World stocks kicked off the week in buoyant form on Monday and the dollar dipped against major currencies as investors recovered from some disappointing U.S. company earnings reports. Wall Street looked set to open higher ahead of quarterly reports later on the day from Texas Instruments and Apple. Oil hit a 12-month high above $79

Gains in miners and energy firms pushed Britain's top shares 1.3 percent higher by midday on Monday, underpinned by firmer commodity prices, while investors awaited corporate earnings from the United States for further direction. At 1049 GMT, the benchmark FTSE 100 rose 65.36 points at 5,255.60 reversing losses from Friday when the index closed back

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a rebound on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.46 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.26 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.52 percent at 3.30 a.m. EDT. Oil prices steadied after hitting a fresh 12-month high above $79 a barrel on Monday, while

Google Inc said more than 2 million businesses now use its online office software, and the Web search leader is going global on Monday with an advertising campaign to lure customers away from Microsoft Corp and IBM products. The campaign, which starts Monday in countries including France, Japan and Britain, represents a rare foray by

Apple Inc is once again expected to top Wall Street's estimates when it unveils quarterly earnings next week, but it may have to beat by a lot to drive an already lofty share price higher. The maker of the Mac, iPhone and iPod is on a roll: CEO Steve Jobs is back at the helm,

Microsoft Corp's first store looks ready to open in an upscale Phoenix valley city in the next few days, as the software maker takes its first step in trying to match rival Apple Inc's successful venture into retail. Expectations are running high that its first store, in the Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale, Arizona, will

Britain's banks should consider their wider responsibility to society and "soft" government guarantees that have helped to support them before deciding on bonus payouts later this year, the financial regulator said on Monday. As bonuses for bankers look set to jump in 2009, the comments were seen as a warning shot to Barclays and HSBC,

Britain's top share index gained 1.1 percent early on Monday, driven by strength in commodity stocks and banks as optimism about the third quarter earnings season and outlook for the global economy boosted equities. By 0813 GMT the FTSE 100 was 55.84 points higher at 5,246.08 after falling 0.6 percent on Friday. Energy stocks were

World stocks kicked off the week on a positive note on Monday and the dollar dipped against major currencies as investors recovered from recent disappointing U.S. company earnings reports. Oil was at a 12-month high around $79 a barrel. MSCI's benchmark all-country world stock index was up half a percent, not far from last week's