(Reuters) - The European Central Bank needs to ensure recent oil and commodity price rises do not trigger inflationary problems, the bank's President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Monday, days after signaling a July interest rate hike. Speaking at an event organized by the London School of Economics, Trichet said the recent surge in energy and commodity costs had driven the sharp increase in headline euro zone inflation over the last year.

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(Reuters) - The banks and pension funds with a C$3.7 billion hostile offer for the Toronto Stock Exchange touted their offer directly to shareholders on Monday, denying that it would curb competition and urging shareholders to vote for the made-in-Canada solution. In its formal proposal for the stock market's parent, TMX Group, Maple Group said it was offering C$48 a share in cash for 70 percent of TMX shares, compared with 60 percent in the original proposal nearly a month ago.

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(Reuters) - Washington should streamline permitting for construction projects and make it easier for tourists to visit the United States to help boost hiring and spur the economy, a top adviser to President Barack Obama said. Jeff Immelt, chief executive of General Electric and head of Obama's jobs and competitiveness council, said his panel's "progress report" outlined ways to increase hiring in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and tourism sectors.

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(Reuters) - China's money growth slowed to a 30-month low in May and banks extended fewer new loans than expected as monetary policy weighed on bank lending, but stubborn inflation is expected to persuade the government to keep its foot on the credit brakes. The data reinforces signs that growth in the world's second-biggest economy is cooling, although analysts said taming price pressures was a top priority for Beijing, especially as policymakers see little chance of a sharp slowdown for now.

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(Reuters) - HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) will run down its $33 billion U.S. credit card business if it cannot find a buyer, the bank's chief executive said on Monday, part of efforts to slash costs and cut back on retail banking. CEO Stuart Gulliver said he was upbeat in the medium term on the economy in the United States but that the card business there did not make strategic sense.

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(Reuters) - An Apple Inc store employee has started a drive to unionize retail workers in a rare move at a company known for its near-fanatical following and cutting-edge mystique. Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company's glass-and-steel retail showrooms.

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(Reuters) - Wall Street resumed its slide on Friday, with the Nasdaq turning negative for the year, after China's weaker trade data and disputes about a second Greece bailout hurt already fragile sentiment. Bank stocks ranked among the top decliners. The Federal Reserve said it plans to expand the number of banks it will subject to annual tests used to determine if stock dividends can be increased and whether an institution is holding enough capital.

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(Reuters) - Two former senior Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp executives were sentenced on Friday to several years in prison for their roles in a nearly $3 billion fraud that took down the big lender and a major bank. The fraud ran more than seven years until August 2009 when TBW collapsed after the U.S. housing market imploded, taking Colonial BancGroup Inc's (CBCDQ.PK) Colonial Bank with it and putting hundreds of people at the firm out of work.

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(Reuters) - Import prices rose for an eighth straight month in May despite a drop in fuel costs, with the year-on-year increase reaching its highest level in nearly three years, according to data on Friday. The Labor Department said import prices climbed 0.2 percent last month, confounding forecasts for a 0.7 percent decline and following April's revised 2.1 percent jump. In the year to May, import prices surged 12.5 percent, the largest gain since September 2008.

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(Reuters) - The head of Canadian market operator TMX Group Inc (X.TO) said on Friday that it was full steam ahead for his planned merger with London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) even though a hostile bid could come "any day now." A consortium of banks and pension funds is preparing to take their approximately $3.7 billion offer for TMX straight to its shareholders. The counteroffer from the Maple Group consortium could disrupt TMX's planned friendly merger with LSE, which offered to buy the Toronto Stock Exchange parent for about $3.5 billion.

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