Allstate suing Bank of America, Countrywide

Allstate suing Bank of America, CountrywideAllstate Corp. is suing Bank of America Corp. and its Countrywide mortgage unit over $700 million in residential mortgage-backed securities the insurer purchased, claiming Countrywide misrepresented the investments. "The defendants knew the loans offloaded onto Allstate were a toxic mix of loans given to borrowers that could not afford the properties, and thus were highly likely to default," Allstate said in a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan. Allstate, based in Northbrook, Ill., said in the complaint that the mortgage-backed securities, purchased from March 2005 to June 2007, suffered "drastic and rapid loss in value" when large numbers of homeowners began to default on their mortgages.

Confidence index takes a stumbleAn index of U.S. consumer confidence declined in December on concerns about jobs, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. Confidence fell to a reading of 52.5 in December from an upwardly revised 54.3 in November. A prior estimate for November saw confidence reaching 54.1. "Consumers' assessment of the current state of the economy and labor market remains tepid, and their outlook remains cautious," said Lynn Franco, director of Conference Board's consumer research center. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had expected confidence to rise to 56.9.

Poland's economy now is No. 6 in E.U.Poland passed the Netherlands in 2009 to become the sixth- biggest economy in the 27-nation European Union, according to exchange-rate adjusted figures from the World Bank. The country of 38.2 million people was the only one in the EU to avoid a contraction last year, with growth of 1.8 percent. While most nations struggle to emerge from the worst recession since World War II, the World Bank forecasts growth of 3.5 percent in 2010. The country's $430 billion economy has been propelled by manufacturers of products such as car parts and machinery that are exported by Germany; tax cuts from the beginning of 2009 that slashed the top personal income tax rate to 32 percent from 40 percent; the 9.7 percent drop in the zloty against the euro since the beginning of 2008; and $88.2 billion of EU grants earmarked through 2013.

VC site reports Groupon files to raise fundingGroupon Inc., the online-coupon site that spurned a $6 billion offer from Google Inc. earlier this month, has filed to raise as much as $950 million in funding, the venture-capital website VCExperts reported. Groupon, based in Chicago, filed the paperwork on Dec. 17 and an exact amount should be available next week, according to VCExperts. The financing would value Groupon at as much as $7.8 billion, the site said.

Privacy suits filed against Apple, apps makersConsumers who say their personal information has been sent to advertisers without their knowledge have launched a legal battle against Apple and the makers of some of its most popular apps, the latest skirmish in the fight over the boundaries of privacy online. Two new class-action suits filed last week in U.S. District Court in California name the creators of Backflip, Dictionary.com, Pandora and the Weather Channel, among others, in addition to Apple. One suit was brought by KamberLaw, a firm that specializes in consumer class-action suits and digital privacy, on behalf of a California resident. The second is led by Dallas lawyer Majed Nachawati of Fears Nachawati, representing consumers in Texas and California. Both accuse the companies of violating federal privacy laws.

AIG leads firms in S&P 500 insurance indexAmerican International Group Inc., the company repaying a $182.3 billion government rescue, led the insurance industry to its best year since 2003 as investments strengthened. Nineteen of the 22 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Insurance Index are beating returns for the benchmark S&P 500 this year. AIG, based in New York, has nearly doubled and is the insurance index's best performer.

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