IBT Staff Reporter

German twenty-somethings would ditch their spouses and do without a car in a heartbeat if they had to choose between having them or Internet access or a mobile phone, according to an industry study.

Stocks slid on Monday as news of a record $61.7 billion quarterly loss at embattled insurer American International Group fueled worries the already deep financial crisis is worsening.

Telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp , now operating in bankruptcy protection, said on Monday its quarterly loss more than doubled as it booked over $2 billion in noncash writedowns and saw its revenues plunge.

Oil fell more than $3 a barrel to below $42 on Monday as a deteriorating world economy threatened to cut further into fuel consumption and made OPEC's tight compliance with supply curbs look insufficient.

Stocks headed for a lower open on Monday as news of a record $61.7 billion loss at embattled insurer American International Group fueled worries the already deep financial crisis is worsening.

Freddie Mac on Monday said Chief Executive Officer David Moffett is quitting just six months after being named to the post as the government forced the No. 2 mortgage finance company into conservatorship.

Oil fell more than $2 a barrel to below $43 on Monday as a deteriorating world economy threatened to cut further into fuel consumption and made OPEC's tight compliance with supply curbs look insufficient.

U.S. consumer spending rebounded in January, snapping six months of declines, and incomes rose unexpectedly, boosted by salary increases for government employees, a government report showed on Monday.

American International Group Inc posted a $61.7 billion quarterly loss, the biggest in corporate history, and reached a new government bailout deal after officials concluded the insurer was too big to be allowed to fail.

President Barack Obama's targets for cutting the budget deficit remain in reach, a top aide said on Sunday, despite an alarmingly steep U.S. economic decline that could throw off revenue collections.

Citigroup Inc may need to raise additional capital despite the U.S. government's move to bolster its capital base, said an analyst at Deutsche Bank, who sees a 2009 loss of about $4.5 billion for the company excluding any preferred share dividend payments.

The market for government-level emissions rights under the Kyoto Protocol is alive and well, mostly unfazed by the global economic downturn. Through the most opaque of the emissions trading schemes under the Kyoto climate change pact, nations comfortably below greenhouse gas targets can sell excess emissions rights to other countries in the form of credits called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs).

PC shipments will fall 11.9 percent in 2009, their sharpest fall ever, with sales in emerging markets contracting for the first time, research firm Gartner said on Monday.

Stock index futures slid on Monday, putting Wall Street on track to extend a global rout as embattled insurer American International Group's report of a $61.7 billion quarterly loss suggested the financial crisis is worsening.

American International Group Inc posted a $61.7 billion fourth-quarter loss -- the biggest quarterly loss in corporate history -- after reaching a revised rescue deal with the U.S. government that wards off for now the prospect of crippling credit rating downgrades.

HSBC launched Britain's biggest rights issue on Monday, to raise 12.85 billion pounds ($18.3 billion) to help it overcome big losses in the United States and exploit the woes of weaker rivals.

For some of us, the iPhone will always be a slightly scary emblem of the brave new world: an impossibly sleek device that allows you to make a call, hear a song, learn a language and find your way home.

Stock index futures slid further on Monday after beleaguered insurer American International Group posted a $61.7 billion quarterly loss, signaling no let-up in the fallout from the worsening financial crisis.

The Treasury and Federal Reserve said on Monday that ailing insurer American International Group will get up to $30 billion more from U.S. taxpayers as part of a new government rescue bid.

American International Group Inc reported a $61.7 billion fourth-quarter loss on Monday, the largest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history, after a revised rescue plan from the U.S. government.

America's largest automaker has been left dependent on the kindness of strangers -- its fate in the hands of bureaucrats as much as car buyers.

When it comes to money, women really are more responsible then men, with an international survey finding that they're less likely to get into debt and strive harder to become financially independent.

NATO warned on Monday that an early presidential election in Afghanistan would have implications for security and said it would be better able to protect the poll if it were held in August.

Soldiers killed Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernado Nino Vieira on Monday, hours after the tiny West African state's army chief was killed in an attack, residents of the capital said.

North Korean generals met the U.S.-led U.N. military command in South Korea for the first time in about seven years on Monday after Pyongyang warned at the weekend arrogant acts by U.S. troops could spark a war.

Two thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday.

Britain's leading share index fell 3.6 percent early on Monday, extending the previous session's sharp fall, with HSBC leading banks lower after it offered a deep discount rights issue.

HSBC launched a 12.5 billion pound ($17.7 billion) rights issue on Monday to shore up its balance sheet after annual profit more than halved and as bad debts soared in the United States.

HSBC launched a 12.5 billion pound ($17.7 billion) rights issue on Monday to shore up its balance sheet after annual profit more than halved and as bad debts soared in the United States.