A judge in Mississippi has ordered a Massachusetts man returned to Boston where he will face federal charges alleging he ran a $28 million Ponzi scheme. Richard Elkinson had been arrested this past week at a casino in Biloxi, Miss. On Monday, he waived his right to a hearing in federal court in Gulfport

O il prices CL-FT fell for a second day Tuesday as a global cold spell eased its grip and pulled crude back from a 15-month high. Crude prices have jumped 20 per cent in the past month as the coldest weather in years took hold. The weather has boosted demand for heating oil HO-FT in the U.S.

Novartis Sees Profits In Alcon… Why You Should Too Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Back in October, I wrote about how pharmaceutical companies captured the financial world’s attention with a myriad of lucrative mergers and acquisitions last year. Some of the more memorable deals included Pfizer Inc.

T oday’s top stories from Report on Business : China moves to tighten credit China moved again today to rein in credit by boosting the amount of deposits its banks must hold in reserve. By increasing the reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point, the first such move since lowering it in late 2008, the People’s Bank of China sparked speculation it will soon hike benchmark interest rates.

G old GC-FT fell below $1,130 (U.S.) an ounce Tuesday, losing 2 per cent as the news of China’s tightening monetary policy curbed economic optimism, triggering heavy technical selling. “Gold’s decline has a lot to do with China’s raising reserve requirements. It was massive liquidation after prices fell below important technical levels,” said Bruce Dunn, vice-president of trading at New Jersey-based Auramet.

C ollecting wine is no longer a privilege of just the super wealthy now that special investment funds have sprouted amid a search for alternative assets to traditional stocks and bonds. But they may take away some of the fun of drinking.

A California couple has filed suit against The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Co., an AIG Inc. subsidiary, claiming the company’s sales agents misled investors about the tax advantages of using variable annuities in qualified retirement plans.