Monday Business Edition

But Ken Feinberg told reporters that he has not yet decided whether the no-sue requirement will extend to other companies that may be responsible for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

He insisted that payouts from the claims facility he will run will be more generous than those from any court. Feinberg also ran the government compensation fund created after the 9/11 attacks, and there was a similar no-sue provision.

Before Hurricane Katrina, some 200 people came each day to visit the house – the only structure on the oak-shaded Beauvoir estate not destroyed by the storm. And that’s just what’s needed to break even. Tourism has dropped off 20 percent here, with just a few visitors on some days since BP PLC’s well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico.

The story here is mirrored across the Gulf Coast. Beaches have been cleaned of crude, the leak has been plugged and some cities never had oil wash ashore at all. Still, tourists stay away from what they fear are oil-coated coastlines – a perception officials say could take years to overcome and cost the region billions of dollars.

The announcement comes amid a recent flurry of merger and acquisitions activity that has helped spur the British stock market higher during the normally quiet month of August.

“HSBC Holdings plc has entered into exclusive discussions with Old Mutual plc about the possible acquisition of a majority stake in Nedbank Group Limited, South Africa’s fourth largest banking group by total assets,” Europe’s biggest bank said in a brief statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s automotive and farm sector, said the merger would help both companies expand in the global market.

“We believe that Ssangyong and Mahindra make powerful companies to create a global SUV brand,” he told reporters after the Indian company signed a preliminary agreement to buy a controlling stake in Ssangyong.

Protestors have come out in force against a seven-billion-euro (nine-billion-dollar) grand plan to turn Stuttgart and the surrounding region into a 21st-century continental rail hub.

The nine-year project aims to make the southwestern city part of one of the continent’s longest high-speed lines, the 1,500-kilometre (930-mile) “Magistrale for Europe” linking Paris, Strasbourg, Vienna and Bratislava.

Sentiment could be further dampened the coming week with the government expected to significantly revise lower the economic growth chalked up in the second quarter period.

Shares were especially pulled down by government data Thursday showing new weekly jobless benefit claims jumping to the highest level in nine months, and slower regional manufacturing activity.

Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 index ended the day flat at 4,429.0 following an early plunge, while the Australian dollar recovered after hitting a low of 0.8842 US dollars from 0.8940 late Friday. It was at 0.8916 in the afternoon.

“No one is willing to do too much either way until it settles down,” Adrian Leppinus, client adviser with Cameron Securities, told AAP, after Prime Minister Julia Gillard failed to score an outright win in Saturday’s election.

In late London trade, the euro fell to 1.2687 dollars from 1.2821 dollars in New York late Thursday. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to 85.63 yen from 85.38 yen on Thursday.

The dollar won back ground after falling against most leading currencies on Thursday as grim economic data dampened hopes for the US recovery.

Ministers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam adopted the plan which they called “a significant first step toward the development of an integrated… railway system”.

The six nations’ national railway systems do not link up except for a line that connects China and Vietnam, and Laos has no rail network at all.

Long-running interest in the Australian brewer’s beer business, know as Carlton & United Breweries, resurfaced on Monday after newspaper reports said SABMiller was considering buying Australia’s biggest brewer.

Foster’s said in May it would split the beer unit from its ailing wine business, putting its valuable beer operations with brands including Foster’s Lager, Victoria Bitter and Pure Blonde at the center of takeover talk in the brewing world.

HSBC and Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual, which owns a controlling stake in Nedbank, said in separate statements on Monday they were in exclusive talks about the deal.

Old Mutual said HSBC could purchase up to 70 percent of South Africa’s fourth-largest bank, an acquisition that could be worth about 49.9 billion rand ($6.8 billion), given Nedbank’s current market value.

Sluggish sales in the past few months and high inventory have seen several dealers in Beijing and other areas pulling out of BYD’s sales network, a setback for the high-flying carmaker, the China Business News reported on Monday.

BYD joins the ranks of its rivals in terms of expectations for a slowdown in the second half, largely as the result of Beijing applying the brakes to the economy’s breakneck expansion in 2009.

Mining shares gained as financial markets bet Australia’s inconclusive weekend elections would lead to a change of government which would spell the end to a plan to impose tax on major iron ore and coal mines.

A Markit survey showed the euro zone’s economic recovery moderated slightly this month but companies are more optimistic about the coming months. HSBC (HSBA.L)’s plan to buy stakes in South Africa’s Nedbank (NEDJ.J) in a potential $6.8 billion deal also brightened investor sentiment.

The S&P 500 suffered losses last week and is in danger of falling further due to worries about economic data.

“The market is moving into a defensive posture coming into next week,” said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

Appearing on morning news shows, Margaret Hamburg urged passage of legislation pending in Congress that would give her agency significantly more authority to intervene in the area of food safety.

Hamburg also said the FDA wants to shift its focus to “a preventive approach” to identify problems in the food supply before they cause disease outbreaks.

Australian shares traded flat despite an uncertain general election result, as mining companies rallied on hopes that a government tax proposal will be ditched.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 26.05 points, or 0.5 percent, at 5,221.33 while Germany’s DAX rose 19.79 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,024.95. The CAC-40 in France was 23.18 points, or 0.7 percent, higher at 3,549.74.

There are no major economic reports due out Monday that could sway trading. So while investors are set to buy stocks, they are buying Treasury bonds as well. That has sent interest rates slightly lower.

European markets rose, which could be providing a lift to U.S. markets. They are getting a lift from a fresh round of merger and acquisition activity. HSBC Holdings PLC is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Nedbank Group Ltd. of South Africa from Old Mutual PLC for as much as $6.8 billion. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. formally rejected BHP Billiton’s offer to acquire the fertilizer company.

They argue the program needs changes, and as proof they point to the situation in Arkansas, where Sen. Blanche Lincoln has for months struggled to secure a special $1.5 billion package of disaster aid for Southern farmers hit by bad weather last year. After Lincoln failed to get the funding through Congress, the Obama administration agreed to provide the money administratively.

Southern farmers said they need the help because they didn’t buy crop insurance, a requirement to qualify for the permanent disaster aid plan. Crop insurance sign-up is high among Midwest corn, soybean and wheat farmers, but in the South, many rice and cotton farmers complain premiums are too high for the benefits they receive.

Bad economic news sent investors out of stocks and into U.S. Treasurys this past week, extending a rally that has defied some of Wall Street’s best minds, and, some say, logic. Treasury bonds maturing in 20 years or more have returned 2.1 percent so far this year. By contrast, stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average have lost 2 percent.

The question now: Is it too late to jump into the great government bond bonanza?