Local San Diego News From Around The County

THE DEALS: Shops nationwide are pulling in new customers with group coupons. Sites such as Groupon.com, livingsocial.com offer deals such as half-price restaurant gift certificates or spa services.

Oil prices rose above $79 a barrel on Monday as a global stock market rally gave crude traders optimism.

Geely Holding Group completed its acquisition of Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit Monday in a $1.5 billion deal that gives the small-but-ambitious Chinese automaker a global brand and huge management challenges.

Local shops nationwide are pulling in thousands of new customers with group coupons online, but the deals can sometimes work too well, turning marketing into a game of retail roulette.

The new health overhaul law will start producing savings for Medicare right away, and over time add 12 years of solvency to the program's giant trust fund for inpatient care, the Obama administration says in a report to be released Monday.

After easing for four months, the nation's economic stress worsened in June because more bankruptcies in the West and foreclosures outside the Sun Belt outweighed lower unemployment, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of conditions around the country.

Auto sales growth in China, the world's biggest market, weakened further in July, data showed Monday.

Second-quarter earnings at German retail group Metro AG fell 15 percent even as the football World Cup helped sales of TVs at the Media Markt and Saturn chains and boosted revenue, the company said Monday.

Stocks are set to kick off the new month with a big gain Monday, after strong economic and earnings reports overseas added to hopes a global recovery is picking up pace.

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone operator, said Monday it will spend $111.6 million to acquire the rest of PacketVideo Corp., a mobile technology company.

Casino operator MGM Resorts International reports before the market opens Tuesday on its results for the second quarter, when the company changed its name and began shifting its strategy.

Internet company AOL Inc. is scheduled to report its second-quarter results before the market opens on Wednesday.

Here are the 20 most economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their June 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:

After easing for four months, the nation's economic stress worsened in June because more bankruptcies in the West and foreclosures outside the Sun Belt outweighed lower unemployment, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of conditions around the country.

Health insurer Humana Inc. said Monday its second-quarter net income rose 21 percent on a boost in revenue from premiums and service fees.

European stock markets rose Monday after another round of positive economic data, strong earnings from some of the region's biggest banks and expectations of a big rise on Wall Street at the open.

British bank HSBC Holdings PLC said Monday that its first-half net profit more than doubled to $6.76 billion as provisions for bad loans in the U.S. fell by nearly half.

Local shops nationwide are pulling in thousands of new customers with group coupons online, but the deals can sometimes work too well, turning marketing into a game of retail roulette.

Oil prices rose above $79 a barrel in Asia on Monday as a global stock market rally gave crude traders optimism.

BNP Paribas SA said Monday its net profit soared 31 percent in the second quarter as steep retail banking gains in France and the Benelux region offset declines in its investment banking operations.