EU proposes Financial Transaction Tax. UK rejects the idea

IPO market eyes busiest week in years with 12 deals in the pipeline. Jive Software Michael Kors and Zynga

Italian Senate passes austerity measures key to staving off debt crisis; package now moves to lower house of parliament.

State sales tax revenues grew slowly in June, with an average gain of only 2.1 percent, according to a report released on Wednesday, suggesting a weakening trend that could threaten states’ recoveries.

Gold futures are trading at an all-time intraday high, as Bernanke mulls ways to stimulate growth.

Walter Energy (WLT) agreed to a C$3.3B ($3.2B) merger with Western Coal (WTNCF.PK). The C$11.50/share offer is a 56% premium to Western Coal’s Canadian close the day before deal talks were first announced last month. The combined firm will be one of the world’s biggest providers of metallurgical coal.

Local.com (LOCM) is +7.7% after Amazon (AMZN) says it will pump $175M in online coupon company LivingSocial, with a possible merger down the line. ‘Local mania’ led eBay (EBAY) to buy shopping site Milo.com, and Google (GOOG) to bid on Groupon.

AstraZeneca Plc was raided by European Union antitrust officials as part of a probe into whether drugmakers colluded to keep cheaper copies of medicines off the market.