Business Highlights

Barclays will raise its offer for ABN Amro to $93.1 billion, with help from two Asian financial partners, in the face of a rival bid led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the British bank said Monday.

Barclays' new offer, about two-thirds in shares and the rest in cash, comes to 35.73 euros ($49.32) per ABN Amro share _ up from its earlier all-share bid worth 33.86 euros ($46.74). The bid still falls below the RBS-led consortium offer of 38.40 euros ($53.01) per share that values ABN at 71.1 billion euros ($97.8 billion).

Either takeover would be the largest in the history of the financial industry.

ABN Amro said it a statement that it had received Barclays' revised offer and "welcomes the opportunity for shareholders to consider two competing proposals on a level playing field."

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NEW YORK (AP) _ Stocks rebounded Monday after a fresh round of buyout news offered evidence that Wall Street's penchant for dealmaking hasn't disappeared.

Better-than-expected profit news from Merck & Co. also boosted the mood on Wall Street, helping it partially recover from a steep sell-off Friday that was triggered by some weak earnings reports and worries about souring subprime loans.

The stock market pushed those concerns aside Monday after Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, and rival GlobalSantaFe Corp. said they agreed to merge. The combined company will have a market value of about $53 billion.

In addition, equipment rental company United Rentals Inc. agreed to be taken private by affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management LP for about $4 billion in cash, while British bank Barclays PLC said it would raise its offer for ABN Amro Holding NV to $93.2 billion to fight a rival bid.

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DETROIT (AP) _ The president of the United Auto Workers said Monday his union is not in the mood to make concessions during contract talks with U.S.-based automakers who say they need cost cuts to stay in business.

The comments came after the traditional handshake between officials from the UAW and General Motors Corp., the nation's No. 1 automaker. The ceremony officially kicked off negotiations between the sides.

At least on the surface, it appears that the union and GM are far apart as they try to ink a new national contract before a Sept. 14 deadline. Ford Motor Co. also will seek concessions. Its talks opened Monday afternoon with a handshake ceremony in Dearborn. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and Chief Executive Alan Mulally exchanged handshakes across a conference room table with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Bob King.

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HOUSTON (AP) _ The world's largest offshore drilling contractor got bigger with Monday's announcement by Transocean that it will combine with GlobalSantaFe, creating a company able to drill globally from shallow to ultra-deep waters.

Analysts largely applauded the coupling and said more combinations could be forthcoming. The shares of both companies rose.

The deal, announced jointly by both Houston-based companies, includes a $15 billion cash payout to shareholders of both the world's largest contractor, Transocean Inc., and GlobalSantaFe Corp. Shareholders of both companies will also get shares in the new company, which will retain the Transocean name and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under Transocean's symbol "RIG."

The value of the new company will be about $53 billion, including debt. The $15 billion for the cash payout to shareholders will be funded through a bridge loan due one year after closing.

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NEW YORK (AP) _ Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said Monday it is cutting prices on more than 16,000 items starting this week in a bid to turn around sales for the critical back-to-school season.

The price cuts, which range from 10 percent to 50 percent, will be backed by a new ad campaign on how to save money as gas prices remain high and kids head back to school. The cuts are deeper and involve even more items than in the year-ago period and top the 11,000 items discounted right before last year's holiday season kicked off, according to Melissa O'Brien, a company spokeswoman.

Wal-Mart has been playing up its low prices since late last year after getting hurt by a focus on trendy merchandise in an effort to get affluent customers to buy more than just groceries.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ The top executives at the nation's two satellite radio companies detailed pricing plans Monday that they said would let customers choose which channels they want to receive if the two firms are permitted to merge.

XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio announced the $4.7 billion merger last February. The combination requires approval from antitrust regulators and the Federal Communications Commission.

The pricing plans announced Monday range from $6.99 per month for 50 channels offered by one service to $16.99 per month where customers would keep their existing service, plus "chose from the best" of channels offered by the other service.

That means a customer could subscribe to both the Major League Baseball channel on XM and the National Football League channel offered by Sirius, on the same radio.

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NEW YORK (AP) _ American Express Co., the nation's third-largest credit card brand, said Monday that record spending had fueled a 12 percent jump in profit.

The New York-based company also boosted the amount of money it has reserved for loan losses, as have many other financial services companies, to brace for an ongoing deterioration in credit quality.

Net income rose to $1.06 billion in the second quarter, or 88 cents per share, from $945 million, or 76 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Income from continuing operations also totaled 88 cents per share in the latest period, up from 78 cents per share a year ago.

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ Merck & Co.'s second-quarter profit jumped 12 percent as revenues from six new medicines and strong growth of key older ones offset losses to generic competition.

The drugmaker on Monday raised its profit forecast, boosting its shares, but took another charge for its massive Vioxx litigation.

Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck earned $1.68 billion, or 77 cents per share, compared with net income of $1.5 billion, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding a $172 million restructuring charge, net income would have been 82 cents a share.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $6.11 billion from $5.77 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 72 cents per share on revenue of $5.77 billion.

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NEW YORK (AP) _ Gas prices dropped below a national average of $3 a gallon over the weekend, while energy futures had their own decline Monday on suggestions that OPEC may increase its output.

Hasan Qabazard, research director of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, told Dow Jones Newswires he thinks oil is fairly valued at $60 to $65 a barrel, leading some to conclude the cartel may be open to reversing its long-held position that oil supplies are adequate.

The resumption of exports at a key Angolan oil facility also weighed on prices.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped 90 cents to settle at $74.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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ATLANTA (AP) _ Radio station owner Cumulus Media Inc. has agreed to a $507.7 million cash buyout offer from a group of investors that includes the company's chief executive.

The investor group is being led by Chief Executive Lewis Dickey, who will remain in that role once the deal closes, and an affiliate of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity.

Under the deal announced Monday, the buyers would pay $11.75 a share, a 40 percent premium over Friday's closing price, for each of the roughly 43.2 million shares of Cumulus stock outstanding.

The buyers would also assume debt that would boost the total value of the transaction to $1.3 billion, the Atlanta-based company said in a statement.

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By The Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 92.34, or 0.67 percent, to 13,943.42, thanks in large part to a 6.75 percent rise in Merck's shares.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.46, or 0.49 percent, to 1,541.56. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index showed more modest gains, rising 2.98, or 0.11 percent, to 2,690.58.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped 90 cents to settle at $74.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude lost 78 cents to settle at $76.86 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Natural gas futures fell sharply on the Nymex, tumbling 40.7 cents to settle at $6.039 per 1,000 cubic feet on growing supplies and mild temperatures, which are keeping demand in check.

August gasoline futures fell 6.05 cents Monday to settle at $2.1041 a gallon on the Nymex.

Meanwhile, Nymex heating oil futures lost 3.61 cents to settle at $2.0561 a gallon.