IBT Staff Reporter

Italian borrowing costs hit euro lifetime peaks at a debt auction on Tuesday as investors demand ever higher premiums to keep funding the country, in a sign that the sovereign debt crisis is nearing make-or-break point.

U.S. computer software company SAS Institute cannot claim copyright protection for the functions performed by its programs, which have been replicated by a rival, an adviser to Europe's highest court said.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday after Italian bond yields fell from session highs amid hopes a meeting of European finance ministers will be a step forward in resolving the region's debt crisis.

Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo Inc, breaking away from other bidders that are for now eyeing either a minority stake or teaming up with the Internet giant's partners in Asia, sources familiar with the matter said.

British government borrowing will fall much less than expected because of slower economic growth, finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday, erasing any room for error in the coalition government's deficit reduction plan.

Tiffany & Co gave a holiday quarter profit outlook that missed Wall Street expectations, and fears that its gross margin could slip further and the pace of sales gains is slowing sent shares down nearly 7 percent.

The chief executive of Adidas , the world's second largest sportswear company, is eyeing a year-end boost to its basketball business following the end of the NBA lockout in the United States.

Stock index futures rose on Tuesday on investor relief over a well-received Italian bond auction that showed the highly indebted country still had access to capital markets.

Worries about the euro zone's debt crisis worsened in November and dragged the European Commission's economic and consumer sentiment index to a two-year low, heightening the risks of a recession in Europe.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.15 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.27 percent at 4:19 a.m. ET.

Tiffany & Co raised its full-year profit outlook on the expectation that its sales gains would continue in the holiday season, and it reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, helped by sales of more expensive jewelry.

British finance minister George Osborne will pave the way for several more years of deep government spending cuts, when he reveals forecasts for much weaker growth and a borrowing overshoot of 86 billion pounds over the coming years.

In the past week Hungary's bonds have become junk, the forint has slumped to a near-record low against the euro and the OECD has said the economy is headed for recession next year.

International air freight traffic was 4.8 percent lower in October than a year previously, while international passenger traffic grew 4.6 percent but at a slowing pace, the International Air Transport Association said on Monday.

Microsoft Corp and U.S. mobile engineering firm AgreeYa Mobility on Tuesday signed an agreement to allow corporations and other users to connect to Microsoft services from a variety of computing platforms, including phones and tablets running Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.15 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.27 percent at 4:19 a.m. ET.

When Novo Nordisk's chief financial officer met marketing colleagues last Friday the conversation moved far beyond the usual discussion of sales and performance. Jesper Brandgaard asked a simple, far-reaching question: how would the firm set prices for two pivotal new insulin products if the euro collapsed?

Euro zone finance ministers are to agree on Tuesday the details of bolstering their bailout fund to help prevent contagion in bond markets, under pressure from the United States and ratings agencies to staunch a two-year-old debt crisis.

A two-day rally in European shares came to a halt on Tuesday, while the euro slipped from highs on investor caution ahead of an Italian bond auction and widespread skepticism over whether European policymakers will be able to prevent debt contagion.

The complexity fills everybody with such appalling fear. ... The honest answer is that, like everybody else, you try and contingency plan for any breakup of the eurozone.

When Novo Nordisk's chief financial officer met marketing colleagues last Friday the conversation moved far beyond the usual discussion of sales and performance. Jesper Brandgaard asked a simple, far-reaching question: how would the firm set prices for two pivotal new insulin products if the euro collapsed?

U.S. group Hewlett-Packard has rolled out its first software using technology gained from its $12 billion acquisition of British group Autonomy, eight weeks after the deal closed.

U.S. group Hewlett-Packard has rolled out its first software using technology gained from its $12 billion acquisition of British group Autonomy, eight weeks after the deal closed.

Several big banks are in talks to reach a settlement with bond insurer MBIA Inc that could end a legal battle over billions of dollars in losses triggered by the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Considering that a clip from Dirty Boy Video that appears to show two California men having sex in an Occupy Oakland tent is making headlines everywhere from Fox Nation to The Huffington Post since it went online Nov. 17, it figures porn producer Andy Fair would tell IBTimes Monday that he's been happy with his site's traffic lately.

About $200 million in customer funds missing at MF Global may have surfaced at JP Morgan Chase in Britain, the New York Times said, citing people briefed on the matter.

Asian shares and the euro extended a rally into a second day Tuesday as investors were buoyed by expectations that European policy makers will outline details of how they will leverage a bailout fund to avert contagion in sovereign debt markets.

Asian shares and the euro extended a rally into a second day on Tuesday, as investors were buoyed by expectations that European policy makers will outline details of how they will leverage a bailout fund so as to avert contagion in sovereign debt markets.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is seeking to cash in as companies switch to rival smartphones with a new tool that offers some of its important security features for sexier devices like the iPhone.