IBT Staff Reporter

By William Rees Mogg Not every boom becomes a bubble, writes William Rees Mogg for The Daily Reckoning, and not every boom ends in a bust.But most of them do. In the present economic situa...

China stock markets fell sharply Monday, led by securities and Developers on concern central bank may raise lending and deposit rates to cap inflation.

China will stick with a 'tight' monetary policy as the increasing pressures of inflation and economic overheating, said nation's central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is likely to be the first foreign firm allowed to list on the Chinese stock market, a Chinese financial website reported on Monday.

Salesforce.com Inc. and Google announced today an alliance to integrate Google's applications to Salesforce's software for managing sales service, the companies said.

Bank of China (BOC) has adjusted its forecasts of the year-on-year increase rate of China's consumer price index (CPI)this year from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent, and is expected to increase interest rates in the second quarter this year, said the report issued by BOC's department of the global financial markets on Monday.

Wachovia Corp. investors were hit with a double-whammy on Monday, after the fourth largest U.S. bank reported an unexpected loss for the quarter, cut their dividends, and announced a plan to sell diluted stock.

Healthcare Locums Plc has reported a 108 per cent growth in sales for the full year 2007, from £65 million to £135 million. The company said that its organic like-for-like profit growth rate was up to 21 per cent, a rise from the rate of 16 per cent in 2006.

RM Plc has said that the London Borough of Newham has chosen it to be the ICT supplier for its Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which covers 15 schools in the borough.

Chrysler LLC and Nissan Motor co Ltd said both companies will join a project to manufacture cars for each other, the groups announced on Monday.

Cereal Malt O Meal has been related to the infection of 23 people and 3 hospitalized with signs of Salmonella Agona last week and the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration has announced that at least 14 states reported illnesses .

Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corporation officially confirmed it agreement to merge the two carriers, creating America's premier global airline, with a combined enterprise value of $17.7 billion.

The FTSE 100 share index fell 63.9 points down to 5,831.6 (down 1.1 per cent) on Monday.

Eurostar has reported a rise in revenues of 25.2 per cent to £78.4 million in the first three months of 2008 thanks to a substantial rise in passenger numbers in the period. The train operator said it had 2.17 million passengers (up 21.3 per cent) in the first quarter of the year.

U.S. Treasurys fell in price on Monday after more news of banks in crisis were offset by a government report showing slightly higher retail sales in March.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released new figures on Monday showing a sharp increase in the price of manufactured goods in March.

J.C. Flowers has said it will not raise its bid of £3.5 for insurer Friends Provident and is prepared to abandon a takeover deal if Friends Provident do not begin talks by the end of the week.

The dollar was slightly higher against the euro early Tuesday after the Group of Seven nations signaled over the weekend about their concern regarding sharp fluctuations in exchange rates which they said could hurt the global economy.

The deal between Apple and China Mobile Communications Corp. is still hitting a dead-rock due to concerns about the iPhone's revenue sharing business model.

FGIC Corp. said late Monday it is considering selling itself and has commenced talks with potential investors and other parties regarding strategic alternatives, and said it will reach a decision with the next few weeks.

CapitalSource is acquiring the retail banking operations of Fremont General for $170 million after the troubled lender was hit hard by the subprime mortgage-led crisis.

Vasogen Inc said it will pause the clinical study of Celacade, its lead medical product for the treatment of chronic heart failure and cut 85% of its employees in order to move to another field.

The rollout and licenses of China's home-grown TD-SCDMA standard could potentially be delayed until 2010, according to one industry expert.

An offshore find by Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, in the Atlantic ocean may be the largest oil discovery in the past 30 years, the head of the Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said on Monday.

An offshore find by Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, in the Atlantic ocean may be the largest oil discovery in the past 30 years, the head of the Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said on Monday.

Deutsche Bank is looking to sell a debt of loans of leveraged buyouts to investors and private equity firms, for much less than the $20 billion dollars previously announced, Reuters reported.

General RE Corp. chief executive Joseph Brandon has resigned a week after a report that federal prosecutors have been pressuring corporate parent Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to replace him.

Gold futures closed with a slight gain on Monday, after weakness in the U.S. dollar led more investors to the precious metal.

Soybean rallied on Monday in Chicago on speculation that demand from China will increase.