IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks rallied on Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the central bank would continue supportive monetary policies even as the unemployment rate improves.

Credit Suisse downgraded Safeway Inc to neutral from outperform saying the second-biggest U.S. supermarket operator has a larger-than-expected underfunded pension liability.

Stock index futures pointed to sharp gains at the open on Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested the central bank would continue supportive monetary policies even as the unemployment rate improves.

The U.S. economy needs to grow more quickly if it is to produce enough jobs to bring down the unemployment rate, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday.

Yahoo Inc has appointed three new independent directors as it prepares for a proxy fight with activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb.

Australia has blocked China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from tendering for contracts in the country's $38 billion National Broadband Network due to cyber security concerns, Huawei said on Monday.

General Motors Co is recalling 6,159 big vans and sport-utility vehicles in the United States for possible loss of steering.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, pointing to an equities rebound after the S&P's worst weekly performance so far this year, as investors looked ahead to data on February pending home sales.

The world's central banks should not have unfettered ability to purchase assets because that violates the traditional separation of monetary and fiscal policymaking and can allow governments to inflate away debts, a top Federal Reserve official said on Monday.

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE - The Royal Bank of Scotland has halted payments to a Greek ship owner which transported Iranian oil for an Indian shipping company, in line with Western sanctions aimed at hindering Iranian crude exports, shipping sources told Reuters.

Wall Street's gains came after positive remarks on the U.S. labor market by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and upbeat economic data from Germany that offset a soft reading on the U.S. housing market.

Europe's wave and tidal power technology is likely to disappoint EU expectations for 2020 and take over a decade to contribute to energy supply in a significant way, even though it is chalking up rapid growth and drawing in big industrial investors.

Every Tuesday evening dozens of homeowners who cannot pay their mortgages gather in a cramped community center near Madrid's main bullring to discuss strategy to fight their banks.

Anite Plc said it had signed a multi-year contract with leisure travel company Thomas Cook Group UK Ltd , sending the software firm's shares up about 11 percent.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.14 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.21 percent at 0813 GMT.

BATS Global Markets is sticking with a plan to move its Chi-X platform, Europe's largest share trading venue, to its own technology, after a software bug forced the exchange operator to take the embarrassing step of pulling its own listing last week.

European shares clawed back some gains from last week's losses on Monday and the euro backed off three-week highs as investors traded cautiously ahead of key data this week's including an Italian bond auction and a key German economic sentiment index.

U.S. lawnmower manufacturer Briggs & Stratton is used to worrying about turnover - just not the human kind.

World no.2 miner Vale has reached a truce with Australia's Aquila Resources over coal shipments from their co-owned Isaac Plains mine in Queensland, allowing the two sides to sell coal through June 2013.

Emerging economies must be given a fair shot at leading the institutions at the heart of global finance or they will end up going their own way, a challenger for the top job at the World Bank said.

Asian shares mostly fell on Monday, with materials and technology stocks losing ground amid concerns about the impact on profits of a slowdown in the global economy.

Apps, apps, apps! That is the main challenge that Microsoft and Nokia, who are trying to claw back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone and Google's Android in the red hot smartphone market, face now.

Portfolio managers will be doing some last-minute shopping for winners from the big stock market rally as they take part next week in the quarter-end ritual of window dressing.

The Bellagio casino-hotel in Las Vegas hosted a shotgun wedding in January. The bride and groom had met just a couple hours earlier; she wore a skimpy dress, he was in powder blue coattails.

Disagreement emerged on Sunday over the re-listing of an electronic stock exchange that suffered a high-profile crash last week, a breakdown that forced it to unwind its initial public offering of shares.

Asian shares edged up on Monday, finding some support after losing ground last week on fears of the impact of an economic slowdown in China, and the euro held near a three-week high.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being pushed to reduce borrowers' mortgage balances in order to shield U.S. banks from taking losses on distressed housing debt, the companies' regulator said in a Financial Times interview published on Sunday. If you do principal forgiveness, who is it benefiting? ... Doing principal forgiveness is what would prote...

Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

BATS Global Markets, the U.S. exchange operator that withdrew its public offering Friday after a computer glitch sent its newly-issued stock into a tailspin, should develop a credible IPO plan and go through with it in the second quarter, its founder and current director said.