ECONOMY & MARKETS

European markets rose Tuesday as investors were hopeful that the European Central Bank (ECB) would soon announce stimulus measures to rejuvenate the faltering economy of the euro zone and regain the growth momentum.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Monday were AM Castle, BPZ Resources, Fabrinet, Centene Corp and General Cable Corp. The top after-market NYSE losers were AK Steel Holding, Quiksilver, IAMGOLD Corp, Oasis Petroleum and NRG Energy.

Most of the Asian markets rose Tuesday as investors maintained hopes about monetary easing measures from policymakers around the world to tackle the weakening of the global economic growth.

Asian shares edged up Tuesday as investors held on to hopes the European Central Bank will act to soothe borrowing costs, even as officials denied a report about the shape of its planned bond buying strategy.

Just prior to its much-hyped stock market debut, Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) bought the photosharing website Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock. Now, with the world's biggest social network trading at half its IPO price, Instagram's deal doesn't look as nearly as sweet.

Music and celebrity blog publisher Buzzmedia Inc. has hired digital veteran Stephen Hansen as its new president, the company said Monday, a month after it acquired Spin magazine and laid off its top editors.

Unemployment is still well above 8 percent, the cost at the pump is rising and consumers are still wary and cost-conscious, but recent surveys indicate back-to-school buys and the upcoming holiday shopping season will be as good as or better than last year. Still, the theme of the season is cautious optimism.

British wholesale natural gas prices rose Monday on a combination of tight supply and stronger demand.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Chief Exectutive Officer Doug Oberhelman has long been an optimist, but these days he's been scaling back on his optimism.

Gold prices continued to decline this week, dragging even lower due to unusually weak demand from China and India - the two largest gold consumers - that has extended for several months.

Coventry Health Care, Barclays Plc, Facebook, Apple Inc, Infosys, Waste Management and Deutsche Bank AG are among the companies whose shares are moving in the pre-market trading Monday.

U.S. stock index futures point to a slightly higher open Monday as investors maintained a watchful mode waiting for decisions from meetings between Greek and European leaders this week to discuss reform measures needed to tackle the economic crisis in Greece.

Asian stock markets declined Monday on worries that the Chinese government will tighten measures to control rising property prices.

European markets were mixed Monday as investors remained watchful ahead of the meetings between the Greek and other European leaders this week to discuss measures to tackle the economic and financial instability plaguing Greece.

Asian stocks fell Monday as it became apparent to investors that Europe's policymakers were still lingering on taking decisive action to contend with the euro zone debt crisis.

Most Asian markets fell Monday as investor confidence was weighed down by the lack of stimulus measures from policymakers to support the global economy and regain the growth momentum.

Finance minister urged state-run banks to increase lending for consumer durables on Saturday, saying this would help boost the manufacturing sector which has been caught up in the slowdown of the economy.

Asian stocks ended mixed last week as market players continued to wait for policy makers to come up with bold stimulus measures to boost the weakening global economy.

Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), Germany's largest bank, is being investigated by U.S. officials over ties to Iran and Sudan.

Users of ZeekRewards.com and Zeekler.com are searching for answers -- and their lost money -- after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the sites' owner, Paul Burks, with an alleged $600 million Ponzi scheme. "I was in shock," said a Zeek member who used the site for five months.

The minutes of the July 31-Aug. 1 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, to be released on Wednesday, will dominate markets in a week light on data.

Patrick Ricard, who built Pernod Ricard SA (Paris: RI) into the second-largest alcohol beverage company in the world, died Friday, the company said.

The British parliament criticized former Barclays Plc (London: BARC) CEO Bob Diamond in a report released Saturday, saying that he failed to fully disclose the bank?s illegal practices during testimony on the LIBOR scandal.

In the United States, Mom typically has the most say when it comes to back-to-school shopping, but pre-teens are consumers, too, and they have more money to spend on backpacks and binders than they have had in years.

The top after-market Nasdaq gainers Friday were Geron Corporation, Harmonic Inc, Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation and Exelixis Inc.The top after-market Nasdaq losers were ZAGG Inc, Myriad Genetics, Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc and Corinthian Colleges Inc.

Advisers to the prime minister issued a stern warning to the government on Friday on the need to rein in the country's fiscal and current account deficits to avoid the risk of a credit ratings downgrade to junk status.

With the deepening of India's economic troubles, investors expect that Finance Minister P Chidambaram will take bold measures to boost the market confidence and rejuvenate growth.

Asian markets were mixed in the week as investors maintained a watchful mode awaiting monetary easing measures from policymakers around the world to tackle the weakening of the global economic growth.

IBTimes' weekly roundup of winners and losers in the world of business.