March 7 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA is to take a controlling stake in Bulgari SpA , a person familiar with the matter said Sunday, underscoring the French group's acquisitive streak as the luxury market rebounds.
* Airlines are digging around for ways to pile on more fees. In recent years, airlines from AMR Corp's American Airlines to Spirit Airlines Inc found new ways to boost profits-and annoy fliers-by charging fees for checked bags, selecting a choice seat or other services once included in ticket prices.
* Hedge-fund giant Raj Rajaratnam made many successful gambles while amassing a net worth exceeding ${esc.dollar}1 billion. Few of those likely were as risky as his plan to take the stand in his own defense at the insider-trading trial set to start this week.
* An oil-rich underground layer of rock, called the Utica Shale, has sparked a leasing frenzy and the prospect of a new flow of cash and jobs to a development-starved corner of the Rust Belt. Chesapeake Energy Corp and other oil companies have swarmed this northeast Ohio hamlet and others nearby, buying mineral-rights leases to drill into what the company and some analysts say might be one of the United States' last big unconventional oil fields yet to be developed on a commercial scale.
* Character is making a comeback at your local bank. As bankers across the U.S. worry less about loans that went bad and more about how to make new loans, some financial institutions are digging much deeper than a potential borrower's credit score or business plan.
* Hiring has yet to hit a rapid clip, but it's not for lack of job openings. Since December, the economy has added about 130,000 jobs a month, barely more than what is needed to keep up with population growth, according to the U.S. Labor Department. (Compiled by Isheeta Sanghi; Bangalore Equities Newsdesk +91 80; 4135 5800; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780)
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