IBT Staff Reporter

A top banking industry group on Monday defended the practices of traditional banks while facing protesters who railed against Wall Street abuses.

A top banking industry group on Monday defended the practices of traditional banks while facing protesters who railed against Wall Street abuses.

U.S. stocks fell on Monday, dragged lower by materials and financial shares, erasing earlier gains as the U.S. dollar rose and commodity prices waned.

Dropped calls may be annoying to a mobile phone user but network equipment makers and operators are eyeing a big payday from congested cellphone networks.

Canada's Magna on Monday inched closer to clinching its Opel buy with approval from Spanish plant workers as the clock ticks down to a November 3 board meeting at which GM is set to decide on the deal.

Tata Motors Ltd, India's largest vehicle maker, beat forecasts as profits more-than- doubled on improved margins due to lower input prices and a recovery in demand as the financial crisis loosened its grip.

Caterpillar Inc, the world's biggest maker of heavy machinery, said on Monday it plans to permanently cut 2,500 workers even as increasing demand will allow it to recall some employees who were laid off during the economic downturn.

An industry-funded food labeling program was halted on Friday just days after U.S. officials warned they were investigating if nutrition claims on the front of packages were misleading.

Nearly half of patients who completed 56 weeks of treatment with Orexigen Therapeutics Inc's experimental obesity treatment, Contrave, lost at least 10 percent of their weight in a late-stage study and the drug also appeared to help cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

A South Korean court Monday found disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk guilty of fraud and handed down a suspended sentence in a case that sent shockwaves throughout the global scientific community.

Senate Democratic leaders are close to securing enough votes to advance a sweeping healthcare reform backed by President Barack Obama, a top Senate Democrat said on Sunday, adding that it likely would include a national health plan that would allow states the option of dropping out.

The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.

Verizon Communications Inc's third-quarter profit fell a less-than-expected 9 percent as it added more wireless customers than analysts had forecast.

Electronics chain RadioShack Corp posted quarterly revenue that topped Wall Street expectations, helped by its push in mobile phones and calling plans, sending its shares up 16 percent to a year high.

Dutch bancassurer ING will split in two, transforming itself into a smaller European lender in the most striking example yet of the deep changes that EU policymakers want to force on banks that received state aid.

The Iraqi government blamed the bloodiest bombings in years on al Qaeda and other extremists, but many ordinary Iraqis think political infighting before next year's election is the cause and fear worse is yet to come.

Bank of America Corp said Merrill Lynch customers can now automatically transfer funds in retirement accounts into standard bank accounts, the first major new service launched by the combined company.

Global accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said on Monday revenue at its member firms slipped 4.9 percent in fiscal 2009 to $26.1 billion, hurt by a decline in deal activity in the worldwide economic downturn.

CIT Group Inc has extended and sweetened its debt exchange offer for some of its bondholders, the lender said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

Swedish miner and smelter Boliden beat forecasts for third-quarter operating profit as Chinese demand buoyed the market for metals and said its Aitik copper mine expansion was on schedule.

Iran said on Monday it could endorse a U.N. deal for it to send potential nuclear fuel abroad for processing, contradicting lawmakers who rejected the plan sought by world powers as a trap.

Idea Cellular, India's fifth-ranked mobile operator, posted a 53 percent rise in quarterly profit on higher users, but warned a price war in the world's fastest-growing wireless market will continue for some time.

Telecom Italia, Europe's fifth-biggest telecoms operator, denied on Monday an Italian newspaper report that said it was considering a bid for Telekom Austria.

Germany's privately-held N-Vision Energy plans to invest up to 140 million euros ($210.5 million) to build a 100 megawatt wind energy park in Bulgaria, its managing director said on Monday.

French bank Credit Agricole said it had no plans for talks on a merger with rival Societe Generale and insurer Groupama, after Le Monde newspaper reported that Agricole was studying such a deal.

With one week to go until voters head to the polls, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg leads his main rival in the mayoral race by 18 points, a survey found on Monday.

Uncertainty over the future of generous incentive schemes is a major risk factor for the green energy sector in Italy, which has blossomed after rival Spain lost its allure by cutting down on sweeteners for investors.

U.S. stocks rose on Monday as energy shares climbed along with the price of oil, and Microsoft Corp boosted the tech sector after several brokerages raised their price targets on the company.

Public finance could help stimulate private investment in climate change solutions in developing countries, a report commissioned by the United Nations' Environment Program showed on Monday.