IBT Staff Reporter

Gold continues to form a long consolidation pattern which has lasted basically for the final quarter of 2010, says Phil Smith in his chart analysis for Reuters' clients. [On] the possible topping [head-and-shoulders] pattern I've been looking at...we have now broken the neckline. Watch for a decisive break below this line. The target for this topping pattern is $1230.

Gold rose on Monday as lower prices after the metal's third consecutive weekly loss attracted some buyers back to the market, but a more optimistic view of global growth still limited fresh investment.

Pope Benedict gave a qualified blessing to social networking Monday, praising its potential but warning that online friendships are no substitute for real human contact.

Steel Dynamics Inc's quarterly fell short of Wall Street estimates for the third successive time on lower flat rolled volumes and pricing, but the fifth-largest U.S. steelmaker said it expects 2011 to be favorable.

RadioShack Corp warned of a weak fourth-quarter profit due to contracting margins and said CEO Julian Day plans to retire, sending its shares down to a year low.

The U.S. Treasury's toxic asset funds have gained 27 percent since they were created to help revive the mortgage-backed securities market, according to data expected to be released later on Monday.

Ireland plans to use some of its 24 billion euro pension reserve fund to purchase its own bonds, a move some say is akin to national cannibalism.

Britain's state-backed public broadcaster the BBC said Monday it would close 200 websites over the next two years in a drive to slash costs and reshape online content.

Stocks rose in early Monday trading, lifted by natural resource shares on bets on global growth and a buyback plan at Intel that focused investor attention on the largecap technology sector.

Daily deals website Groupon is considering an initial public offering and is in talks with bankers, founder and Chief Executive Andrew Mason told Reuters on Monday.

South Africa's rand firmed slightly against the dollar on Monday, recovering from near 8-week lows seen at the end of last week as the greenback wobbled and metal prices rose.

Mozilla proposes to use a “Do Not Track” HTTP header with every click or page view in Firefox, which when enabled would prevent data mining companies from getting information through web cookies.

The Bank of Uganda said on Monday it was intervening in the foreign exchange market by selling hard currency BOUG00, helping to push the shilling up to levels last seen nearly three weeks ago.

South Africa expects to seal a deal with buyers in Saudi Arabia and India for about 100,000 tonnes of its surplus maize before the end of February, a senior government official said on Monday.

The Nigerian naira firmed slightly on the interbank market on Monday after three energy firms sold dollars, traders said.

The Kenyan shilling ended unchanged on Monday against the dollar but is expected to come under pressure from end-month corporate dollar demand while stocks eased as investors sold off Kenya Power and Lighting.

Favourable weather and currencies boosted Kenya's 2010 tea crop and export earnings to record levels, and the sector overtook horticulture as the country's top hard currency earner, officials said on Monday.

Burundi's 2010 tea earnings rose 17 percent from the previous year, helped by increased output and higher prices on the world market, the country's tea board said on Monday.

A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas says tech sector is losing jobs at the slowest rate in the last decade, possibly presaging a quicker recovery in that field.

A teaser video uploaded on YouTube gives a glimpse of Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 with specifications that can give the upcoming iPad 2 the shiver.

The Ghana cedi extended record losses against the greenback on Monday as corporate demand for the dollar remained high and inflows sluggish, traders said.

BP, Total, Eni and other international majors were awarded concessions to explore in Angola's ultra-deep water blocks known as pre-salt blocks, Angola's state-owned oil firm Sonangol said on Monday.

Cocoa surged to near its highest price in 30 years as U.S. trader Cargill complied with demands for an export ban from top producer Ivory Coast by Alassane Ouattara, who aims to stop cash reaching his presidential rival.

Flooding in South Africa has killed more than 100 people over the last month, saturating farms in the major food producer for the continent and leading the government to declare 33 municipalities disaster areas.

Gunmen have killed a soldier guarding a church in northeastern Nigeria, the army said on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks in a region with a history of religious violence.

Nigeria wants U.N. backing for military intervention in Ivory Coast to prevent it slipping into a civil war that could destabilise the West African region, Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia said on Monday.

Steel Dynamics Inc's quarterly profit lagged market estimates for the third time in a row on lower volumes and pricing, but the company sees higher volumes at its steel and metals recycling sectors in 2011 as the U.S. economy improves.

Russia's Domodedovo airport seems to be attracting a steady stream of trouble since last month.

McDonald's Corp forecast higher food costs for 2011 and reported weaker-than-expected December sales at established European and U.S. restaurants as poor weather hurt demand.