Crude oil prices in the US tumbled to five-month low and stocks rallied on early Tuesday as Hurricane Gustav spared the oil rigs along the Gulf of Mexico. However at the end of the trading session, stocks slipped down amid concerns that OPEC was headed for a cut in production at its meeting next week.

The first trading day of this month saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallying almost 250 points but it eventually lost 26.3 points or 0.2% to settle at 11,516.92.

The stock market’s initial rally was stimulated by a sharp fall in crude oil futures for October delivery which dropped by $5.75 to close at $109.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was the result of Hurricane Gustav passing over the Gulf of Mexico without causing much damage to the oil installations as had been initially feared.

However the stock rally eventually fizzled out as the energy sector pulled down the overall market amid speculations that OPEC was planning to restrict oil production at its upcoming meet on September 9. Some of the sectors which declined on the S&P included energy, materials and utilities while the gains were led by the consumer discretionary sector.

Commerzbank, the number two bank in Germany, is set to acquire Dresdner Bank for $14.4 billion from insurer Allianz. The deal will create new configurations in the financial landscape of Germany which is Europe’s largest banking market.

Dresdner is one of the oldest banks of Germany and under the deal, Commerzbank will initially acquire 60.2% stake in the former and buy the rest at the end of next year. Allianz however will be the largest shareholder in the combined bank with a stake of almost 30%.

The acquisition of Dresdner Bank will give Commerzbank a large client network, mainly comprising of upwardly mobile, urban customers. According to an estimate, the customer base of the combined banks will reach around 11 million and will have a total network of 1200 branches. This will make Commerzbank the biggest bank in Germany in terms of number of customers and will enable it to compete with Deutsche Bank which remains the national leader in terms of assets.

After merging, Commerzbank and Dresdner would together command assets worth $1.6 trillion and have an employee strength of 67,000. However Deutsche Bank leads by far with assets of $2.9 trillion while more than 80,000 employees work for the bank.

Tivat, a run down port in Montenegro, has caught the attention of prominent global investors who are keen to turn the former Yugoslav naval base into a playground of the rich and famous.

Tivat is being hailed as the new Monaco of the Balkans. The reason behind this is that a group of British investors, headed by famous British financier Rothschild, is interested in developing the port at Tivat into a dockyard for luxury yachts which cruise the Mediterranean Sea. This is especially true of the new Russian billionaires for whom owning an oversized yacht is a status symbol. The increase in the number of yachts has led to greater demand for docking space at already overcrowded ports.

The idea was first mooted by the 80 year-old Canadian billionaire, Peter Munk who heads the giant mining company, Barrick Gold. Munk initiated plans for turning the old port of Tivat into a magnet for the ultra-rich yacht owners. The project is estimated to cost around 200 million sterling pounds and after completion, the new dockyard will be christened Porto Montenegro.

However, Tivat is plagued by a host of infrastructural problems. Most of its roads are in need of repair while the power and water supply are erratic. Despite these problems, investors are willing to take a chance for says Munk even Monaco was once as backward as Montenegro whereas now it enjoys a per capita income of 2000 sterling pounds.

Forbes fifth annual ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world sees German Chancellor Angela Merkel top the list for the third successive year. Merkel is followed by Sheila Blair, the head of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and in the third place ranks Indra Nooyi, CEO of the global giant, PepsiCo.

Forbes’ list evaluates power as a composite of public profile and financial muscle. While state leaders control the nation’s gross domestic product, the head of a company is in command of the revenues of her business. At the fourth place in the list is Angela Braly who continues to hold the reins of Wellpoint in spite of major health insurer suffering a setback this year. At number five is Cynthia Caroll who is leading the mining giant Anglo-American towards a commodities boom.

While Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women in the world reveals the gains made by individual female leaders all over the world, women as a group however, seem to be making only modest progress. For the past ten years, women have formed around 46% of the American labor force but only 15%of the top corporate jobs are held by women. Research undertaken by the nonprofit organization Catalyst further shows that less than 3% of the biggest companies in the US have women as chief executives.

The Hummer has caught the attention of Gulf Arab investors who appear to be keen on buying the SUV brand from General Motors Corp.

Following the precedents of luxury brands like Aston Martin, Daimler and Ferrari, Hummer too has evoked interest from at least two Gulf investors, revealed Terry Martin, the MD of GM Middle Eastern division. GM has since been readying the sales documents of its Hummer brand and hopes the expressions of interest will translate into formal sales negotiations.

Detroit-based General Motors Corp intends to raise around $4 billion in asset sales through 2009. this is one of the ways in which the auto maker plans to overcome the massive losses it incurred after record-high fuel prices led to falling demand for trucks and SUVs in the United States.

The Hummer SUV is modeled on the US military vehicles which were widely used in the 1991 Gulf war. Shooting gasoline prices and environmental concerns have led t oa 18% fall in US demand for Hummer. However it is one of the most popular auto brands in the Middle Eastern Gulf where fuel prices are comparatively low and the brand enjoys a high value as a status symbol. Since the Gulf has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of Hummer, GM Corp is keen to negotiate with Arab investors if offered a suitable deal.