GLOBAL MARKETS

Shares of Sun Microsystems Inc. rose more than 4 percent on Tuesday after the computer server maker said it hard turned around from a loss a year ago to post a higher than expected profit.

Stocks around the world bounced back sharply on Tuesday as volatile credit markets stabilized and after Wall St took heart from still-brisk corporate earnings growth and the smooth wind-up of another troubled hedge fund.

Asian shares slid on Monday after U.S. stocks suffered a second day of heavy losses on worries that companies were facing tighter credit conditions, while uncertainty in global equity markets drove up the yen. Worries that problems in the housing market could spill over into other parts of the U.S. economy -- Asia's main export market -- and that tighter credit would cause takeover activity to slow, saw the S&P 500 index suffer its worst week in nearly five years.

Stocks were little changed on Monday after gyrating between negative and positive territory in the first half hour as worsening sentiment about the global credit environment countered optimism about economic growth. Tightening lending standards threaten to slow or halt the heavy pace of corporate buy-outs that have fueled a rally in equities.