UNITED STATES

JPMorgan Chase & Co will buy the non-U.S. assets of commodities joint venture RBS Sempra from Royal Bank of Scotland and Sempra Energy for $1.7 billion cash, roughly doubling its commodities client base.

U.S. stocks rallied on Monday on gains in the financial and energy sectors, despite the lack of a detailed plan for a Greece bailout from European finance ministers.

Stocks gained on Tuesday as corporate earnings and a solid jump in manufacturing data fueled investors' optimism on their return from a 3-day holiday.

Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc reported a much wider-than-expected quarterly loss, as its U.S. unit continued to post disappointing results, sending its shares down 5 percent before the bell.

Swiss specialty chemicals companies Clariant and Givaudan hinted at a prolonged recovery process for an industry hit hard by the downturn in key markets like the car and building sectors.

Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain said it would pocket around half of the proceeds from its planned $10.7 billion sale of African assets to Bharti Airtel and use the rest to pay off debt, sending its shares soaring.

Capital One Financial Corp's U.S. credit-card defaults rose in January, in a sign that consumers continue to remain under stress, it said in a regulatory filing.

Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc reported a wider quarterly loss, as its U.S. unit continued to post disappointing results.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday talks were still going on over a proposed nuclear fuel swap and any country which tried to impose new sanctions on Iran would regret its actions.

General Motors Co's growing output of vehicles capable of running on ethanol-gasoline blends won't help cut polluting emissions or U.S. dependence on foreign oil until a slim network of stations dispensing ethanol is greatly expanded, GM Vice Chairman Tom Stevens said.

Wall Street was set for a higher open on Tuesday as corporate earnings and a solid jump in manufacturing data fueled investors' optimism on their return from a 3-day holiday.

Fatalities alleged by consumers to the government related to unintended acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp vehicles have reached 34, with a recent jump in complaints accounting for more than a third of the total.

Hyundai Motor Co aims to increase its share of the U.S. market to 4.5 percent this year from 4.2 percent in 2009.

U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co's India unit said on Tuesday it would launch its compact car in March and was expanding its dealership in the fast-growing market.

Toyota Motor Corp has decided to cancel production at two U.S. plants for a total of two weeks in anticipation of a drop in sales in the wake of its massive recalls, Japan's Chunichi Shimbun reported on Tuesday.

Many Iraqis released by U.S. forces after being detained for suspected links to Sunni insurgents have been killed by tribes seeking revenge or are being driven back into the arms of al Qaeda.

But 90 percent of the most vulnerable people remain unvaccinated, with only about 61 million Americans having received shots, the CDC said.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rise 0.4 to 0.6 percent, pointing to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday, pointing to a higher opening, as corporate earnings fueled investors' optimism on their return from a 3-day holiday.

European shares gained on Tuesday after UK bank Barclays beat profit forecasts, and the euro rose against the dollar as European finance ministers put more pressure on Greece to resolve its fiscal problems.

Barclays Plc said it had started the year well after beating expectations with 2009 profits of over 11.6 billion pounds ($18.18 billion), on the back of a strong performance at its investment banking unit.