(Reuters) - BlackRock (BLK.N) will use profits it is making in gold and bond markets to seek out bargains in falling global equity markets, James Holt, investment strategist at the world's largest money manager, said on Tuesday. "Gold and bonds are doing really, really well and we're making profits on them and putting these into the asset classes that are getting cheaper and cheaper, which are definitely equities," Sydney-based Holt said in an interview.

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(Reuters) - China's industrial output grew at a slower pace in July while inflation unexpectedly quickened, putting the central bank in a bind as it tries to keep prices in check without dragging down an economy facing increasing threats from abroad. Industrial production rose 14 percent from a year earlier, a strong showing but shy of the 14.6 percent rate that economists polled by Reuters had predicted and slower than June's 15.1 percent jump.

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(Reuters) - Stocks tumbled on Monday, tracking a sharp drop in global equity markets after rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the top-tier AAA credit rating of the United States, rattling already-jittery investors. The technology heavy Nasdaq fell more than 3 percent at the open. Market sectors most sensitive to the economy, such as the banking and natural-resource sectors, took the brunt of selling. United States Steel Corp fell 6.2 percent to $31.18, while Citigroup Inc dropped 5 percent to $31.83.

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(Reuters) - The European Central Bank intervened dramatically in bond markets on Monday, backing up a verbal pledge to support Spain and Italy with action in an attempt to avert a financial meltdown in the euro zone. Significant ECB bond-buying -- the only practical result of a weekend of frantic G7 and G20 crisis diplomacy -- forced down Italian and Spanish borrowing costs in an initial reaction.

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(Reuters) - Oil fell more than $4 a barrel on Monday as worries over economic growth spread after Standard & Poor's cut the United States' top-tier credit rating and European central banks struggled to contain a deepening debt crisis. Fear gripped financial markets as the fallout from the historic downgrade of the U.S. debt rating by S&P drowned out pledges of assistance from Europe's central bank and soothing words from the Group of Seven.

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(Reuters) - The insurer AIG is suing Bank of America Corp to recover more than $10 billion of losses from a "massive fraud" on mortgage debt, deepening the morass of litigation faced by the largest U.S. bank. American International Group Inc, still largely owned by taxpayers after $182.3 billion of government bailouts, is the latest of a growing number of investors filing lawsuits to hold banks responsible for losses on soured mortgages that contributed to the financial crisis.

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(Reuters) - Auto safety regulators have opened preliminary investigations into new Ford Motor Co Mustangs with manual transmissions for possible shifting problems and diesel Volkswagen Jetta sedans for possible fuel leaks. Spokesmen for both automakers said they were not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issues and were cooperating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its preliminary evaluations.

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(Reuters) - Shares in reinsurer Transatlantic Holdings rose more than 8 percent on Monday despite broad and deep market declines, after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway made an unsolicited offer over the weekend to buy the company. Transatlantic shares rose to $48.92 in morning trading, far outstripping a 1.1 percent decline in S&P insurance shares. The company now has three suitors -- Berkshire, its agreed buyer Allied World and hostile candidate Validus. Transatlantic and Allied reached a deal in mid-June, which Validus attempted to trump in July with an offer it has now taken to shareholders.

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(Reuters) - Shares of Verizon Communications were down 2.1 percent in early trading on Monday, a day after nearly half of its wireline business employees went on strike. The shares were faring slightly better than the broader market, with the baseline S&P 500 index down 2.2 percent. The roughly 45,000 workers on strike are part of Verizon's U.S. Northeast wireline unit, which provides traditional phone services as well as high-speed Internet and FiOS television services.

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(Reuters) - Britain and several euro zone countries are likely to have their credit ratings cut in coming months as debt problems worsen, and Western policymakers are bound to embark on more quantitative easing to get their economies moving, American investor Jim Rogers said on Monday. He also said Standard & Poor's acted too slowly in stripping the United States of its AAA rating on Friday, and that he remained bullish on commodities as investors turn to real assets amid fears of further quantitative easing by the U.S. and European central banks.

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