IBT Staff Reporter

Oil dropped below $69 a barrel on Monday pressured by a stronger dollar and weaker European equities, but attacks on the oil industry in top African exporter Nigeria limited losses.

Oil fell toward $69 a barrel on Monday, extending the previous session's drop of more than 2 percent, as bearish sentiment over gasoline markets in the United States continued to dominate investors' concerns.

World stocks slipped on Monday while government bonds and the dollar rose as a decline in oil prices below $70 a barrel and caution ahead of this week's data and Federal Reserve meeting weighed on risky assets.

Xstrata wants talks with mining rival Anglo American about a proposed merger of equals worth about $68 billion, seeking increased scale and cost synergies, Xstrata said on Sunday.

Chinese Internet users are calling on fellow web surfers to stay offline on July 1, the debut of a controversial software filter that critics say the Chinese government is using to tighten censorship.

The Federal Reserve is considering creating a utility to replace the Wall Street banks that handle U.S. repo market transactions, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A quarter of U.S. employers have eliminated matching contributions to employee 401 retirement plans since September to save money amid the economy's downturn, according to research released on Monday.

Asian stocks rose on Monday, with Chinese bank stocks getting a boost on hopes lending will stay strong, while U.S. Treasury yields were flat before a weekly record of $104 billion in new debt hits the market.

U.S. billionaire Len Blavatnik is planning to file a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase on Monday, accusing the bank of mismanaging an investment account that held $1 billion in assets owned by Blavatnik's industrial holding company, Access Industries, the New York Times said.

Japan's Nikkei stock average extended gains on Monday to rise 0.9 percent as investors were heartened by a broad rise in Asian shares, with car battery maker GS Yuasa Corp rebounding after a sell-off.

Jack Welch, the former chief executive of General Electric Co, is buying a stake in an online university and will take an active role in planning curriculum, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Asian stocks edged up on Monday, supported by buying of defensive sectors, while the U.S. dollar rose on caution ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week when policymakers may extend programmes to keep borrowing costs low.

T-Mobile USA will begin selling a new smartphone using Google Inc's Android operating software in August, facing off against high-end devices such as Apple's latest iPhone and the Palm Pre.

National Australia Bank Ltd will pay $660 million for most of British insurer Aviva Plc's Australian businesses to become the country's dominant investment platform provider and insurance underwriter.

Drug manufacturers will offer some $80 billion in prescription discounts for Medicare recipients under a deal unveiled on Saturday, which could boost President Barack Obama as he pushes to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.

Powerhouse Hollywood director Michael Bay, who returns to theaters worldwide on Wednesday with a Transformers sequel, has blasted the marketing efforts of the film's studio, Paramount Pictures.

As an engineering student in the 1960s, Takeo Fukui picked the analysis of nitrogen dioxide emissions as his senior thesis with one goal in mind: joining Honda Motor to get a foothold in the world of motor racing.

A hunt by investors for a bright spot in the global economic downturn has led to the farm.

Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to continue protests over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a direct challenge to the Islamic Republic's leadership.

At first glance, Spotify isn't much different from other on-demand streaming music services. It includes roughly the same library of songs, pays the same per-stream licensing fees for music and contends with the same poor ad-sales environment.

Investigators of Bernard Madoff's global swindle want more time to calculate the amount of money lost and the number of investors defrauded as they seek to determine restitution, but see no need to delay his June 29 sentencing, U.S. prosecutors said in court papers.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke must find a convincing way to explain why his central bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates even though the economy is stabilizing.

Activist investor Warren Lichtenstein got court approval on Friday to move forward with his controversial plan to convert hard-hit hedge fund Steel Partners II into a listed investment company.

After months of little U.S. action on trade, there are signs the issue could become more important for President Barack Obama, who heads to Italy in early July to meet with major trading partners.

The Bank of America Corp. board has lost two more directors; this time Gen. Tommy Franks and Adm. Joseph Preuher were the ones to hand in resignation letters.

Brazilian officials confirmed Sunday that 11 bodies have been identified; the names have not yet been released according to reports from Folha de S. Paulo .

Former Boston University medical student and alleged Craigslist killer was indicted by prosecutors on Sunday.

The worst of the global economic crisis is over, multi-billionaire financier George Soros told Polish news channel TVN24 on Sunday urging the creation of international regulations to oversee global markets.

Iran's presidential election, in which hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was adjudged the winner over his moderate rival, Mirhossein Mousavi, has led to the broadest internal unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.