in record budget

spending plan

TOKYO - Japan's government is planning record spending of

nearly $800 billion in the next fiscal year to shore up a

fragile economy, with Tokyo also promising to rein in a bulging

debt burden in a budget set to be unveiled this week.

(JAPAN-ECONOMY/BUDGET (UPDATE 1), moved, by Tetsushi Kajimoto,

415 words)

+ See also:

- JAPAN-ECONOMY/AMARI (UPDATE 2), moved, by Stanley White,

514 words

Oil prices come off multi-year lows on winter demand hopes

SINGAPORE - Oil prices edge away from multi-year lows as the

northern hemisphere moves into the peak-demand winter season,

but mild weather and ballooning supplies mean that prices are

expected to remain generally low well into 2016. (GLOBAL-OIL/,

by Henning Gloystein, 450 words)

+ See also:

- GLOBAL-MARKETS/ (WRAPUP 4), moved, by Dhara Ranasinghe,

450 words

ECONOMY

German consumer morale improves going into the new year

BERLIN - Morale among German consumers improved heading into

the new year and economic expectations sees a significant

upswing, a survey shows, suggesting Europe's biggest economy is

set for robust consumption growth in 2016. (GERMANY-ECONOMY/GFK (Swiss: GFK.SW - news) ,

moved, 450 words)

Danish Q3 GDP slump deeper than thought, 2015 forecast at

risk

COPENHAGEN - Denmark's economy contracts by more than first

thought in the third quarter, data from the country's statistics

office shows, casting doubt on full-year growth forecasts.

(DENMARK-GDP/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 250 words)

COMPANIES

Qatar's QNB (Other OTC: QNBC - news) buys Greek NBG's Finansbank (Istanbul: FINBN.IS - news) for 2.7 bln euros

DUBAI/ATHENS - Qatar National Bank SAQ, the Gulf Arab

region's largest bank, agrees with National Bank (NYSE: NBHC - news) of Greece to

buy the latter's entire 99.81 percent stake in Turkey's

Finansbank AS for 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion).

(FINANSBANK-M&A/QATAR NATL BANK (UPDATE 1), moved, 260 words)

+ See also:

- EUROBANK-FAIRFAX FIN/SALE (UPDATE 1), moved, 203 words

COMMODITIES

Australia cuts resource sector earnings as prices tumble

SYDNEY - Australia slashes its price forecast for the

country's No. 1 export earner iron ore by nearly 20 percent and

warns that increased commodities production will only partly

offset a collapse in prices. (AUSTRALIA-RESOURCES/FORECAST

(UPDATE 1), moved, by James Regan, 360 words (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) )