IBT Staff Reporter

Stocks opened higher on Tuesday on signs of progress in dealing with Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis.

Euro zone unemployment has risen to its highest level since before the euro was introduced, data showed on Tuesday, a day after EU leaders promised to focus on creating millions of new jobs to try to kickstart Europe's floundering economy.

For a central bank that wants to make transparency its hallmark, the Federal Reserve's new forecast of nearly three more years of super-low rates has left room for a few doubts.

Eli Lilly & Co's quarterly profit dropped 27 percent after its top-selling Zyprexa schizophrenia treatment lost U.S. patent protection and saw competition from generic rivals.

Single-family home prices fell more than expected in November, highlighting the struggle for a sector yet to make a meaningful recovery, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

United Parcel Service posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and forecast 9 percent to 15 percent growth this year as solid U.S. demand and growing e-commerce activity offsets an uneven global economy.

A World Trade Organisation ruling against China's restrictions on raw material exports could force changes to some of its rare earth policies but is unlikely to yield the boost in exports of the metals that consumers want to see.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday, with sentiment improving on signs of progress in dealing with Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis.

United Parcel Service said on Tuesday it expects profit to rise 9 percent to 15 percent this year, as solid U.S. demand and growing e-commerce activity offsets an uneven global economy.

Apple Inc is hiring Dixons chief executive John Browett, who drove a recent turnaround at the UK electricals retailer, to lead the iPad maker's retail expansion.

CIT Group Inc., the business lender led by former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive John Thain, said its quarterly profit fell 59 percent on lower interest income.

CIT Group Inc , the business lender led by former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive John Thain, said its quarterly profit fell 59 percent on lower interest income.

European Union regulators are investigating whether Samsung Electronics breached antitrust rules in its legal battles against rivals, among them Apple, which use its mobile technology patents.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, with sentiment improving on signs of progress in dealing with Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the world's second-largest maker of mobile phone network equipment, is talking to labor unions in its home countries Germany and Finland about cutting more than 4,000 jobs, part of a company-wide shakeup.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the world's second-largest maker of mobile phone network equipment, said it will cut about 2,900 of a total 9,100 jobs in Germany, with most to go by the end of this year.

Pfizer Inc reported sharply lower quarterly earnings, hurt by generic forms of its Lipitor cholesterol drug, and the company trimmed its 2012 forecasts because of negative effects of the stronger dollar.

BSkyB, Britain's dominant pay-TV group, is to launch an online offering to enable it to better take on the likes of Lovefilm and Netflix, following some signs of slowing growth at its main satellite business.

The European Commission opened an investigation into whether Samsung Electronics has distorted competition in the European mobile device market, breaking EU antitrust rules, the EU executive arm said in a statement on Tuesday.

United Parcel Service reported higher quarterly profit after adjusting for a new pension accounting method, and forecast higher 2012 earnings.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday, with sentiment improving on signs of progress in dealing with Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis.

The First Lady reportedly visited a luxury lingerie boutique in New York and also made a handsome purchase.

Honda Motor Co slashed its annual profit guidance to the lowest level in three years as it counted the cost of natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and a strong yen. But it forecast a healthy rebound next year.

Chinese prosecutors cited a poem and messages sent on Skype against a dissident who stood trial on Tuesday, his son and his lawyer said, in the latest case highlighting the Communist Party's drive to silence political challengers.

Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest chip maker, booked a 72 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and slashed its annual profit forecast as a strong yen and the euro-zone debt crisis hit profits.

Logitech's video conferencing unit LifeSize expects new products and a bigger sales team to boost revenue growth starting this quarter, after it reported only a 6 percent rise for October-to-December.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 indexes up 0.5-0.6 percent.

Samsung Electronics lost a bid to overturn a ruling barring its local unit from selling its Galaxy 10.1 tablets in Germany, handing a symbolic legal victory to Apple Inc in efforts to keep its lead spot in the tablet computer market.

Logitech, the world's largest computer mouse maker, cut its full-year outlook for the third time after third quarter sales and profit were hit by euro weakness and as computer systems become less dependent on peripheral components.