Stocks on Wall Street rebounded to recover all of last Friday’s 100-drop on the blue chip index, pushing the market to a 15-month high.

Healthcare shares reacted positively to indications new legislation may fail after an upset Republican win in the Massachussetts senatorial by-election to choose a successor to the late Edward Kennedy.

European sharemarkets started the week's trading in a bullish mood, with a jump in mergers and acquisitions activity boosting exchanges.

In North America, the Canadian sharemarket rose, reversing a two-day slide.

This is in contrast to Australasian markets, which closed lower yesterday after the Dow’s 100-point drop on Friday. (Wall Street is closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.)

Europe’s largest food company, Nestlé, is no longer ignoring the predators surrounding chocolate and confectionery giant Cadbury and is ready to enter the fray, reports from Switzerland say.

In new developments to the Cadbury saga:

• Nestlé is weighing options about whether to mount a counter bid for Cadbury to those of Kraft Foods and potential ones from Hershey and Ferrero

• Insiders say Nestlé may decide not go ahead and the company itself is not commenting

[UPDATE: And the winner is Cheesybite]

Kraft Foods is hoping Australians and New Zealanders will be happy as vegemite with its new snack product name - to be announced today.

The company launched the Vegemite iSnack2.0 product after asking 48,000 consumers for suggestions, but the public did not like the chosen name, according to sales director Darren O'Brien.

"People were very vocal in their dislike."

A popular brand of Australian cheese owned by Dairy Farmers is facing scrutiny over its name: Coon, reports Food Industry Weekly.

A Queensland academic who helped bring attention to the fact a grandstand at the Toowoomba sports ground was going to be named E.S. ‘Nigger’ Brown (subsequently re-named ...), has focused his attention on Coon.

Stephen Hagan says he is not convinced the brand (originally a Kraft subsidiary) isn’t named for the racial slur.