UNITED STATES

A quarter of the world's companies, and 40 percent in the United States, plan to freeze salaries this year, but employees in South America and India can look forward to robust rises, a global survey shows on Tuesday.

Asian stocks slid on Tuesday, snapping a five-day rally as concerns about the health of U.S. banks resurfaced, while expectations that Australian rates would not fall much further kept the Australian dollar steady.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors braced for aluminum producer Alcoa's quarterly results that will kick-start a keenly awaited U.S. earnings season.

World stocks steadied on Tuesday after hitting a two-month high in the previous session, while European stocks rose as investors awaited the start of U.S. corporate earnings season.

World stocks steadied on Tuesday after hitting a two-month high in the previous session, while European stocks rose as investors awaited the start of U.S. corporate earnings season.

Asian stocks slid on Tuesday, snapping a five-day rally as concerns about the health of U.S. banks resurfaced, while expectations that Australian rates would not fall much further kept the Australian dollar steady.

Germany's Commerzbank is preparing to issue an offer document to a handful of potential investors in General Motors' Opel unit, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the automaker.

In the growing netbook market, Microsoft is now leading the race seeing an 86% increase over the 12months, pushing the software making to a dominant position.

Oil was steady around $51 a barrel on Tuesday, awaiting direction from stock markets and U.S. oil inventories after a near 3-percent loss on Monday when Wall Street tumbled.

Airlines like money and it turns out that the best way for airlines to make money is to ensure that there are as few empty seats on a plane as possible.

Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday, snuffing a five-day rally as uncertainty about U.S. banks pushed dealers to take profits on recent gains, while investors' reduced willingness to take risks lifted the U.S. dollar and yen.

Russia called on other leading powers on Monday to stay focused on nuclear talks with North Korea as Washington pushed for a strong response from a divided U.N. Security Council to Pyongyang's rocket launch.

The months' supply of existing housing inventory has fallen to less than 10 months in January and February after being in the double digits for most of 2008.

U.S. securities regulators will consider about 4 proposals to restrict short selling, a type of investing blamed for accelerating the severe downturn in financial services stocks.

Oil was steady at $51 a barrel on Tuesday, awaiting direction from stock markets and U.S. oil inventories after a near 3-percent loss on Monday when Wall Street tumbled.

U.S. securities regulators are crafting two types of 'circuit breakers' to restrict short selling, a type of investing often blamed by executives for declines in the stocks of their companies, a source familiar with the proposals told Reuters on Monday.

Apple Inc and major music labels are betting that the launch of three-tier pricing at the iTunes Music Store will boost music sales with a new mix of song-based packages and give consumers more options.

The United States and Switzerland will head back to the negotiating table to revise a 1996 bilateral tax treaty in an effort to cool a high-profile dispute between the two nations over banking secrecy laws, the U.S. Treasury said on Monday.

The U.S. budget deficit almost hit $1 trillion during the first six months of this fiscal year which began on October 1, according to estimates released on Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.

Shares of Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo declines Shares of the largest banks in United States tumbled on Wall Street after Calyon analyst Mike Mayo downgraded the stocks with an underperform rating.

Andrew Bodnar, a former top executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co , faces up to a year in jail after pleading guilty to lying to federal officials about a deal to block a generic version of the company's top-selling medicine.