ECONOMY & MARKETS

For every truly great artist like David Bowie, The Beatles or Bob Dylan, there are scores and scores of mediocre performers who exist solely to fill the seemingly unquenchable demand for music from the public.

The top aftermarket NYSE gainers Monday were: Monster Worldwide, Sony Corp, Giant Interactive Group, Heckmann Corp, RPC and NetQin Mobile Inc. The top aftermarket NYSE losers: RAIT Financial Trust, Darling International, Plains All American Pipeline, AllianceBernstein Holding and Equity One.

The top after-market NASDAQ gainers Monday were: Shuffle Master, Freightcar America, Carrizo Oil & Gas, Clearwire Corp, American Capital Mortgage Investment, Rosetta Resources, Canadian Solar, CIENA Corp and Zogenix.

It's not all doom and gloom for India's embattled airline sector. IndiGo, a low-fare carrier launched in 2006, has climbed to second place in market share at the expense of Air India and Kingfisher Airlines (KING.NS) and is the only one of India's six main carriers making a profit, for now at least.

Asian stock markets declined for the second day on Tuesday as concerns over a slower economic growth in China and Greece’s debt deal dampened sentiment.

The top after-market NASDAQ losers Monday were: NutriSystem, Skullcandy, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Alaska Communications Systems Group, GRAVITY Co, Caseys General Stores, QC Holdings, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, DISH Network Corp and Brocade Communications Systems.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has stated that it posted a net loss of $103 million in Asia for the year 2011, compared with a $2.1 billion profit in 2010.

Yahoo Inc is planning to undergo a major restructuring of the company, which will include lay-off of many employees.

AT&T Inc is in a tentative labor contract with the Communications Workers of America covering roughly 9,000 workers in five states, according to the company and the union.

With recorded music sales continuing to deteriorate, concerts are an increasingly crucial source of revenue for artists, who have long relied on ticket and merchandise sales for a reliable livelihood. But secondary elements of the industry – labels, promoters and secondary sellers, have sought to wrest a higher percentage of the cut. Additional fees have become the norm for online ticketing, but competition for prime shows has accelerated in the digital age.

U.S. equities sank, mirroring falls across Asia and Europe Monday after China cut its growth target. Worries over whether Greece can entice enough private investors to participate in a bond swap deal also dampened investors' sentiment.

Amid rising gas prices and increasing demand for alternative sources of energy, automakers in the United States are turning to natural gas to power new pickup trucks.

South Korea, which has been under U.S. pressure to diversify away from Iranian crude oil, won the right to explore for oil in three undeveloped fields off the United Arab Emirates coast.

A significant but largely unnoticed shift is underway in how big U.S. companies account for pensions on their books. The move to mark-to-market accounting could signal that corporate America is betting on rock-bottom interest rates and continued economic recovery through 2012 and into next year.

New orders to U.S. factories fell less than economists had expected in January, according to data released Monday morning by the Commerce Department, in what is yet another data point suggesting the U.S. economy is on solid footing for a recovery this year.

India announced on Monday an immediate ban on all cotton exports until further notice, cutting off the world's second-largest exporter of cotton, in an unexplained move that could limit global supplies and drive up prices.

The U.S. non-manufacturing activity index increased in February to 57.3 percent, up from 56.8 percent in January as growth accelerated, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said Monday.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG) tagged Hong Kong investors in its Asian unit with a nasty surprise Sunday evening, announcing it will be selling a substantial amount of its stake in the subsidiary at a discount -- a move that will hurt current stockholders in the concern. AIG is pursuing the action in order to raise $6 billion, a small amount of the $182.3 billion bailout it received from the U.S. government in 2008 and is still to pay back in full.

Newspaper revenue from print ads is falling $7 for every $1 gain in digital advertising, the Pew Research Center said Monday.

The nationwide average of gasoline prices are going north moving towards $4 mark per gallon.

Having built up fleets to unsustainable levels in recent boom years, some companies must now shrink fast to avoid losses in a down market. Compounding matters, banks that have typically provided a financing lifeline to the industry are shutting off the cash, forcing shippers to consider the rare step of selling off equity stakes.

The top after-market NASDAQ gainers Friday were: TranS1, Cray Inc, InfoSpace, TESSCO Technologies, GRAVITY Co and Verenium Corp. The top after-market NASDAQ losers were: Leap Wireless International, DISH Network Corp, HomeAway, Yandex N.V, Fortinet and Rambus.

The top aftermarket NYSE gainers Friday were: Ferro Corp, Exelis Inc, Kindred Healthcare, Federal Signal Corp, Verifone Systems and MEMC Electronic Materials. The top aftermarket NYSE losers were: ITT Corp, Banco Santander Brasil, Jefferies Group, GenOn Energy, BankUnited and Cemex S.A.B.

Asian stock markets declined Monday as concerns over the impact of a slowing Chinese economy and tough speech by U.S. President Barack Obama over Iran nuclear program weighed on the sentiment.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) has stated that it has started selling shares of AIA Group Ltd, listed in Hong Kong, for raising $6 billion, in order to repay the bailout it received from the U.S. government in 2008.

China will target for an economic growth of 7.5 percent in 2012 according to state-of-the-nation speech that Premier Wen Jiabao delivered at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing Monday.

Japan's Nikkei share average is expected to test 9,800 for a fourth straight session on Monday as yen weakness against the dollar is likely to boost risk appetite, although some market players say technical indicators point to a correction.

In a yield-starved and uncertain world in the West, emerging market corporate bonds denominated in U.S. dollar could offer investors attractive opportunities, according to the latest Western Asset commentary.

To talk bullish on gold looks like a risky proposition at the moment -- last Wednesday, gold saw one of the most brutal routs in a year when it tumbled five percent. It indeed recovered 1.5 percent the next day, broadly symbolizing the roller-coaster ride of bullion in recent times.