UNITED STATES

Oil jumped to a record high near $94 a barrel on Monday as stormy weather disrupted supplies from giant exporter Mexico and the dollar wallowed near record lows.

Gold rallied to its highest level in 28 years on Monday and targeted $800 an ounce as oil surged to a record peak and the dollar tumbled on speculation over a U.S. interest rate cut.

Stocks rose on Monday as investors bet that the Federal Reserve will cut benchmark lending rates this week and that soaring commodity prices will boost profits of metal and energy producers.

A lack of significant new drugs and products, declining sales of lucrative flagship franchises and fierce competition have set off a wave of restructuring moves among the biggest names in health care. In many cases, restructuring is a euphemism for eliminating thousands of jobs, and it remains to be seen whether these moves are quick fixes to prop up dwindling profits, or a recognition of the industry's harsh new reality.

A senior U.N. nuclear agency official said cooperation with Iran was "good" ahead of talks on Monday about Tehran's disputed atomic work, after an Iranian warning that new U.S. sanctions could harm ties with the agency.

Expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut this week boosted world stocks for a third straight session on Monday and sent the dollar to record lows, while surging energy and gold prices buoyed emerging markets.

The dollar recovered from lifetime lows against the euro and a major currency basket on Monday, helped by speculation the Federal Reserve will cut U.S. interest rates by only a quarter of a percentage point this week, rather than by half a point.

Oil leapt to a record high for a third day on Monday, surpassing $93 as investors bet on another U.S. interest rate cut this week, the dollar struck new lows and Mexico briefly halted one-fifth of its oil production.

Stocks rose on Monday but the gains looked shaky as investors weighed whether equities still have room to move higher if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates this week.

Top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank posted a bigger-than-expected 14 percent rise in quarterly profit on Monday as it sold a stake sale in an insurance venture with ING Groep, but forecast a tough year ahead and a squeeze on margins.

Nikko Cordial, the Japanese brokerage unit of Citigroup, said its quarterly profit rose 72 percent from a year earlier, as growth at its asset management division overshadowed a loss at its investment banking arm.

Japanese electronics group Toshiba Corp. posted a jump in quarterly operating profit on Monday, thanks to solid flash memory chip prices and power plant sales, and raised its full-year outlook by 12 percent, closer to market estimates.

Canadian home buyers look poised to reap the rewards as U.S.-based mortgage insurance companies bid for a foothold in the hot domestic housing market.

Humana Inc posted a sharply higher quarterly profit on Monday, above Wall Street's target, on continued strength in its Medicare health plans for the elderly and its plans for employers.

UBS AGwarned it may face more writedowns on its fixed income portfolio but said, just a day before reporting results, that its third-quarter pretax loss would be no worse than already predicted.

The anticipated departure of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc Chief Executive Stan O'Neal would mark a surprising flameout in a career that had been impressive in its ascent.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp on Monday posted a better-than-expected 38 percent rise in first-half operating profit, helped by strong sales of power systems and elevators to emerging nations, and it raised its full-year outlook by 17 percent.

China has the world's largest commercial bank, its biggest aluminum maker, its No. 2 oil firm and its fourth-largest investment bank. It has five of the world's 10 biggest companies, versus three for the United States.

Rising mortgage payments and tighter lending standards for refinancing amid the subprime credit crisis have dried up once-easy access to home equity loans for many middle-income borrowers -- so desperate borrowers are using credit cards to cover basics while trying to keep up with home payments.

General Motors Corp, one of the world's top two automakers, said it had yet to regain a competitive edge in the United States while future growth would come increasingly from markets such as China and Brazil. GM lost more than $12 billion in the past two years, and is in the midst of a sweeping restructuring that includes cutting more than 34,000 jobs and closing 12 plants in North America.

The dollar slid to a record low against a basket of major currencies on Monday, weighed down by expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week and perhaps another move by the end of the year.