INVESTMENT

Barclays Plc fell short of expectations with an 8 percent rise in half-year profit as bad debts at Britain's second biggest bank almost doubled to offset buoyant earnings from its enlarged investment bank.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, said its first-half profit halved from a year ago to $5 billion as it was hit by rising bad debts in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, tracking gains in Asia and Europe on mounting hopes that the global recession is abating.

World stocks climbed to a new 2009 high on Monday with banking news from Europe generally positive and signs of a pick up in Chinese economic activity lifting Asian shares.

Shares in UBS are expected to rise on Monday after reports the bank would not have to pay a fine as part of the settlement of a tax dispute with the United States that is to be finalized later this week.

Asian stocks crawled up to an 11-month high on Monday as Chinese shares cheered more signs of economic activity picking up speed, giving a boost to oil and copper prices while hurting the safe-haven U.S. dollar.

Japan's Nikkei average inched down 0.1 percent on Monday, with investors cautious ahead of more corporate earnings reports, but banks rose after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group posted its first profit in three quarters.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs' reputation among both the general public and financially sophisticated Americans has been damaged by the events of the past year, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing research conducted for the paper.

Andrew Hall, the trader behind Phibro LLC, the energy trading arm of beleaguered bank Citigroup , is quietly pushing for a quiet divorce from his parent company and has had preliminary talks with one possible suitor, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

'Clunkers' Hope, Housing's Double Dip? Stocks Watch

Switzerland's UBS will not have to pay a fine as part of the settlement of a tax evasion dispute with the United States, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday.

HSBC's Bill Maldonado is a man who loves to mix science with art -- be that in running Halbis's hedge fund business, riding his high-power Ducati motorbike on a race track or piloting a light aircraft.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is preparing for an initial public offering for discount retailer Dollar General, a source said, and others are speculated to follow as it looks to take advantage of a recent rise in equity markets.

Las Vegas Sands, the world's largest casino firm, is seeking $400 million in short-term funding to help boost cash and restart construction of its stalled resort in Macau, local media reported on Saturday.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is preparing for an initial public offering for discount retailer Dollar General, a source said, and others are speculated to follow as it looks to take advantage of a recent rise in equity markets.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is preparing up to six companies for initial public offerings in the next year, the Financial Times reported in its Saturday edition.

The pension deficit of Britain's biggest 200 companies could leap to an unprecedented 110 billion pounds ($182 billion) in the next few months, consultant Aon said on Saturday.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is preparing up to six companies for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the next year, the Financial Times reported in its Saturday edition.

UBS AG's Chief Executive Oswald Grubel wants to run the Swiss bank's U.S. brokerage unit for at least three years and sell it later at some point, CNBC said on Friday.

In landing the first big mandate from Sanofi since the French drugmaker switched chief executives, U.S. boutique Evercore Partners gets some $13 million of fees and a league-table boost.

CDC Software Corp is hoping to ride the wave of well-received Chinese public stock offerings in the United States, but its estimated $57.6 million IPO could be hurt by weakness in the market for corporate software.