IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks dipped on Monday as profit-taking and worrying outlooks from companies such as Aetna Inc overshadowed data that hinted the housing market was stabilizing.

Health care reform in U.S. is a hot topic discussed everywhere from President Obama to any adult who tried to access affordable healthcare in the past decade.

A Chicago company said on Friday it had obtained some of the hair that Michael Jackson burned in a 1984 Pepsi commercial and planned to create a limited edition of diamonds from it.

A British teen-ager who phoned the White House and claimed as part of a drunken prank that there was a bomb in the center of New York, escaped jail on Monday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will reduce his workload for a few days after suffering a dizzy spell brought on by jogging in hot weather and a heavy schedule, his office said on Monday.

EU nations on Monday extended a ceasefire monitoring mission in Georgia for another year, but did not discuss the possibility of other countries, including the United States, joining the mission.

Iran's opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said on Monday the pro-reform protests which erupted after the country's disputed June presidential vote will continue, his website reported.

Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), Europe's largest carmaker, is considering raising up to 4 billion euros ($5.7 billion) ahead of a takeover of Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) to protect its credit ratings, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Opel's labor force demanded greater say in the process of selecting a future investor for the German carmaker and called on former parent General Motors GM.UL to forgo any right to buy back a stake at a later point.

Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO), India's largest vehicle maker, reported a 58 percent rise in net profit, with a change in accounting policy and lower costs seeing it defy forecasts for a halving of profit and sending its shares up.

Republican Sarah Palin stepped down as governor of Alaska on Sunday, vowing in a farewell address to continue fighting for Alaskans but giving no hint on whether she will seek an elective office again.

Japan's top automakers will report weak first-quarter results hit by a stronger yen and production cutbacks, but most expect a steady improvement in coming quarters helped partly by government programmes to encourage car purchases and progress in cost-cutting.

U.S. funds T Rowe Price and TPG are among anchor investors for Indian utility Adani Power's initial public offer to raise as much as $623 million, two sources with knowledge of the deal said on Monday.

Nissan Motor Co is developing a hybrid system that can be used to power smaller cars as an interim solution to improving mileage before pure electric cars can take over, a top executive said on Monday.

U.S. solar startup Suniva Inc said on Monday it completed a $75 million financing round led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

President Barack Obama called for deeper U.S.-Chinese economic cooperation on Monday and outlined a broad agenda for a positive relationship between two countries that do not always see eye to eye.

Citigroup Inc is closing its consumer finance business in Italy and will reduce its employees in the country to about 500 from 1,000 as part of its plans to focus on the Citicorp business.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc said second-quarter profit dropped more than 75 percent because of lower demand from power producers and steelmakers.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc said it agreed to buy Harleysville National Corp for $5.50 per share, or $237 million, in stock to create a strong foothold in Pennsylvania.

Drugmaker Mylan Inc refuted a newspaper report its staff overrode government-mandated quality controls, saying the report was based on improperly obtained documents, uninformed third-party commentary and anonymous sources.

German solar bellwether SolarWorld on Monday kept its 2009 sales outlook, helping European solar stocks gain, as it said cost savings had helped it offset most effects of the sector's ongoing price slump.

Though business is more competitive than ever, she finds nothing more gratifying than building and maintaining relationships with colleagues and clients in her seaside community north of San Diego.

European solar cell and module makers may be forced to speed up shifting production to Asia, rattled by rapid price declines and falling market shares.

China's eHi Car Rental Co Ltd, backed by venture capital firms including CDH Venture Investment and Jafco Asia, is planning an initial public offering in 2011 to fund expansion in the fast-growing but fragmented domestic car rental market, Chairman Ray Zhang said on Monday.

Debate over controversial EU laws on hedge funds shifted to the United States on Monday as a key industry body warned of protectionist aspects of the rules which have prompted Washington to lobby for changes. The Alternative Investment Management Association said the planned laws on alternative investment funds create potentially major difficulties and loss of business for funds and investors...

British life insurer Friends Provident said on Monday it had ended talks with would-be acquirer Resolution after rejecting a fresh takeover approach from the Guernsey-based bid vehicle over the weekend.

Agilent Technologies Inc said on Monday it agreed to buy Varian Inc in a $1.5 billion deal designed to bolster the company's bioanalytical measurement business.

Two-way navigation systems can be programmed for house hunters who want to tour the neighborhood on their own.

Troubled insurer American International Group Inc has formed a special-purpose vehicle for its AIU Holdings property-casualty unit, a key step toward selling at least part of that business.