INVESTMENT

(Corrects third paragraph to show defaults fell to 13.81 percent, not 13.82 percent)

The rate of U.S. credit card defaults showed signs of stabilizing last month, an indication that American consumers are in better financial shape than feared despite job losses and the housing slump.

A U.S. regulator has extended a deadline to bid on Guaranty Financial Group assets to Tuesday, while bids for another troubled, lender Corus Bankshares Inc, are due Sept. 3, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

NYSE Euronext Inc sees encouraging signs for U.S. initial public offerings in 2010 as investors venture back into equities, top executives at the parent of the New York Stock Exchange said on Monday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Monday it will extend to mid-2010 an emergency program aimed at boosting lending in the ailing commercial real estate market.

Language training software maker Rosetta Stone Inc cut its third-quarter earnings outlook and scrapped a proposed stock offering barely a week after announcing it, sending shares down more than 25 percent.

The Australian unit of Swiss bank UBS AG thriving, even as its parent struggles in the global financial crisis, and has earned a reputation for snatching deals from rivals and making a success of them.

China's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, which made big paper losses on stakes in Morgan Stanley and Blackstone, is set to invest up to $2 billion in U.S. mortgages as it eyes a property market recovery, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

The following is the text of a statement issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury on Monday:

Stock index futures pointed to a steep fall at the open on Monday as global equities sold off after data from Japan showed that while the world's No. 2 economy returned to growth, a recovery may be shaky.

Stock futures slightly trimmed losses but still pointed to a steep drop at the open on Monday after a regional gauge of manufacturing suggested growth was returning to the sector.

Swedbank will raise 15 billion Swedish crowns ($2.1 billion) in a rights issue to boost a balance sheet hit by bad debts in the Baltics, the bank said on Monday, after saying in June it didn't need more capital.

Stock index futures slid about 2 percent on Monday as global equities sold off after data from Japan showed that while the world's No. 2 economy has returned to growth, a recovery may be shaky.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's pay czar, said on Sunday he has broad and binding authority over executive compensation, including the ability to claw back money already paid, and he is weighing how and whether to use that power.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, probing illegal marketing and sales of auction rate securities , is likely to file a lawsuit on Monday against Charles Schwab Corp for civil fraud, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Gold slipped to its lowest since late July in Europe on Monday as the dollar firmed against a basket of currencies and as a 2 percent decline in crude prices dented the precious metal's appeal as an inflation hedge.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street on Monday, mirroring a selloff in Asian and European stocks on mounting worries equities' recent surge had run ahead of the global economic recovery.

Stock index futures extended their losses early on Monday, mirroring a selloff in Asian and European stocks on mounting worries the equities' recent surge had run ahead of the global economic recovery.

World stocks fell by more than 1 percent on Monday, led by sharp drops in Asia, while government bonds and the dollar rose as doubts about the strength of a global economic recovery triggered a risk asset sell-off.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, probing illegal marketing and sales of auction rate securities , is likely to file a lawsuit on Monday against Charles Schwab Corp for civil fraud, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. banking regulators have asked prospective buyers of struggling Texas bank Guaranty Financial Group to submit bids by Monday, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.