UNITED STATES

By Matt Isaacs and Reuters staffLate last autumn, a Hong Kong jury convicted four men of a conspiracy to commit bodily harm and a fifth of soliciting a murder.

Wall Street was poised for a higher open on Monday as Greece launched a sovereign bond issue, easing concerns about the country's debt problems, while investors were optimistic about key jobs data later this week.

U.S. electrical goods retailer Best Buy will open its first British store in May, it said on Monday, as partner Carphone Warehouse completed its demerger from telecoms arm TalkTalk .

Despite new highs on the Dow and S&P 500, risk aversion dominated the Forex marketplace last week. The US dollar pushed ever higher against its major counterparts, as growing concerns over the Greek debt crisis and a credit downgrade for Portugal weighed on investors. In the current quarter, the euro has slipped 6.8 percent against the dollar - the largest quarterly decline since 2008 - reflecting a general preference in the marketplace for the perceived safety of US assets.

Did you also keep your breath during the last days and thinking: „How far will EURUSD further fall? I can quieten you - thanks to the common solution of the EU for Greece there was some climbing up of the crosspair. Also if that were only 30 pips compared with the last high of Thursday, but anyhow. How is it going on? Should the course further win, I could expect chances into the direction of 1.3520, 1.3570 or 1.3680 as shortterm targets.

Stock index futures gained on Monday as Greece prepared to test demand for the battered country's debt and investors shifted focus to key jobs data later this week.

Li Shufu, the plain-spoken chairman of China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, faces a long, uphill journey to return Ford Motor's prestigious but loss-making Volvo brand to profitability.

U.S. stock index futures gained, pointing to a firmer start for Wall Street on Monday. Futures for the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up 0.4 to 0.6 percent by 4.09 a.m. ET.

The euro rallied further on Monday from 10-month lows, buoyed by a burst of short-covering as the quarter draws to an end, while Chinese shares hit two-month highs as investors welcomed the launch of a futures index.

Instinet, a U.S. agency-only brokerage hoping to fill a gap left by the diminishing number of sellside analysts, launched a dating-like service on Monday that allows companies to connect directly with institutional investors.

A Chinese court will deliver a verdict on Monday against four Rio Tinto employees accused of accepting bribes and stealing commercial secrets in a case closely watched by foreign investors and the huge domestic steel industry.

South Korean government bond prices retreated further on Monday, with European Union leaders' agreement on an aid package for Greece and stronger U.S. sentiment data raising investors' risk appetite.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is not yet on board with Washington Mutual Inc's bankruptcy reorganization plan, including a massive tax refund to JPMorgan Chase & Co , according to the company and a Wall Street Journal report.

The departure of the head of American International Group Inc's aircraft leasing unit was driven partly by U.S. pay restrictions imposed on the insurer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

General Growth Properties Inc is getting closer to filing a bankruptcy exit plan, with its board planning to meet on Monday to give final approval to the proposal, sources familiar with the matter said.

The Aussie dollar finished the week near its lows at 0.9030 after dropping to the psychological 90 cent level during Friday's offshore trade.

It looks like some U.S. customers who preorder Apple Inc's new iPad tablet computer now may have to wait a bit longer to get the device, as the company appears to be having a hard time keeping up with demand.

It's a mystery that has puzzled even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: if the U.S. economy is growing rapidly, why isn't it creating jobs?

It looks like U.S. customers who preordered Apple Inc's new iPad tablet computer may have to wait a bit longer to get the device, as the company appears to be having a hard time keeping up with demand.

Canada will press the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations to tighten United Nations sanctions on Iran when it hosts a meeting of foreign ministers from the grouping on Monday and Tuesday.

The Dow industrials could hit 11,000 this week as investors bet the U.S. labor market had a significant turnaround in March, showing the economic recovery is in good shape.