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• UPDATE 2-Berlusconi offers big tax cuts in "last great battle"

  ROME, Feb 3- Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced his "last great electoral and political battle" on Sunday with a sweeping promise to cut taxes and the cost of government if his center-right wins elections this month.

• Hedge Funds Up Bets Against Italy's Monte Paschi

  London hedge funds Odey Asset Management and Egerton Capital are among those upping their bets against Monte dei Paschi di Siena in recent days, after revelations the troubled Italian bank faces heavy losses.

• Hedge funds up bets against Italy's Monte Paschi

  LONDON, Feb 3- Big-name London hedge funds Odey Asset Management and Egerton Capital are among those upping their bets against Monte dei Paschi di Siena in recent days, after revelations the troubled Italian bank faces heavy losses.

• Declining Car Sales Sink European Upturn Hopes

  

  Car sales extended their declines in France, Spain and Italy last month, data showed on Friday, leaving little hope of a European auto market rebound anytime soon.

• RPT-Pentagon expands probe of troubled components on fighter jet-sources

  *Navy official wants to check company's quality practices. WASHINGTON, Feb 1- The Pentagon is inspecting other components of the F-35 fighter jet in addition to the faulty fuel lines blamed for the grounding of the Marine Corps version of the warplane, two sources familiar with the program said on Friday.

• UPDATE 4-U.S. January auto sales indicate strong start to 2013

  *GM, Ford, Toyota top Wall Street forecasts. *Chrysler, Honda, Nissan fall short of analysts' estimates. "We all started the year with a little bit of apprehension with the fiscal cliff debates and the new tax rates," said Toyota Motor Corp's Bill Fay, head of U.S. sales for the Toyota brand. "

• UPDATE 3-U.S. auto sales for January signal strong start to 2013

  *GM, Ford, Toyota top Wall Street forecasts. DETROIT, Feb 1- Several major automakers, including General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp, posted better-than-expected U.S. vehicle sales for January, kicking off the fourth straight year of the sector's recovery from the depths of recession.

• UPDATE 1-Declining January car sales sink European upturn hopes

  PARIS, Feb 1- Car sales extended their declines in France, Spain and Italy last month, data showed on Friday, leaving little hope of a European auto market rebound anytime soon. "The French passenger car market started 2013 on as weak a note as it exited 2012," analyst David Arnold at Credit Suisse said in a note.

• Top Monte Paschi investor piled on debt under Treasury's eye

  MILAN/ SIENA, Feb 1- The charitable foundation that controls Italy's scandal-hit Monte dei Paschi bank took on excessive debt and entered into risky derivative trades with the tacit consent of the Treasury, sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.

• European Markets Extend Gains 

  

  CNBC's Simon Hobbs reports on EU markets moved higher on Friday after the U.S. released its jobs report.

• UPDATE 2-Autogrill split raises prospect of retail business deal

  MILAN, Feb 1- Autogrill, the world's biggest airport retailer, may split its business in two, a move that could help revive its main food operation and lead to a merger for the retail division. The announcement of the possible split, which has been the subject of market speculation for the last two years, sent Autogrill shares to their highest since May 2011.

• Analyst says US wine production, consumption up

  SACRAMENTO, Calif.-- U.S. residents now make up the largest wine market in the world, consuming 13 percent of all that's produced globally, according to an analyst who spoke Wednesday at a major wine industry gathering. Bulk wine imports from Argentina helped slake the thirsts of U.S. consumers, followed by Chile and Australia.

• GLOBAL ECONOMY-China factories see only modest pick-up, Europe stabilises

  LONDON/ BEIJING, Feb 1- China's vast factory sector managed only a shallow rebound at the start of 2013 and manufacturing in the euro zone remained weak, although there the worst may be over, a clutch of surveys suggested on Friday.

• UPDATE 1-Euro zone inflation nears ECB goal, joblessness at record

  BRUSSELS, Feb 1- Euro zone inflation fell more than expected in January in a sign that companies were cutting prices to entice shoppers at a time when joblessness remained at a record level at the end of 2012..

• ANALYSIS-Investors cheer Portugal, on ground situation bleak

  In perhaps the starkest example of the gap between renewed investor appetite and languishing economies, Portugal has started 2013 on its strongest footing since it was bailed out in mid-2011, with confidence boosted by hopes it will relinquish its lifeline from the European Union and IMF as scheduled.

• Rome Court Summons Bank of Italy Over Monte Paschi

  

  A court in Rome has summoned Bank of Italy officials for questioning on the state bailout of Monte dei Paschi, as scandal spread over the trading that plunged the world's oldest bank into trouble.

• Italian bankers stood by Monte Paschi chief despite scandal

  ROME, Feb 1- Giuseppe Mussari, former chairman of Monte dei Paschi, has few friends these days as a scandal swamps the bank. A 50- year-old lawyer from Calabria with a passing resemblance to the late screen legend Marcello Mastroianni, Mussari had not sought a new term as Monte dei Paschi chairman and left the bank on April 27, 2012.

• Bell Helicopters' upgraded H-1 generates foreign interest

  WASHINGTON, Jan 31- As U.S. budget pressures mount, the U.S. Marine Corps says growing foreign demand could help drive down the unit cost of its new upgraded H-1 utility and attack helicopters built by Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc..

• UPDATE 1-Rome court summons Bank of Italy over Monte Paschi

  ROME, Jan 31- A court in Rome has summoned Bank of Italy officials for questioning on the state bailout of Monte dei Paschi, as scandal spread over the trading that plunged the world's oldest bank into trouble.

• European Markets Close Lower 

  

  CNBC's Simon Hobbs reports on today's market action in Europe, as shares pared losses after a series of earnings weighed on market sentiment.