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US cuts use of imported oil for first time since 1970´s 

The U.S. has seen its dependency on imported oil dip for the first time since 1977. Imports comprised 57.9% of oil consumption in the first three months of the year, down from 58.2% last year. Americans are using less because of high prices and because more ethanol is in use, said Guy Caruso, head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Buffett keeps eyes on Europe for takeover targets

Investor Warren Buffett said he’s concentrating on Europe, not emerging markets, for companies that his Berkshire Hathaway might be interested in buying. “You want to fish in a pond where the fish are, and Europe is a much better pond,” he said. Buffett is on a four-city European tour designed to form relationships that might identify purchase targets for his investment and holding company.

Microsoft targets Yahoo´s search advertising operation 

In its renewed romance of Yahoo, Microsoft has proposed several ideas for a pairing, including a revenue-sharing partnership and Yahoo selling its search advertising operation. Yahoo is under pressure to negotiate some kind of partnership or deal after resisting Microsoft’s earlier buyout offer. Yahoo’s future might depend on reaching a decision to sell or outsource some of its advertising business, Stifel Nicolaus analyst George Askew said. Microsoft has made it clear that it plans to build its search advertising business one way or another.

Lack of news lowers Asian markets

Asian stock markets sank Tuesday as investors turned cautious in the absence of market-moving news. Hong Kong led the declines, with the Hang Seng Index down 1.8% after China Mobile reported lower-than-expected growth in telephone subscribers.

SEC sues former AOL executives over inflated ad revenue 

Eight former AOL executives overstated online advertising revenue by $1 billion, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit against them. The allegedly inflated revenue increased AOL’s stock price, allowing it to buy Time Warner in 2000 for $184 billion to form the world’s largest media company. The merged company’s market capitalization has now fallen to about $56 billion. Four of the executives agreed to settle with the SEC without admitting or denying the allegations and to disgorge a total of $8 million