IBT Staff Reporter

The London Stock Exchange Group is to provide real-time market data to Google, bolstering the search-engine's Google Finance offering with free access to London share prices previously only available with a 15 minute delay.

Stocks cut early gains on Tuesday, with the Dow and Nasdaq slipping into negative territory as Wal-Mart weighed.

Jack Ma's Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group has offered around $2.5 billion to take its Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com unit private, stressing the move was unrelated to any possible deal to buy back shares owned by Yahoo Inc.

Stocks were poised for a modestly higher open on Tuesday after euro zone finance ministers secured a deal that will enable Greece to avoid a March default.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group has offered to take its Hong Kong-listed unit Alibaba.com private at a cost of around HK$19.6 billion ($2.5 billion), a move it said was not related to a possible deal with Yahoo Inc on buying back Yahoo's stake in the Chinese Internet giant.

Josh Buckley, chief executive of an online gaming start-up, is looking forward to next month's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, particularly for the parties and the accompanying schmoozing with industry A-listers.

Kraft Foods Inc reported a higher quarterly profit in line with Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, citing revenue growth and cost cuts.

Barnes & Noble Inc posted a lower holiday-quarter profit as investments to keep its Nook e-reader competitive with Amazon.com Inc's Kindle continued to hurt its results.

Kraft Foods Inc forecast earnings growth of at least 9 percent this year even as it prunes its portfolio of North American brands.

Apple Inc's trademark battle moves to one of China's richest cities on Wednesday when a Shanghai court will deliberate a request by troubled technology company Proview to halt the sale of iPads across the city.

Satisfaction with U.S. online brokerages declined in 2011 amid volatile markets, while customers saw little to differentiate the four top players in the industry, according to an annual study released on Tuesday.

In mid-2011, with the U.S. economy at risk of a new recession, top Federal Reserve officials began to explore a different way to shore up the recovery: looking for fixes for the battered housing market.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday after euro zone finance ministers secured a deal that will enable Greece to avoid a March default.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's fourth-quarter profit came in just short of Wall Street's expectations, sending its shares down 2.6 percent, as it cut prices to win over U.S. shoppers during the holiday season.

Financial market traders and keen gamblers take note. Scientists have found that a chemical in the region of the brain involved in sensory and reward systems is crucial to whether people simply brush off the pain of financial losses.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc won over shoppers during the holiday season, with its Walmart U.S. division posting a 1.5 percent rise in sales at stores open at least a year.

Kraft Foods Inc expects earnings to rise at least 9 percent this year even as it prunes its portfolio of North American brands.

Stock index futures advanced on Tuesday after euro zone finance ministers secured a deal that will enable Greece to avoid a March default.

London Stock Exchange Group said on Tuesday it had struck a deal with Google to provide real-time quotes for trades on the London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana, information that traders currently pay a premium for.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc won over shoppers during the holiday season, with its Walmart U.S. division posting a 1.5 percent rise in sales at stores open at least a year.

Japan's Mazda Motor Corp plans to raise $2.1 billion to shore up its finances and invest in a new plant in Mexico, financial sources said on Tuesday -- a bigger-than-expected dilutive fundraising that sent its shares tumbling 10 percent.

Home Depot Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as a warm winter pulled some spring demand forward, boosting sales at the world's largest home improvement chain.

India's debt-crippled Kingfisher Airlines Ltd edged closer to the brink on Tuesday after nearly a week of mass cancellations of flights and the resignation of dozens of the low-cost carrier's pilots.

Twitter and Russian search engine Yandex have agreed a partnership that will allow Yandex to show new tweets in its search results almost instantly, as Twitter becomes an increasingly important source of real-time information.

Apple Inc has signed with China Telecom to sell its iPhone in China from next month as it looks to boost its flagging share of the world's biggest mobile phone market.

The euro steadied after an initial jump and European stocks were lower after the agreement of a second bailout deal for Greece removed the threat of a disorderly bond default but left markets unconvinced it could avoid further turmoil.

India's Kingfisher Airlines Ltd plans to return some aircraft voluntarily to lessors after defaulting on payments and has seen a fresh exodus of pilots, local media reported.

A top executive of Japan's scandal-ridden Olympus Corp has been found dead in a park outside New Delhi, an apparent suicide, The Times of India said on Tuesday, quoting police.

In mid-2011, with the U.S. economy at risk of a new recession, top Federal Reserve officials began to explore a different way to shore up the recovery: looking for fixes for the battered housing market.