IBT Staff Reporter

Michael Lewis, best-selling author of The Big Short about the mortgage meltdown, has been sued for defamation by an asset manager featured in the book.

Stocks were poised for their third straight month of gains on Monday as encouraging economic data and optimistic comments from billionaire investor Warren Buffett boosted investors' appetite.

Barclays Capital said it is more constructive about U.S. corporate earnings for 2011, citing increased confidence in financial sector margins and lower economic uncertainty, and raised its full-year price target for the S&P 500 index <.SPX> to 1,450 from 1,420.

Ventas Inc said it will buy Nationwide Health Properties for about $7.4 billion in stock, creating the largest healthcare real estate investment trust in the United States.

Investors pulled back from equities in favor of bonds and cash in February, Reuters polls showed on Monday, reacting to the Middle East and North African revolts and to a large run-up in stock market gains.

For years, the question at Cisco Systems Inc was what to buy next, expanding from routers and switches into consumer electronics in an effort to keep its revenue rising by double digits.

Rock star and the widow of late Kurt Cobain Courtney Love might be leasing a townhome on 250 West 10th Street, last seen on the market with an asking price of $28,000 per month.

St Jude Medical Inc said it was initiating a quarterly dividend payout to shareholders, citing confidence in its growth outlook and financial position.

J.P. Morgan Securities expects tablets to evolve into a $35 billion market by 2012, eating into the share of PCs, and competition to drive down premium prices.

The world's biggest carmakers have until the end of Monday to sign up for Russia's latest scheme to entice major players and strengthen its local industry ahead of any future crisis.

SocialEyes, a new venture is using Facebook to get into the video chat game.

The pop star had previous revealed to Gayle King that her highly-anticipated music video, which is directed by Nick Knight, for Born This Way, will debut Feb. 28 during MTV's talk show, The Seven.

Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday called on major U.S. web site operators such as Amazon and Twitter to switch to a more secure protocol to prevent identify theft and other security breaches in places like coffee shops.

Consumer spending rose modestly in January, getting the year off to a soft start, as households took advantage of tax cuts to rebuild their savings.

The pop star revealed to Gayle King that her highly-anticipated music video, which is directed by Nick Knight, for Born This Way, will debut Feb. 28. During MTV's talk show, The Seven.

A key Federal Reserve official said on Monday the economy can grow for a while before inflation pressures emerge and that policymakers should be wary of withdrawing their support for the economy too soon.

International air freight and passenger traffic picked up in January but rising oil prices caused by political unrest in the Middle East could make 2011 a challenging year, airline body IATA said on Monday.

A top Federal Reserve official said on Monday the economy should do well in 2011 and that oil prices rising on tensions in the Middle East are not currently a drag on the recovery.

Stocks rose on Monday after Ventas Inc said it will buy Nationwide Health Properties for $5.8 billion and investor Warren Buffett said he was eyeing major acquisitions.

Large financial institutions may need to make significant and potentially costly structural changes to comply with new U.S. living will requirements, bank regulator Sheila Bair said on Monday.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards took place Sunday night. All of Hollywood's biggest stars gathered at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles to honor the best films of the year. Hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, the biggest winners of the night were The King's Speech and The Fighter. Here is a full list of all the winners.

Contracts for pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell faster than expected in January to the slowest pace in three months, data from a real estate trade group showed on Monday.

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen Peugeot and German counterpart BMW plan to invest 100 million euros in a hybrid technology joint venture, the two companies said on Monday.

A variation on a similar program targeting Windows systems, a new backdoor trojan targets OS X users.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that that the United States is reaching out different Libyans as the Obama administration calls for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to leave the country.

Texting answering service company doesn't like HTC using their name for a phone.

U.S. consumer spending rose less than expected in January as households took advantage of the largest increase in incomes in more than 1-1/2 years to rebuild their savings, government data showed on Monday.

Contracts for pending sales of previously owned homes fell faster than expected in January to the slowest pace in three months, data from a real estate trade group showed on Monday.