IBT Staff Reporter

Greece's private creditors pleaded Tuesday with European officials who rejected their bond swap offer to hammer together a deal before Athens tumbles into a chaotic default.

EU finance ministers and officials met on Tuesday to discuss a new treaty which aims to tighten fiscal discipline in the euro zone.

Stocks fell on Tuesday as talks to resolve Greece's debt crisis stumbled again and analysts pointed to a short-term top in equity markets after the S&P 500 posted five days of back-to-back gains.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney paid $3 million in federal taxes on 2010 income of $21.7 million in 2010. That means his effective income tax rate was 13.9 percent -- lower than what the vast majority of wealthy Americans pay.

Verizon Communications posted a quarterly loss due to a non-cash pension charge and high costs from strong sales of the Apple Inc iPhone.

Greece was clinging on Tuesday to hope of a last-minute bond swap deal to avoid a messy default after euro zone officials sent talks back to square one by rejecting a final offer from the country's private bondholders.

Investors buoyed by a European Central Bank backstop flocked to a sale of Spanish short-term debt on Tuesday, buying three- and six-month paper at sharply lower yields to give a shot in the arm to the country's ambitious deficit-reduction program.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday as talks to resolve Greece's debt crisis stumbled again and analysts pointed to a short-term top in equity markets after the S&P 500 posted five days of back-to-back gains.

McDonald's Corp reported quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates as sales, which were already outpacing competitors, picked up strength in December.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday as talks to resolve Greece's debt crisis stumbled again and analysts pointed to a short-term top in equity markets after the S&P 500 posted five days of back-to-back gains.

Netflix Inc probably would like nothing better than to put 2011 behind it. But 2012 may be no walk in the park either.

The euro zone may escape recession thanks to a surprise upturn in the service sector this month but the overall economy is still struggling to gain any traction outside Germany and to a lesser extent France, surveys showed on Tuesday.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's online profile was larger-than-life, with fast women, faster cars and chartered planes, yet he lived like a virtual recluse in a sprawling, manicured estate on the outskirts of New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland.

Loss-making European publisher Mecom is to slash costs, review assets and charge customers to access content online as it fights to revive a business hit by falling advertising sales and changing readership trends.

Stock index futures fell on Tuesday as talks to resolve Greece's debt crisis stumbled again and analysts pointed to a short-term top in equity markets after the S&P 500 posted five days of back-to-back gains.

Apple again lost a bid on Tuesday to have Samsung tablet computers banned in the Netherlands in a Dutch appeals case over infringing copyrights of its iPad tablet computer.

Playtech, the world's biggest provider of online gaming software, is holding talks with a number of potential partners in the United States as it gears up for the possible re-opening of the potentially lucrative market, CEO Mor Weizer said.

Signs the euro zone's weak economy may have turned a corner gave a brief lift to the single currency in choppy trading on Tuesday, but worries over the setback in Greek debt talks, seen as vital for avoiding a messy default, weighed on sentiment.

Swiss-based oil refiner Petroplus is to file for insolvency after lenders put the company on notice to pay off its debts triggering a default on $1.75 billion of senior notes and convertible bonds.

Australian regulators have fined Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker by volume, A$55,000 ($58,000) for spamming customers and said the Finnish company should change its text message marketing.

Japan's Elpida Memory <6665.T> is in talks to merge with U.S. firm Micron Technology and Taiwan's Nanya Technology <2408.TW>, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday, as the memory chip makers battle a weak market and well-funded South Korean rivals.

British accountancy software maker Sage said it was watching the economic situation in Europe and the impact a downturn would have on its small and medium customers, although it said trading was still on track.

Playtech, the world's biggest provider of online gaming software, said it saw increasing opportunities as gambling laws are relaxed across the world and was confident of meeting full year expectations following a surge in revenues.

Swiss-based oil refiner Petroplus is filing for insolvency after lenders put the company on notice to pay off its debts, triggering its default on $1.75 billion of senior notes and convertible bonds.

The Bank of Japan forecast the economy will contract in the current fiscal year but kept policy steady on Tuesday, expecting exports to emerging markets and reconstruction after last year's earthquake will help fuel a steady recovery later in 2012.

The euro retreated from a three-week high on Tuesday and Asian shares gave up most of their early gains as crucial negotiations on Greek debt restructuring suffered another major setback, raising the specter of default.

Sony Corp and rival Panasonic Corp are set to report a slump in quarterly earnings and may cut full-year forecasts after being hit by yen strength, Thai floods and consumer gloom in Europe during the vital pre-Christmas period.

U.S. workers suffered many more job losses during the 2007-2009 Great Recession than in downturns over the past 30 years, and fewer than half got another position within six months of the recession's official end, researchers said on Tuesday.

Pressure from financial institutions and Treasury officials undermined an effort to limit executive pay at seven companies rescued with taxpayer money, a new government audit showed on Tuesday.