* BoA Shares drop 24% as investors focus on rising credit costs and dismiss almost tripling of its first-quarter profits due to special gains.
* Business software maker Oracle Corp. said Monday it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy server builder Sun Microsystems in a deal worth $7.4 billion.
* President orders Cabinet chiefs to slash $100 million from their budgets, saying the cuts would "start setting a tone" in Washington.
* Reserve Bank of Australia sees economic outlook as weaker than previously thought, according to minutes from its last meeting.
* Japanese auto giant Toyota's production level set to fall below the key 3 million level for the first time since 1978.
* Spain’s Falling Prices Fuel Deflation Fears in Europe .Economists fear that the country may be in the early grips of deflation, which can result in a downward spiral that is difficult to reverse.
* Anand Mahindra and Vineet Nayyar made it clear that tough decisions will have to be taken to bring Satyam back to sound financial health.
* The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has painted a rather pessimistic outlook for FY10, though it’s anybody’s guess what stance the centralbank will take on Tuesday, when it announces its monetary policy statement for FY10. The RBI’s professional forecasters’ study points to a further slowdown while its business optimism survey also indicates that India Inc is not too positive about the near term.
* Oil prices slid more than 8% to around $46 a barrel on Monday, depressed by a rising US dollar and growing caution about the pace of any economic recovery and its impact on oil demand.
