At The Motley Fool, we know our readers like to be informed. Here's a quick look at today's most relevant financial news, boiled down to what you need to know.

Apple could lose big bucks in Motorola suit
iPhone maker Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) stands to lose as much as $2.7 billion in sales, pending a decision from a German court in a patent-infringement case against Motorola Mobility. The dispute is over email-account synchronization on mobile devices. Read the full story at Bloomberg.

Alleghany to purchase reinsurer
U.S. property insurer Alleghany (NYSE: Y) says it will buy Transatlantic Holdings (NYSE: TRH) in a $3.4 billion deal. This comes after months of takeover interest in Transatlantic. Shareholders turned down earlier deals from Allied World Assurance and Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B), and Validus Holdings had made a hostile takeover bid for the company. Read the full story at Reuters.

Expedia goes eLong
Online travel company Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) coughed up $72.4 million to buy Renren's (NYSE: RENN) interest in Chinese Internet-based travel business eLong. Renren, which reported a loss in third-quarter earnings this month, said it would keep working with eLong. Read the full story at Yahoo! Finance.

Tyson Foods reports fourth-quarter earnings
The results are in for Tyson Foods' (NYSE: TSN) fourth quarter and fiscal 2011. The company posted EPS of $0.26 for the quarter, compared with $0.57 for the same period a year earlier. Sales were up 13% to $8.4 billion, and overall operating margin came in at 2% in the fourth quarter. Read the full report at Yahoo! Finance.  

U.S. budget concerns drive down stocks
News that the bipartisan supercommittee failed to agree on $1.2 trillion in budget cuts has flooded the market with uncertainty. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 2.9%, followed by the S&P 500's decline of 3.8%, while the Nasdaq lost nearly 4%. Read the full story at CNN.

That's a wrap
So there you have it -- the top financial stories for this morning. If you are interested in getting all the news and commentary on these stocks, sign up to My Watchlist here -- it's free!