MARKETS / FINANCE

Stocks fell in choppy trade on Monday as political uncertainty in Italy fueled investor concern the euro zone debt crisis could engulf the bloc's third biggest economy.

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. reduced its third-quarter loss on higher gold prices and increased gold production as well as a gain on warrants.

Administrators to failed brokerage MF Global's UK unit said on Monday they were reconciling cash positions of the firm before paying out money to anyone with a claim on the firm.

Trading on the London Metal Exchange was slow on Monday partly because positions of the British unit of MF Global had not been transferred to new brokers a week after the U.S. firm filed for bankruptcy protection, traders said.

Germany Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Monday the country's gold reserves with the central bank cannot be touched, adding his voice to opposition to an idea reportedly discussed at the G20 summit of using reserves to boost euro zone bailout funds.

Outotec signed two contracts worth a combined $47 million for detail engineering and delivery of gold pressure oxidation technology with the Russian Petropavlovsk Group of Companies as the group develops a gold mine in the Amur region of Russia's Far East.

Kazakhstan plans to begin construction of a third gold refinery next year to process an expected increase in volumes of the precious metal, the country's Industry Ministry said on Monday.

Gold prices climbed from eastern Asia to Western Europe Monday as worries about Europe's sovereign debt crisis spreading to Italy offset news that Greece's prime minster will resign.

Retail sales in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell more than expected in September from August despite some resilience in powerhouse Germany, the EU's statistics office said on Monday, reinforcing concern that the bloc's economy may be heading for a recession.

Stock index futures fell on Monday as political turmoil in Italy sparked worry the euro zone debt crisis could consume the region's third largest economy.

Groupon's Chinese daily deals business Gaopeng said on Monday it had sold counterfeit luxury watches by accident and will compensate its irate buyers in its latest struggle in expanding in the potentially lucrative market.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 1.2 to 1.3 percent.

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Asian shares struggled and credit markets weakened on Monday, with investors still nervous despite the agreement on formation of a new Greek unity government intent on avoiding imminent debt default.

Bank of America Corp is considering further reducing its stake in China Construction Bank Corp, a newspaper reported said on Monday, after the bank cut its holding by half in August.

CME Group said it was changing its margin requirements for customers of collapsed brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd , cutting the size of any margin calls when positions are transferred to another brokerage.

Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange <8697.OS> are in the final stages of talks to merge with the aim of combining forces in the autumn of 2012, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.

After another week of confusion and turmoil in Europe, investors are ditching whatever hopes they once had for a conclusive solution to the debt crisis.

Countries in the euro zone will find it increasingly unattractive to stay in the single currency, if there is a German-led fiscal integration, the chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management said in a Sunday Telegraph interview.

Financial aid to rescue Europe's debt-stricken countries is set to dominate talks between Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and Russia's president, government and monetary officials during her visit to Moscow.

The United States should be more open about its development of offensive cyber weapons and spell out when it will use them as it grapples with an increasing barrage of attacks by foreign hackers, the former No. 2 uniformed officer in the U.S. military said.

Unexpected job losses pushed Canada's unemployment rate higher in October as the European debt crisis and U.S. weakness buffeted the exporting nation's economy and weakened confidence.

Germany on Saturday rejected media reports that Bundesbank reserves would be used to fund the euro zone's rescue facility after German newspapers said Group of 20 leaders had discussed the idea of tapping central banks.

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G20 leaders are likely to meet before their next scheduled summit in February to try and restore market confidence battered by the euro zone debt crisis, Canada's finance minister said on Saturday, while Germany's Angela Merkel said it would take a decade to turn around the currency bloc.

Since Politico reported on 1990s sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, the story has taken on a life of its own. But public relations professionals say it didn't have to follow that route.

Interim CEO Sergio Ermotti will be appointed permanent chief executive of Swiss bank UBS ahead of the bank's investor day on November 17, a Swiss newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.

Bidding for MF Global's operations in Asia and Australia was extended by one day because of an influx of offers for the collapsed U.S. brokerage, a provisional liquidator for the company's Hong Kong unit said on Saturday.

The head of the U.S. futures regulator working on a sweeping review into the business practices of failed futures brokerage MF Global has said he will not be participating in any further parts of the inquiry, a source told Reuters on Friday.