UNITED STATES

Citigroup Inc may have to raise more capital after preliminary results of its stress test from U.S. regulators, people familiar with the matter said, and Bank of America Corp may need billions more, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Asian stocks dropped for a second day on Tuesday and Japanese shares hit a one-month low, with investors fretting about the potential economic fallout if the swine virus outbreak becomes a full-fledged pandemic and the results of U.S. bank stress tests.

Citigroup is asking the U.S. Treasury for permission to pay out bonuses to some employees, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is the largest U.S. public pension fund, announced on Tuesday that it will vote against the re-election of the entire Bank of America board of Directors, including Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Ken Lewis.

The wind energy industry installed 2,836 megawatts of new generating capacity from January to March 2009, double the amount of the same period a year ago, said the American Wind Energy Association on Tuesday.

E*Trade Financial Corp, a U.S. retail brokerage, said it is facing regulatory pressure to boost capital as it posted its seventh straight quarterly loss, and its shares fell 25 percent in after-hours trade.

The U.S. Justice Department is making inquiries about a class action deal that Google Inc struck giving it the right to digitize and sell entire libraries, two experts on digitization told Reuters on Tuesday.

A group of authors who are considering whether to opt out of a settlement with Google Inc that gives it the right to distribute books online were granted a delay by a federal judge on Tuesday.

The U.S. Treasury has reached a tentative deal with banks representing most of Chrysler LLC's first-lien debt but the agreement needs approval from more than 40 other lenders holding the automaker's debt, people familiar with the talks said on Tuesday.

Airline shares around the world largely took another hit on Tuesday on fears of steep falls in business and leisure traffic because of the swine flu outbreak.

A group of authors who are considering whether to opt out of a settlement with Google Inc that gives it the right to distribute books online were granted a delay by a federal judge on Tuesday.

E*Trade Financial Corp said on Tuesday its loss in the first quarter deepened missing Wall Streets expectations and that it would have to raise new capital. Its were down 23 percent in after-hours trade.

Wells Fargo's CEO is feeling optimistic about the economy and believes the recession is near the end.

The number of confirmed Swine Flu cases in the U.S. has risen to 64 leading the government to declare a state of emergency; doctors fear this may cause a pandemic as the number of infected continues to rise.

The U.S. swine flu caseload rose to 65 in six states on Tuesday as lawmakers launched emergency hearings to evaluate the government's response to what doctors warn could become a pandemic.

New swine flu infections were found around the world on Tuesday and the specter of a pandemic began to hit the travel industry as governments warned people to stay away from Mexico where 149 people have died.

Google rolled out a new search tool on Tuesday that is designed to help Web users more easily find public data that is often hidden in hard-to-navigate government Web sites.

Another hole in Adobe Reader that could allow attackers to remotely execute malicious code on end-users' machines was discovered on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as fresh worries that major banks may need to raise more money offset more reassuring economic data that suggested the worst may be over and a big dividend boost from IBM.

Companies began restricting employee travel in response to a potential flu pandemic that has claimed at least 149 lives in Mexico and weighed stronger measures, while an unconfirmed case at Ernst & Young led the firm to close a portion of its New York office.

President Barack Obama asked congressional leaders for an additional $1.5 billion dollars on Tuesday to enhance the U.S. response to the swine flu outbreak.