IBT Staff Reporter

Oil fell toward $72 a barrel on Monday, as a drop in China's key stock index stoked worries about the country's economy, but hopes that energy demand would soon rebound are on track to push prices up about 4 percent in August.

Market looks to jobs data; Reinvention for Funds; GM's New China Venture

A historic election win for Japan's opposition Democratic Party on Sunday is likely to buoy Tokyo shares on hopes for less policy deadlock, putting pressure on Japanese government bonds and the yen.

The future of wind farms and hybrid cars may well hinge on what happens to a 55-acre (22.3-hectare) hole in the ground at the edge of California's high desert.

India terminated its first mission to the moon Sunday, a spokesman for the national space agency said, a day after scientists lost all contact with an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the moon.

A wildfire in the heavily populated Los Angeles foothills threatened 10,000 homes on Sunday, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger warned residents to heed evacuation orders for the out of control and very dangerous blaze.

The yen was trading modestly firmer on Monday after the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a landslide, so putting an end to election uncertainty.

Players in the $1.4 trillion hedge fund industry employ a huge array of tactics in their efforts to maximize returns.

Investors worried about a severe U.S. swine flu outbreak this fall should consider stocks that rise when people hunker down at home and avoid companies that operate in crowded spaces.

The fund of hedge funds industry is being forced to reinvent itself after the Madoff scandal and hefty client outflows, and will emerge from the crisis smaller but in better shape than many had expected.

Executives at Swiss banks Julius Baer and Credit Suisse expect to avoid a U.S. tax investigation into their private banking businesses on the same scale as their peer UBS , they told The Financial Times on Sunday.

The Australian Dollar begins the new week at 0.8410 but has yet to assert itself above the US84 cent mark.

The yen was trading modestly firmer on Monday after the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a landslide, so putting an end to election uncertainty.

Investors that bought Citigroup Inc shares should take profits after the U.S. bank's shares climbed almost 100 percent in the last month, Barron's said in its August 31 edition.

Shares of insurance giant American International Group soared more than 50 percent last week and they now look overpriced, Barron's said in its August 31 edition.

Travis Barker and his band, Blink 182, took the stage on Saturday for a concert which he admits was difficult to get through following the passing of his close friend DJ AM on Friday.

Apple users in France are unfortunately not the most satisfied consumers.

India's national space agency said that communications with its first unstaffed spacecraft to orbit the moon were lost on Saturday and that its scientists were no longer controlling the orbiter.

A U.S. federal judge is expected to decide on Monday whether Grupo Mexico or India's Sterlite Industries will control Asarco LLC, bringing the U.S. copper miner a step closer to leaving bankruptcy after four years.

The popular video-sharing Website YouTube, owned by Google, announced an expansion of the YouTube Partnership Program (YPP), which was first launched in December 2007.

Social networking sites have become the latest target for burglars as they seek out new targets, according to a report from insurance company Legal & General warns.

Microsoft slashed the price of its Xbox 360 Elite console in the Asia-Pacific region after recently cutting the price in the U.S.

Administrators of the London arm of Lehman Brothers said the claims it is handling against the collapsed Wall Street bank could total as much as $100 billion.

A member of German chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party has pushed for a delay of the decision about the fate of General Motors' European unit Opel until after Germany's federal elections, a newspaper said.

Senator Kennedy had a real love for Portuguese Water Dogs and his gift to the Obamas was a Portuguese Water Dog.

In the battle of horror franchises,

Hurricane Jimena blew into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm off Mexico's Pacific Coast on Sunday and was headed close to resorts on the Baja California peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It's a 7-year-old boy's dream team -- Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton and David Koepp moving on from rampaging dinosaurs to marauding pirates.

The Venice film festival has capitalism in its sights this year, with premieres of Michael Moore's documentary on the U.S. economic meltdown and a drama starring Matt Damon as a corrupt corporate whistleblower.