IBT Staff Reporter

A key gauge of future economic activity fell for the third month in a row in March, showing the recession may persist through the summer, a nonprofit research group said on Monday.

Oilfield service company Halliburton Co posted a drop in quarterly profit on Monday, hit by declining spending by energy producers, and warned that the outlook for the coming quarters looked weak.

If President Barack Obama needed a reminder that times have changed in the Americas, his fellow presidents gave him one when Air Force One touched down in Trinidad and Tobago for a regional summit.

The head of Iran's judiciary ordered a careful, quick and fair consideration of an appeal against the eight-year jail sentence imposed on an Iranian-American journalist, the judiciary said on Monday.

General Motors Corp is cutting about 1,600 salaried jobs in the United States this week as it rushes to meet a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, the automaker said on Monday.

Following is the roster of countries attending or boycotting a U.N. conference on racism that opened in Geneva on Monday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prompted a walkout from his speech to a U.N. racism summit on Monday when he accused Israel of racism against the Palestinians.

A key gauge of future economic activity fell for the third month in a row in March, showing that the recession may persist through the summer, a nonprofit research group said on Monday.

Oil fell more than 6 percent to around $47 a barrel on Monday, depressed by a rising U.S. dollar and growing caution about the pace of any economic recovery and its impact on oil demand.

A would-be hijacker surrendered to the authorities on Monday after releasing the last of more than 180 hostages he seized hours earlier aboard a Canadian charter jet in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday more talk and deeper trust were needed to defuse nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran, and urged Washington to stick to dialogue with both states.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command told Muslims not to be fooled by U.S. President Barack Obama's policies which, he said on an Islamist website on Monday, are no different to those of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Eli Lilly & Co reported higher-than-expected profit on Monday as it controlled costs and revalued overseas inventories because of the stronger dollar, and the drugmaker's shares rose nearly 4 percent.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Sunday the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba must go, but he was mum on his brother Raul Castro's recent offer to talk with Washington about everything, including political prisoners and human rights.

President Barack Obama plans to crack down on deceptive credit-card industry practices that have saddled U.S. consumers with huge debts and soaring interest rates, U.S. officials said on Sunday.

Barack Obama's presidency has been a wild ride for the U.S. Congress and lawmakers are bracing for more turbulence when they begin returning on Monday to tackle an array of tough issues from healthcare to energy.

Wall Street fell at the open on Monday on worries that problems persist for the struggling banking sector and after Bank of America's results relied heavily on one-time items as credit quality deteriorated markedly.

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens on Monday reiterated his prediction that crude oil prices would hit $75 a barrel this year as producers scale back production.

Top auto executives projected sales growth of up to 10 percent this year in China, but this lone bright spot among the world's major car markets is also producing ambitious potential rivals to the global auto majors.

Wall Street was set to fall at the open on Monday on worries that problems persist for the struggling banking sector and after Bank of America's results relied heavily on one-time items as credit quality deteriorated markedly.

Design firm Pilotfish unveiled on Monday plans to make an advanced music phone, hoping to tap untested demand for music editing on the go.

Asian governments are warming to the idea of offering incentives for green investment and could help attract billions of dollars in funding for solar and wind power industries struggling under tight credit conditions.

Industrial enzyme maker Novozymes A/S, which has teamed up with China's COFCO and Sinopec for a biofuel project, will jointly invest up to 90 billion yuan ($13.17 billion) with the two companies in the deal, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.

The global financial crisis is unlikely to deter growing long-term demand for new nuclear power plants, international atomic agency officials said on Sunday, ahead of a conference to discuss the future of atomic power.

Stock index futures extended losses on Monday as investors fretted about the health of the financial sector and after Bank of America's results relied heavily on one-time items as credit quality deteriorated markedly.

An energy company in Israel plans to launch a solar farm this month using new technology it says can produce cheap and efficient electricity while supplying hot water to homes.

U.S. lawmakers will pass major energy legislation, possibly including measures to address climate change, by the end of this year, a top White House official said on Sunday.

AAPL – Apple, Inc. – The designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and software products has seen its shares raising above the main bearish resistance line turning its outlook to bullish.

Oracle Corp said on Monday it will buy Sun Microsystems Inc for $9.50 a share, valuing the high-end computer server maker at more than $7 billion.