U.S. import prices increased 1.1% in December, just below the 1.2% expected. The Labor Department revised November's import increase to 1.5% and reported that import prices gained 4.8% overall in 2010, instigated by higher fuel prices since October.

The report said U.S. exports increased 0.7% in December and 6.5% in 2010. Agricultural exports, which peaked in November, led to a 6.5% increase in overall exports compared to 2009, the largest increase since 1983, when the index debuted.

Elsewhere Wednesday morning, the Department of Energy released the crude oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 7, reporting that they are at the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year. Commercial petroleum inventories increased by 900,000 barrels last week, meeting rising demand.

Crude oil futures gained $1.11 to $92.22 a barrel Wednesday morning.

The DOE reported that total petroleum products supplied over the last four weeks increased 4.1% compared to last year. Demand for gasoline increased 1.9% and distillate fuel increased 3.6%. Crude oil imports were up by 449,000 at 8.9 million barrels.

The report showed U.S. refineries slowed down production last week, possibly affected by the four-day shutdown of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline after a leak was discovered. Refineries operated at 86.4% of their capacities last week, according to the report, with 260,000 less barrels at refineries than the previous week, at 14.7 million barrels.

A statewide class action in which Massachusetts homeowners accuse U.S. Bancorp and Ally Financial Inc. of faulty foreclosures will resume now that the state’s high court ruled in a similar case last week.

The litigation was on hold while the Supreme Judicial Court decided whether state law required foreclosures to be conducted by the mortgage owner. The high court ruled Jan. 7 in U.S. Bank v. Ibanez that an industry practice allowing post-foreclosure assignments violated state law.

“This is a statewide class action and it’s going to bring relief to all of the people who are dispossessed homeowners in many instances,” Kevin Costello, a lawyer for the borrowers, said in a telephone interview today. Costello today filed a motion to restart evidence gathering in the case.

Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed.

Unwinding of foreclosures may lead to loan workouts with homeowners or force originators to buy back loans that ended up in mortgage-backed securities.

The major record labels have agreed to pay $45 million to settle claims they failed to pay songwriters and music publishers while including their works on compilation albums. Warner Music, EMI, Universal Music and Sony BMG were sued in 2008 in a class action by Canadian songwriters and music publishers.

Generally, labels had established a practice of including songs on compilations for which they had not yet secured proper rights, placing them on a "pending list" for later payment.

TorrentFreak noted that the pending list for unpaid tracks had reached 300,000 just in Canada.

In addition to the $45 million to be paid by the labels to artists, the proposed settlement "also establishes a new mechanism that will expedite future payments of mechanical royalties to music rights holders."

"This agreement with the four major labels resolves all outstanding pending list claims," said David Basskin, president and CEO the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).

The Obama administration is exploring ways to boost tax incentives for corporate investment in the United States, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday, ahead of his meeting with chief financial officers from some of America's biggest companies.

"We're examining whether we can find political support for a comprehensive tax reform -- revenue neutral -- but that would improve incentives for investing in the United States," Geithner said in comments after a speech at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

Geithner is expected to meet with CFOs of major U.S. companies including Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems on Friday to hash out ideas for simplifying and trimming the corporate tax -- nearly the highest in the industrialized world.

Corporate tax reform is the starting place for a conversation about broader tax reform, administration officials have said. However, a divided Congress will make it difficult to pass any meaningful reform over the next two years.

Several White House officials have said they agree with companies' main gripe that the federal corporate tax rate -- topping out at 35 percent -- is too steep. Both sides also say the tax code is way too voluminous and cumbersome.

A new foundation, Investor Claims against Fortis, has started legal proceedings in the Netherlands against the former bancassurer Fortis for "misleading investors", which it claims led to combined losses of €2bn.

The organisation argues that Fortis persisted in persuading investors to invest between May 2007 and October 2008 when the company was already on the ropes.

One of the foundation's claims is that Fortis failed to supply timely, accurate information about its exposure to sub-prime mortgages in the US.

The legal case – brought for the Utrecht court in the Netherlands – comes after the US high court decided that a class action by "foreign investors who have bought a stake in foreign companies on foreign stock markets" was inadmissible in a US court.

Within the EU, the legal climate in the Netherlands is ideal for shareholders wishing to reclaim damages from listed companies, according to Jay Eisenhofer, partner at law firm Grant & Eisenhofer.

Stuart Berman of law firm Barroway Topaz added: "This case offers a valuable framework for compensating duped investors outside the US."

Both law firms, as well as Alexander Reus, the foundation's director, have represented international shareholders against Shell for providing incorrect information about its oil reserves.

After Fortis became one of the three players that took over Dutch bank ABN Amro, it had to be rescued by the national governments of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.