IBT Staff Reporter

MGM Mirage has hired Morgan Stanley to handle potential sales of two of its cash cows -- MGM Grand Detroit and Biloxi's Beau Rivage casinos, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

HSBC investors bought 96.6 percent of the shares offered in its record 12.9 billion pound ($18.9 billion) rights issue, Europe's biggest bank said on Sunday.

Switzerland's UBS , the world's largest wealth management company in terms of assets, has issued a worldwide travel ban for wealth management client advisors, a spokeswoman said.

HSBC investors bought 96.6 percent of the shares offered in its record 12.9 billion pound ($18.9 billion) rights issue, Europe's biggest bank said on Sunday.

U.S. stocks should rally further this week, if investors get more signs that the economic slump is abating and earnings season does not get off to a rocky start.

The NATO nations have agreed to boost 5,000 extra troops and $100 million to secure the Afghan presidential election in August and to fight against the Taliban.

The FBI, United State’s investigative agency, has rejected the claim of responsibility by a Pakistani Taliban militant leader for the attack in New York State.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a paramilitary base in northwest Pakistan Sunday, killing at least eight troops, the army said.

Microsoft has released a second commercial in their new Laptop Hunters ad campaign targeting Mac prices, a follow-up to last weeks one which starred Lauren.

The recent release of Skype for Apple's iPhone has proved popular among users as the application has already been downloaded more than a million times, but has caused concerns from AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive carrier.

Eighty-seven percent of home buyers used the Internet to search for homes, up from 71 percent five years ago. Not only has the trend in overall usage risen, but the percent of buyers who reported using the Internet frequently increased from 42 percent in 2003 to 69 percent in 2008.

The internet has become an integral tool in the home buyer arsenal. When asked to identify the first step taken during the home buying process, 32 percent of all home buyers looked online for properties for sale.

When purchasing their next home, younger home sellers tend to purchase larger homes.

U.S. congressional budget analysts have raised their estimate of the net cost to taxpayers for the government's financial rescue program to $356 billion, an increase of $167 billion from earlier estimates.

International Business Machines has lowered its offer price for Sun Microsystems to $9.50 a share from $9.55 a share, although they are still in talks and the deal is not final, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Saturday.

When purchasing a home, in addition to the price of the home, home buyers also consider the cost to commute to work, and with rising energy costs, cost of energy, and possible savings from energy efficient features of homes. Importance given to these costs considerations vary by age of home buyers.

With rising energy costs, home buyers are increasingly aware of energy efficiency and other environmentally friendly features of homes. Forty-three percent of recent buyers considered a home's heating and cooling costs very important.

In the years of rising prices and quick sales, first-time home buyers made up a smaller share of the market. As affordability improves but sales slow, it is more difficult for current homeowners to sell their homes.

Somalia's prime minister has ordered all aid agencies working in the lawless Horn of Africa nation to register with the new government for their own safety.

The BLS American Time Use Survey gathers data on time spent doing various activities and asks where most activities are performed. (See note on chart for exceptions.)

The retail sector is in contraction, fueled by the recession, mounting job losses and a sharp drop in consumer spending. Retail businesses are scaling back operations, closing stores and trimming demand for space.

Russia and the United States will start talks on a new deal to cut nuclear warheads before the end of the month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Saturday.

French investment manager Meeschaert said on Saturday it had applied for the seizure of a yacht owned by a Bernard Madoff company as part of a battle to claw back client losses from the jailed fraudster.

Poor weather and planning may have forced North Korea to delay the launch of a long-range rocket Saturday, officials in Seoul said, after Pyongyang reported preparations were complete and lift-off would take place soon.

President Barack Obama won NATO backing on Saturday for his new approach to Afghanistan but his European allies stopped short of offering long-term troop deployments for the war effort.

The table above shows the relationship between personal consumption and net worth in the United States as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve.

Anti-NATO protesters torched buildings, ransacked shops and hurled petrol bombs at police on Saturday in a violent rampage on the fringes of a summit of the military alliance's leaders.

Ninety-three percent of home buyers reported that they financed their home purchase with a mortgage.

NATO named Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as its next leader on Saturday, averting a damaging split with Turkey at a summit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the military alliance.