IBT Staff Reporter

Taiwan's Acer will buy Gateway for $710 million, creating the world's No. 3 PC maker and doubling its U.S. presence while dealing a blow to arch-foe Lenovo's efforts to grow in Europe.

European shares recovered further on Monday, but Wall Street looked set to open lower after news that for the first time since the leveraged buyout boom began the price on a major private equity deal had been lowered.

Gold was steady on Monday, staying within sight of last week's high, while the benchmark Tokyo futures contract rose 2 percent to its highest in more than a week due to a weaker yen and a strong New York close.

The Nikkei average inched up 0.3 percent in thin trade on Monday as KDDI Corp extended gains on profit prospects and auto stocks such as Honda Motor advanced on a softer yen.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is considering acquisitions in its home market as it seeks to open smaller stores and limit its reliance on giant supercenters for growth, the Financial Times reported in its online edition.

U.S. Steel Corp is to acquire Stelco Inc for about $1.1 billion to strengthen its position as a supplier of flat-rolled steel products in North America, the companies said. Stelco, the last big Canadian-owned steelmaker, had put itself on the auction block in June after a wave of takeovers within the Canadian steel industry.

An end to Wall Street's streak of rising profits in the third quarter is built into investor expectations, but the top brokerages' results will still face scrutiny next month to see just how they value assets bloodied by the summer market meltdown.

Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings has approached Nasdaq to buy its 30 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Job losses in the construction sector could top 1 million if a housing downturn tips the economy into recession and tighter access to credit dampens business investment. Strength in nonresidential construction may continue to offset a downturn in housing for now, but recent turmoil in credit markets suggests job losses may accelerate in the sector in the next few months.

With a slowing economy could the job market see declines this holiday season?

Commodities indexes remain popular even after this summer's market turmoil.

New games drawing paying players online could end up leaving pirates behind.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, sending the broader market to its best week in five months, as surprisingly strong economic data eased concerns about the economy's health and investors bet equities may be stabilizing after weeks of turmoil.

Three Asian banks' heavy exposure to the limping U.S. home loan sector reinforced global credit wobbles on Friday but Germany, France and Italy saw no signs of new problems.

U.S. stocks advanced on Friday as a jump in oil prices boosted energy stocks and an unexpected rise in July new home sales calmed worries about the economy.

Profit at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. could take a big hit if the U.S. brokerage heavyweight cuts the value on nearly $1 billion in subprime lender assets it bought just eight months ago.

Shares of Home Depot Inc were up 1.3 percent on Friday as investors waited for word about whether a sale was on or off for the home improvement retailer's contractor business.

Betting on Qualcomm Inc should be an easy decision for an investor looking for wireless assets but the company's myriad legal battles could make it a risky choice compared with rivals like Nokia and Texas Instruments Inc.

General Motors Corp is testing a combustion engine that could increase fuel economy in traditional engines by up to 15 percent, the automaker said on Friday.

Sales of new single-family U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in July and new orders for durable goods posted strong gains that underlined the economy's strength just before a credit crisis socked financial markets.

Gold steadied in cautious European trade on Friday after cutting overnight losses but remained vulnerable as worries about credit market turmoil persisted, analysts said.

The dollar weakened broadly on Friday as lingering worries about the recent global credit and liquidity squeeze outweighed surprisingly strong U.S. economic data.

The owners of stricken state lender SachsenLB aim to sell the German bank quickly after its near collapse under heavy losses from U.S. subprime mortgages and other risky debt, sources familiar with the matter said.

Fannie Mae's mortgage portfolio swelled in July, when the largest U.S. home funding company bought up cheap mortgage-backed debt, leaving it scant room to grow under current limits set by its regulator.

Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, beat expectations by reporting a 34 percent rise in net profit in its first ever quarterly results to international standards on Friday.

India's Tata Group is interested in acquiring Ford Motor Co's Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the Indian conglomerate's chairman Ratan Tata said in remarks released on Friday.

TSMC, the world's top contract chip maker, said on Friday it will increase its stake in Vanguard International to nearly 38 percent by purchasing 11 percent of the firm's shares via block trade.

Stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data boosted stocks on Friday while bonds held early gains and the dollar fell. European stocks also got a lift from the U.S. data.

Stocks rose on Friday, after data showed new home sales unexpectedly rose in July and new orders for durable goods surged, reassuring investors about the economy's health, although credit concerns remained.