IBT Staff Reporter

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 climbed on Monday as Barclays said it had a strong start for 2009, joining other major banks, and added it discussed selling one of its units.

British bank Barclays Plc said it is considering selling iShares, part of its fund management arm, and said it was trading strongly, sending its stock up by more than a fifth.

U.S. homebuilder sentiment was steady at lower levels in March as a harsh economic environment kept potential buyers on the sidelines, the National Association of Home Builders said on Monday.

Oil rose to more than $47 on Monday, reversing earlier losses, on the view that OPEC cuts had started to take effect and a rally in equity markets.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and a parade of European banks were the major beneficiaries of $93 billion in payments from AIG -- more than half of the U.S. taxpayer money spent to rescue the massive insurer.

Cisco Systems Inc said on Monday it will sell computer servers targeted at data centers, a move that pits it against partners such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co.

Pakistan's government agreed on Monday to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice in a surprise move to defuse a crisis and end agitation by lawyers and activists that had threatened to turn into violent confrontation.

Bank stocks rose Monday on optimism that efforts to revive economies worldwide will bolster results.

U.S. industrial output fell to its lowest level in almost seven years in February and manufacturing in New York state slumped further this month, according to data on Monday that pointed to a worsening economy.

Citigroup Inc awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $10.82 million of compensation in 2008, a year in which the bank required two government rescues totaling more than $45 billion.

Cisco Systems Inc said on Monday it will sell computer servers targeted at data centers, a move that pits it against partners such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday it will require the top 21 banks receiving government assistance to report their lending to small businesses monthly.

Ford Motor Co announced further production stoppages at its European operations and warned of more possible cuts ahead as it tries to combat a sharp decline in demand.

Goldman Sachs raised its rating on Goodrich Corp and downgraded Spirit Aerosystems Inc, saying investors should go long on aerospace stocks with significant aftermarket exposure and short those with original equipment (OE) exposure.

Wachovia Capital Markets downgraded Sprint Nextel Corp to market perform from outperform, citing higher churn at the company's iDen customer segment in the first quarter, sending its shares down 9 percent.

Citigroup, in remaking its Board of Directors amid an unprecedented financial crisis has nominated four new candidates which include a pair of veterans from the banking industry, a former Fed president and risk management professor, and a leader in a top investment firm.

An Austrian man who fathered seven children with a daughter he held in a cellar for 24 years pleaded guilty to incest on Monday but denied murdering their newborn son or enslaving her.

Citigroup Inc awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $10.82 million of compensation in 2008, a year in which the bank required two government rescues totaling more than $5 billion.

U.S. prosecutors want swindler Bernard Madoff and his wife Ruth to forfeit more than $100 million worth of homes, cars, boats, securities, silverware and a piano following his March 12 guilty plea, according to court papers.

A government office in an ethnic Tibetan part of China's southwestern province of Sichuan was hit by a bomb early on Monday but no casualties were reported, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A suicide bomber killed 11 people, including nine police officers, in southern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after one of the deadliest attacks against foreign troops in recent weeks, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's party secured its first coalition partner on Sunday, reaching an initial agreement with the ultra-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, an official said.

Manufacturing production in New York State fell to yet another record low in March, extending its slump as gauges tracking new orders and investments deteriorated, according to a survey released on Monday.

The Dow and S&P 500 stock indexes rose on Monday, extending their recovery from 12-year lows reached this month, as investors became more hopeful that some stabilization may be returning to the banking sector.

The Kuwaiti government has tendered its resignation to the Gulf Arab state's ruler to avert a questioning of the prime minister in parliament amid a protracted political crisis, several deputies said on Monday.

A federal court has dismissed a Broadcom Corp complaint against rival Qualcomm Inc, the latest move in their long-standing battle over mobile phone technology patents, Qualcomm said on Monday.

Shares of General Electric Co rose above $10 on Monday for the first time in almost a month after an analyst at UBS lifted a short-term sell rating from the stock.

Moderate former president Mohammad Khatami withdrew from Iran's presidential election on Monday, allies said, a move analysts say may boost President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election chances.

What a difference a year -- and a recession -- makes for the food industry.