AT&T Inc is set to begin featuring Yahoo Inc search services on the Internet menu of mobile handsets used by its base of up to 70 mln U.S. customers, the companies said on Monday. AT&T plans to offer, through its mobile Internet portal, a collection of Yahoo's oneSearch mobile Web services including links to news,

IBM is making a major push on Monday to upgrade computer storage products and services it offers customers struggling to manage mountainous piles of data being created inside their organizations. The company is announcing more then 30 new or upgraded products or services that are the result of a $2 bln investment over the last

Universal Pictures has agreed to back rollout of digital cinema equipment in U.S. theaters, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. General Electric Co's Universal Pictures' is the third of six studios engaged in year-long talks with the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners — formed by Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc and

The U.S. Treasury's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is good news in the short term for China, the biggest holder of the giant mortgage lenders' debt, but Beijing's huge U.S. exposure still poses a serious risk, a prominent government researcher said on Monday. China owned $376 bln of debt issued by U.S. government

Cigarette maker Altria Group Inc has agreed to buy Skoal and Copenhagen smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc for about $10.3 bln in cash, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. Altria will pay $70 per share, the Journal said. The proposal offers a 4% premium over UST's closing price of $67.55

Asian stocks surged 4% on Monday after Washington took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to salvage the U.S. housing market, spurring investors to buy back risky assets and sell safe havens such as government bonds. European stock markets were expected to open sharply higher, with financial bookmakers expecting Britain's FTSE 100 up 3.4%, Germany's

Nationwide, the UK's biggest customer-owned lender, said on Monday it was to merge with smaller rivals the Derbyshire and Cheshire Building Societies. Nationwide, the country's second-biggest provider of mortgages, said the tie-ups would create a mutually owned group with assets of 191 bln pounds ($335.9 bln) and 122 bln in retail deposits. The mergers will

Bank of America Corp, said it is ready to settle federal and state probes into the marketing of auction-rate securities, joining eight other companies that reached agreements. The bank said it has been in talks for nearly a month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and regulators in New York and Massachusetts on a

Stocks opened lower on Friday after a government report showed the U.S. labor market deteriorated further in August, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest level in nearly five years. The news of the unemployment rate climbing to 6.1% last month from 5.7% in July painted a bleak picture for the economy and the outlook