The vice president of the European Commission has said that taxpayer-funded bank bailouts remain a possibility if the current round of stress tests of Europe's biggest banks reveal significant capital shortfalls — or if Europe's debt crisis were to really flare up again.

However, Joaquin Almunia repeated that the governments' preferred method remains to force investors such as shareholders, bondholders and ultimately depositors, to pay first.

Five years after a global financial crisis erupted, the world's biggest economies still need to be propped up.

They're growing and hiring a little faster and creating more jobs, but only with extraordinary aid from central banks or government spending. And economists say major countries may need help for years more.

The United States and the European Union, which already enjoy the world's biggest business relationship, are resuming talks on a deal to further grow two-way trade and investment.

The negotiations take place against the backdrop of European pique over reported U.S. electronic espionage, and were delayed due to the U.S. government shutdown. But officials for both sides say the benefits of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are too great for the talks to be affected.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said Sunday that Venezuela's economy appears stressed and that the country likely will face "difficult policy choices" soon.

"I don't think that the economy is doing well at the moment and we certainly understand that they are using reserves in a very significant amount," the IMF managing director said in an interview with CNN's Spanish-language network.

Oil prices rose in Asian trade Monday after marathon talks in Geneva aimed at convincing Iran to halt its disputed nuclear program ended without an agreement, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery, was up 15 cents to $94.75 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for December rose 42 cents to $105.54.

Chinese shoppers spent billions of dollars online Monday, data showed, as they took advantage of discounts offered on Singles Day, a festival created by e-tailers to persuade the loveless to console themselves with retail therapy.

November 11 -- or 11.11 -- was proclaimed as "singles' day", because of the number of ones in the date, with sellers promoting discounts to the nation's singletons.

A Qatari sovereign wealth fund was among a small group of investors who recently contributed $1 billion to Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, U.S. securities filings showed Friday.

Qatar Holding LLC joined the group led by BlackBerry's largest shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Inc. in making the cash infusion after the company abandoned hopes of finding a buyer earlier this month.

Indian Hotels, an arm of the giant Tata Group, has abandoned a $1.2-billion offer to buy Orient-Express Hotels, marking its second unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Bermuda-based luxury global chain.

Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL) made the unsolicited offer last October for Orient-Express, whose name comes from the iconic trans-European train, as it sought to boost its global hospitality presence.

China's industrial output accelerated in October, retail sales showed a solid gain, and inflation was stable as the world's second-largest economy showed early signs of fourth-quarter strength.

The 10.3 percent year-on-year gain in production at China's factories, workshops and mines announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) marks a marginal acceleration from September, when the indicator showed an increase of 10.2 percent.

Nissan Motor will start producing mini-vehicles, a special category of small cars in Japan, as early as next year in a bid to maintain its jobs and production level, a report said Saturday.

The move would mark the first time that Nissan producing "kei" category cars, defined as automobiles with engines of 660cc or smaller.