ECONOMY & MARKETS

The words 'pensioner's paradise' might no longer a reality for many elderly people as most pension schemes are losing sheen. The final salary based-pensions that are indirectly dependent on the stock market might go for a toss and keep the pensioners at bay due to the sharp fall in the markets.

The Federal Reserve released a statement Tuesday saying that the Federal Open Market Committee, which met in June, accepted that the economic growth so far this year has been slower than its expectations.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Tuesday are: Endeavor International, Zale Corp, Teekay Tankers, Allergan and DHT Holdings. The top after-market NYSE losers are: AOL, Miller Energy Resources, Crawford, Lindsay Corp and Federal Signal Corp.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Vitesse Semiconductor, Smart Technologies, Solazyme, Cree, and Aceto. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Motricity, Amtech Systems, Buffalo Wild Wings, Globe Specialty Metals, and Bon-Ton Stores.

The rupee snapped a 6-day weakening streak on Wednesday as global equities rebounded and the dollar fell after the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to keep rates low for at least two years.

U.S. stocks clawed back most of Monday's losses as a U.S. Federal Reserve promise of at least two more years of near-zero interest rates overshadowed its warning about slowing economic growth. The Fed's statement gave markets a glimmer of hope, with stocks' gains accelerating into Tuesday's close.

U.S. stocks soared in turbulent trading Tuesday, coming off the worst three day selloff since the financial crisis, as investors took in stride the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates near zero at least through mid-2013.

"We view the FOMC statement as aggressively dovish, even beyond our expectations," said Dan Dorrow of Connecticut-based Faros Trading.

U.S. stocks soared as the Federal Reserve promised low interest rates until 2012 and stated that it expects inflation to remain low.

U.S. stocks surged after the market digested the Federal Open Market Committee statement, which is now judged as dovish.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Bank of America both bounced back from disastrous Mondays to steady gains during Tuesday trading.

The amount of negative attention Standard & Poor's has received since its decision to downgrade U.S. long-term debt, would make it seem like the rating agency is public enemy number one.

Now that Uncle Sam has dug itself into a $14 trillion hole, it?s the American taxpayer who should be warning Ben Bernanke and his government cronies about the irrationalities of their exuberant paper printing.

Britons, Catholic pilgrims and others can expect at least two days of travel chaos as airport workers go on strike on Aug. 18, and are joined by Madrid underground workers on Aug. 26.

U.S. stocks pared gains after the Federal Reserve released its August Federal Open Markets Committee statement at 2:15 ET.

Ironically, Exxon still generates about four times the annual revenue that Apple does.

It took S&P until Monday to downgrade Fannie Mae ? years after the troubled federal housing agency doled out thousands of loans to deadbeats who never had the ability to repay them.

CI Financial Corp (CIX.TO: Quote) said on Tuesday that higher asset levels led to a 9.8 percent gain in its quarterly earnings, just a tad off expectations, but that recent market weakness was pressuring assets under management.

The Consumer Reports Index, which tracks the financial optimism of Americans, plunged more than five points to 43.4 this month, the lowest in two years.

Ivory Coast's finances are in much better shape than authorities were predicting when it emerged from civil war in April, and with tax revenues beating forecasts, there is no doubting it can pay defaulted external debt by early next year.

Oil and natural gas companies, whether integrated or independent, whether upstream or downstream, posted gains as investors picked up heavily discounted stocks.

The U.S. stock market soared ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement after a brutal session on Monday.

Inergy, a propane business and natural gas storage master limited partnership, posts a fiscal third quarter loss, largely in line with seasonal weakness.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: MetroPCS Communications, Bank of America, NYSE Euronext, AK Steel Holding, Regions Financial, Regions Financial, MEMC Electronic Materials, Halliburton, Duke Energy, Bristol Myers Squibb and Plum Creek Timber.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: ARM Holdings, DryShips, ZAGG, Logitech International, and Web.com Group. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Limelight Networks, Fossil, Clean Energy Fuels, Lionbridge Technologies, and Kimball International.

Following a surprise U.S. debt rating downgrade by S&P?s last Friday, now attention turns to other AAA-rated countries, which are at the risk of similar downgrade.

U.S. markets were poised to open higher Tuesday as futures rose based on anticipated action from the Fed.

FBR Capital Markets upgraded its rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) to "outperform" from "market perform" while maintaining its price target of $31 as valuation was too attractive to ignore.

In times of market volatility stemming from global economic and sovereign debt uncertainties, FBR Capital Markets believes investors are faced with increasingly difficult decisions about how best to position their portfolios to maximize alpha while carefully balancing portfolio risk.