CHINA

Spot Gold jumped to a new all-time high of $1489 per ounce in Asian trade Monday, edging lower as the Dollar rose on the currency market and global equities began the Easter-shortened week with a 0.5% drop.

Gleacher & Co. expects mobile chip maker Qualcomm to be a primary beneficiary in the 3G/4G growth and will remain the top supplier for integrated chips and extend its leadership position to LTE.

Gold stayed above $1480 per ounce in Asian and European trading, and then experienced a sudden spike $15 upwards to new record prices yet again at the beginning of the New York trading session. Prices take support from worries over euro zone debt and inflation in Asia after China opted to raise reserve requirements again.

Philips is hiving off its once leading television business, the first step by new chief executive Frans van Houten to boost flagging profit at Europe's biggest consumer electronics maker.

U.S. stocks were poised for a lower open on Monday after China took another step to stem the growth of its economy and worries persisted Greece may need to restructure its debt.

Global auto makers and their Chinese partners are rolling out dedicated local brands and targeting buyers in smaller towns and cities as growth in the world's largest auto market slows from its breakneck pace.

A crucial new phase of Portugal's bailout negotiations began under a cloud on Monday after an anti-euro party in Finland that has vowed to derail the pending rescue scored strong gains in an election.

The US dollar and Japanese yen, considered two safe-haven currencies, are up on Monday while oil and US stock futures are down modestly.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday before a raft of corporate earnings, including Citigroup, as investors weigh whether corporate results and outlooks will be hurt by rising commodity costs.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday before a raft of corporate earnings, including Citigroup, while Greek debt concerns continued to cloud the global economic picture.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.45 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.39 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 0817 GMT.

At least 18 people were killed so far in southern Guangdong province in China as hailstorms and high-speed winds swept the region

Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips Electronics on Monday said it would divest its struggling television business as first-quarter net profit came in below expectations.

There will be a little less money to go around in China starting later this week. China's government is worried about rising prices and is tightening its grip on the country's cash. In the latest step, the country's banking authorities have told banks that they must raise the amount they set aside in their reserves another half a percentage point, effectively reducing lending.

The Australian stock market fell, to record the first weekly decline after three of gains, as the prospect of further interest rate hikes in China saw investors err on the side of caution.

The U.S. economy appears to be running dangerously close to stall speed, and the rest of the world may not have enough oomph to compensate.

China's yuan is close to being a freely usable currency, one of two key tests for it to be included in the International Monetary Fund's currency basket, the deputy governor of China's central bank said on Sunday.

International Monetary Fund member countries sought to bridge sharp differences over the global economy, acknowledging that rising inflation in emerging markets poses a risk to rich countries too.

China raised banks' required reserves on Sunday for the fourth time this year, extending the fight against excessive liquidity and stubbornly high inflation in the world's second-largest economy.

The International Monetary Fund should offer recommendations for national policies that spur excessive flows of capital into other economies as well as policies that seek to temper them, the IMF's steering committee said on Saturday.

Nearly a decade worth of work to reach a world trade deal is on the verge of failure, World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy said on Saturday in a plea for countries to rise above their own narrow interests for the good of the global economy.