MARKETS / FINANCE

Spot gold held onto gains made in the previous session on Tuesday, but hopes that a Franco-German summit will make progress to help quell the region's sovereign debt crisis are expected to keep a lid on prices.

The leaders of France and Germany face a stark choice in talks on Tuesday over whether to begin steering the embattled euro zone toward closer fiscal union or risk watching the bloc unravel.

The euro zone economy grew less than forecast in the second quarter, held back by a sluggish performance in Germany and stagnation in France, data from the European statistics agency showed on Tuesday.

German growth slowed to its weakest quarterly rate since 2009 between April and June, data showed, fuelling concerns a worsening outlook in the euro zone and beyond will hobble the region's powerhouse economy.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 0.6 to 1.0 percent.

The U.S. Treasury market is still the safest place for China to put part of its massive foreign exchange reserves despite a downgrade of the U.S. debt rating by Standard & Poor's, Guo Shuqing, chairman of China Construction Bank, said in comments published on Tuesday.

Stagnant growth in Europe's powerhouse Germany knocked stocks lower on Tuesday and hit the euro, adding to investor fears that the world economy is slowing more than expected.

The euro slipped further on Tuesday and European stock futures fell after data showed Germany's economy hardly grew in the second quarter, adding to global uncertainties ahead of French-German talks on the euro zone's worsening debt crisis.

China's long-term plan to cut reliance on investment as a growth engine is clashing with its short-term need for protection against a worsening global outlook.

German gross domestic product growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter, weighed by a negative trade balance, flagging consumption and weak construction investment, the statistics office said.

German gross domestic product growth slowed more than expected in the second quarter, dropping to 0.1 percent in seasonally adjusted terms from a revised 1.3 percent in the first three months of the year, data showed.

The World Bank called for national governments to seek long-term debt curbs on Tuesday to solve the current sovereign debt crises in Europe and the United States, but said it was too early for special action by the Group of 20 nations.

The World Bank called for national governments to seek long-term debt curbs on Tuesday to solve the current sovereign debt crises in Europe and the United States, but said it was too early for special action by the Group of 20 nations.

A few dozen protesters turned out on Monday for a San Francisco rally organized by the hacker group Anonymous to protest alleged police brutality and what they called anti-free speech tactics by authorities.

Examiners at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are checking to ensure that Standard & Poor's followed all of its policies leading up to its downgrade of long-term U.S. debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

Starbucks' (SBUX) Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz has a solution for the nation's partisan political divide that's prevented (so far) a substantive, long-term plan to cut the budget deficit: boycott donating to political campaigns.

Former employees of elite Wall Street firms are triumphing over their previous investment banks in Google Inc's blockbuster $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

Advanced economies still have options to provide short-term support for jobs and growth even as they focus on medium-term fiscal consolidation, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said.

Allstate Corp on Monday sued Goldman Sachs Group Inc , accusing the Wall Street bank of causing losses by hiding the risks more than $123 million of mortgage securities it bought.

Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz is winning support for his call to withhold political contributions from U.S. lawmakers until they strike a fair, bipartisan deal on the country's debt, revenue and spending.

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility had wide-ranging impacts on Monday, notably on technology stocks. Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), and Research in Motion (NYSE:RIMM) all saw big stock price jumps during Monday's trading.

A former chief executive of the Optionable Inc commodities brokerage pleaded guilty for his role in a C$853 million (US$868 million) commodities trading scandal at Bank of Montreal .

The risk of a new U.S. recession has risen over the last couple of months, but an outright contraction will most likely be avoided, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said on Monday.

U.S. banks continue to ease lending standards and most terms on all major non-real estate loans during the past three months, the Federal Reserve reported in its quarterly survey of senior loan officers.

Wall Street stocks rose for a third day on Monday as investors saw Google's offer for phone maker Motorola Mobility as an excuse to jump back into the market after weeks of sharp selling.

Bank of America Corp won what could prove a legal victory as eight mortgage securities lawsuits against its Countrywide unit were combined into a single case before a federal judge who has ruled favorably for the bank in the past.

Some would have you believe the U.S. Congress can't do much to create jobs: not true. If Congress says "build us an aircraft carrier," a short time later, an aircraft carrier will appear. Likewise for roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and the electric grid -- all of which in the U.S. need work and would create jobs.

Wall Street stocks rose for a third day on Monday as investors saw Google's offer for phone maker Motorola Mobility as a signal to jump back into the market after weeks of sharp selling.

MAG Silver Corp., a junior mining company based in Vancouver with operations in Mexico, said it swung to a profit in the second quarter and trimmed its loss for the first half of the year.