The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday ended 154 points higher in the first session of 2013 led by rally in realty and metal stocks on increased buying activity after the US averted the looming fiscal cliff.

The deal in Congress to avert the \"fiscal cliff\" was proving elusive on Sunday as a deadline to avert tax hikes on virtually every American worker and block sweeping spending cuts set to strike the Defense Department and other federal agencies grew perilously near.

With anxiety rising as the country lurches towards a \"fiscal cliff\", US lawmakers are increasingly skeptical about a possible deal and some predict the best possibility would be a small-scale patch.

The probe of the bank - Europe's largest by market value - has focused on the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of nations like Iran, which are under international sanctions, and the transfer of money through the US financial system from Mexican drug cartels.

Bharti Walmart on Monday denied allegations that money was spent by the global retail giant in India to gain market access here.

The disclosure that global retail giant Walmart had spent about Rs 125 crore in the last four years to lobby with US lawmakers kicked up a political storm with Opposition creating pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha and promising to create further trouble on Tuesday.

According to reports filed by Walmart with the US Senate, it has spent close to $25 million (about Rs 125 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, including those related to investment in India.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has kept its lobbying activities among US lawmakers on hold for the fourth quarter in a row, after having paid nearly $2 million to its lobbyist in Washington in past few years.

The White House says Obama is willing to compromise on a deficit-reduction plan, but only if it asks for more revenues from wealthier Americans.

Barack Obama has been re-elected as US president, winning 274 electoral votes, four more than what was needed to win.

American voters go to the polls to chose a president, a new House of Representatives, 33 senators and thousands of local officials at a whopping cost of $6 billion.

The White House the prize, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney raced through a final full day of campaigning through Ohio and other battleground states holding the keys to victory in a tight race.

The 2012 general elections will be the most expensive in US history, costing a whopping $6 billion, with the presidential race alone accounting for $2.6 billion.

Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a wide-ranging defense of the Federal Reserve's aggressive policies to stimulate the still-weak economy.

Moody's Investors Service says it would likely cut its \"Aaa\" rating on US government debt, probably by one notch, if federal budget negotiations fail.

The US national debt crossed all-time high of $16 trillion on the day the Democratic Party kicked off its three-day convention.

US-based companies like Wal-Mart and Prudential Financial are lobbying hard with their own lawmakers to garner support for their Indian business expansion plans.

The U.S. economy has weakened and the Federal Reserve is ready to take further action to bolster growth if conditions don't improve, Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Congress on on Wednesday that senior bank executives responsible for a $2 billion trading loss will probably have some of their pay taken back by the company.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon will be asked to explain how the bank lost more than $2 billion on risky trades and whether its executives failed to properly manage those risks.