(Reuters) - Top U.S. dairy company Dean Foods Co (DF.N) said it has stepped up efforts to cut expenses and may continue to raise prices as it battles higher commodity costs and weak demand at its fresh dairy products business. Shares of the company were up 15 percent, after it reported a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit, and raised its full-year earnings forecast, helped partly by strong sales of its Horizon Organic branded milk.

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(Reuters) - U.S. wholesale inventories climbed in March as businesses saw a sharp increase in sales, suggesting parts of the economy are growing firmly, according to Commerce Department data released on Tuesday. Inventories rose 1.1 percent in the last month of the first quarter, slightly above economists' forecasts. But sales jumped 2.9 percent, more than double the median projection in a Reuters poll.

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(Reuters) - The trustee in charge of liquidating what's left of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's (LEHMQ.PK) U.S. brokerage told a judge on Monday that Barclays Plc (BARC.L) should return $2.1 billion it received when it bought Lehman's North American arm. An attorney for trustee James Giddens said at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that Barclays should also pay interest, countering arguments that the sum should be offset by liabilities that Barclays inherited in the deal.

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(Reuters) - The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims has sued Safra National Bank of New York to recover $111.7 million derived from investments by "feeder" funds in the Ponzi schemer's former investment firm. Irving Picard, the trustee, said Safra knew or should have known of "numerous irregularities" concerning investments with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, given its background and its own investments in that firm.

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(Reuters) - Stocks edged up on Monday as a bounce back in commodities lifted energy and materials shares. Last week a massive sell-off in materials and oil forced investors out of high-risk assets, pushing stocks to end the week about 1 percent lower, but also leaving room for a further rally. The energy and materials sectors were the best performers on the S&P 500 as the Reuters/Jefferies commodities index .CRB jumped 1.8 percent.

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(Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) shares face the typical uphill battle of a stock that just reverse-split its shares, a move that can be fruitful years down the road but that can be tough going at the start. The third-largest U.S. bank by assets saw its shares fall 2.4 percent to $44.11 on Monday. The reverse split has the stock in double-digits for the first time since November 2008, but the gambit has a mixed track record.

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(Reuters) - LinkedIn Corp, the social site for business professionals, is hoping to cash in with investors eager to gobble up shares in sites such as Facebook, with a public debut valuing the company at more than $3 billion. LinkedIn, which attracts professionals and job seekers with 100 million worldwide members, said on Monday it would offer 7.84 million shares priced between $32 and $35 apiece. It is generating significant interest as one of the first social networking companies to start the process of being publicly traded -- ahead of the much-anticipated Facebook IPO.

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(Reuters) - Shares in bailed-out insurer American International Group (AIG.N) fell to their lowest levels in nearly eight months on Monday, potentially moving them into loss-making territory for the U.S. Treasury. The Treasury holds 92.11 percent of AIG and has a break-even point of about $28.72 per share on the stock. AIG shares fell 3.7 percent to $29.57 in morning trade. Assuming the government were to sell the stock at a 3 percent discount to its closing price -- as researchers say the Treasury did with its shares in Citigroup (C.N) -- it would lose money on the sale.

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(Reuters) - The European Union is looking to lower interest rates on bailout loans to Greece and Ireland and working on a second rescue for Athens in a chaotic effort to prevent a disorderly debt restructuring. But ratings agency Standard & Poor's suggested on Monday far more radical measures would be required to make Greece's 327 billion euros ($470.3 billion) debt mountain sustainable, saying Athens may have to reduce the principal by 50 percent or more, implying big losses for investors.

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(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) posted a better-than-expected 6 percent rise in April sales at established restaurants, helped by menu price increases that helped offset higher costs for beef and other ingredients. Shares in the world's biggest hamburger chain rose almost 1 percent in early trading on Monday, after it reported that April sales at restaurants open at least 13 months were up 4 percent in the United States.

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