UNITED STATES

Stock index futures were lower on Monday on growing sentiment U.S. interest rates could rise sooner than had been anticipated following last week's surprisingly optimistic jobs report.

U.S. lawmakers are looking at ways to limit the damage that large banks, insurers and funds can wreak on the financial system, but breaking up healthy companies is unlikely to be part of the mix because it is too difficult to implement.

Ratings agency Moody's said on Monday it did not expect to take any ratings actions against U.S. insurance companies because of Dubai World's $26 billion restructuring.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.62 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.53 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.52 percent, at 3:40 a.m. EST.

Gold prices fell 2 percent to session lows in Europe on Monday, on selling prompted by the dollar's rise to a five-week high versus the euro following above-consensus jobs data in the previous session.

The dollar hit a five-week high against a currency basket on Monday, extending its rally from Friday when strong U.S. jobs data fueled speculation the Federal Reserve may consider winding down its stimulus measures.

Oil prices dropped to $75 a barrel on Monday reacting to a rising dollar and tracking weak European equities as investors became more risk averse.

British confectioner Cadbury said on Monday it would post a formal response to Kraft's $16 billion takeover offer on December 14.

Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund said on Sunday it had sold its stake in Citigroup Inc for a profit of $1.1 billion, becoming the latest Gulf investor to sell foreign shares as markets improve.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.62 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.53 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.52 percent, at 0840 GMT (3:40 a.m. EST).

The projected long-term cost of the U.S. government's bailout of the nation's big banks is going to be at least $200 billion less than previously thought, a Treasury Department official said on Sunday night.

Five senior executives at American International Group told the insurer last week they may quit if their compensation was cut significantly by the U.S. pay czar, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Citigroup Inc is trying to persuade the U.S. government to allow it to repay $20 billion in taxpayer funds before a window to launch a share sale effectively shuts by the middle of next week, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Alexa Ray Joel, 23 the daughter of singer Billy Joel, is stable in a New York City hospital following what police called a suicide attempt, the New York Post reported.

Health Care Rally; Banks Raise Risk;Climate Change Turning Point

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview published on Sunday that he was optimistic the December 7-18 climate conference in the Danish capital would produce an agreement all member states would sign

Humanity faces a profound emergency and unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, a joint editorial published in newspapers in 45 countries said on Monday.

U.N. talks billed as a turning point in a bid to slow global warming open on Monday seeking to agree curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and raise billions of dollars for the poor in aid and clean technology.

Iraqi politicians agreed a last-minute deal on Sunday to overcome divisions on a law needed for an election to take place next year, reducing the risks to U.S. plans for a partial withdrawal in 2010.

The Unites States, Japan and South Korea are working on a road map for ending North Korea's nuclear arms plans that will be on the agenda of a U.S. envoy who visits Pyongyang this week, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai raised doubts on Sunday that his country could take over responsibility for its security by July 2011, while U.S. leaders said the date was not a drop-dead deadline for Kabul.